Irish music’s newest ‘Euro-Country’ pop sensation is a fast-rising star thanks to one of her songs going viral – here’s everything you need to know about CMAT
Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, also known as CMAT, perform onstage during Tramlines at Hillsborough Park on July 27, 2025 in Sheffield, England. (Photo by Luke Brennan/Getty Images)
Country pop is a genre that was massive in the 90s and 2000s, with the likes of Shania Twain, Carrie Underwood and Taylor Swift taking centre-stage at the Grand Ole Opry and shooting to the top of the charts. The idea of the ‘crossover artist’ faded as genres became more defined in the 2010s – but as we all know, country never goes out of style!
The country influence in pop icons Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter’s music is clear – and here in Ireland we have our very own country pop star, CMAT, real name Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson.
CMAT’s moniker is derived from her initials, and her songs and stage persona are just as quirky as her name.
She once described herself to NME as ‘Dolly Parton meets Weird Al Yankovic, mixed with Katy Perry’, and her eccentricity definitely shines through in her music.
Her tongue in cheek song, Take A Sexy Picture Of Me, went viral on TikTok thanks to its provocative feminist lyrics and accompanying dance routine, bringing CMAT to a global audience. She even performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel’s late night show, marking her first American TV appearance.
While CMAT’s star is only rising, where did it all begin for the singer?
GROWING UP
CMAT and her family are from Dublin, but she moved to Dunboyne in Co. Meath as a child. “I would never, ever say that I was poor growing up because I think my mother would kill me,” she says. “We didn’t lack anything. I had a good life in that way. But we’re definitely working-class, and we’re definitely commoner people than the vast majority of what makes up the music industry these days,” she told Vogue.
Self-proclaimed ‘Dunboyne Diana’, CMAT flouts her connection to her hometown with surprise pub gigs and onstage shoutouts. The nickname is a nod to both Princess Diana and her roots, reflecting her “people’s princess” persona.
Growing up, she was influenced by American country stars like Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash. “Johnny Cash was the most famous guy, I thought he was a pop star.”
She was always a little bit different, explaining that she used to wear 1940s costume jewellery, fake eyelashes and style her hair in a beehive for school. “I’m not trying to be a normal girl, not that I know what that is anyway, because I never was one myself.”
JOURNEY TO FAME
At 22, in order to pursue her dreams of a music career, CMAT moved to Manchester as it was more affordable to live in than London.
Here, she worked in TK Maxx during the day and supplemented her income by working as a ‘shot girl’ in a nightclub at night. “Cash in hand, £8 an hour, 11pm to 3am, teetering up and down the stairs of a nightclub… with a tray of Jägermeister shots they’d put a bit of dry ice in – it burned your skin if you got it on your hands – selling them for three pound each. Terrible job,” she told The Guardian.
At that stage, her music career was stalling, and CMAT was struggling with loneliness. However, after breaking up with an older boyfriend, she sat down and cried in front of a mirror. Her pain turned into inspiration for her first hit single, I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!, which she wrote in 20 minutes. “I feel like there’s so many film scenes where people write songs and I’m like, ‘that didn’t… happen like that’, but this one did.”
The country pop song went straight to the top of the Irish charts during lockdown and enjoyed similar success in the UK. Her first album, If My Wife New I’d Be Dead, was critically and commercially successful. Since then, she’s released two more albums: Crazymad, for Me and Euro-Country.
Her sophomore album was nominated for prestigious Ivor Novello and Mercury prize awards. Euro-Country launched CMAT into the mainstream. Her single Take A Sexy Picture Of Me went completely viral, with millions of people dancing to it on TikTok. “I would be lying if I said that I was completely shocked by the success of the song. I wrote and produced it to be really commercial-sounding on purpose because I thought that that was funny. With lyrics this uncomfortable and gross about the painful pitfalls of commercial attractiveness, I thought it would be funny to make it a really easily accessible pop song,” she told Interview magazine.
She took to the pyramid stage at this year’s Glastonbury as well as headlining Irish festival All Together Now. “It was huge,” she said about Glastonbury. “There is nothing bigger. I suppose the wheels are set in motion for something like this from the beginning of your career.”
INFLUENCES
CMAT has many elements of traditional country music in her albums, from yodelling, fiddles and steel guitars to heartfelt songwriting. She has said that the country genre has always given a voice to the voiceless and that’s why it’s had such longevity.
Her on-stage get-ups also have distinct country themes and are very reminiscent of her idol Dolly Parton’s – think big hair, rhinestones and cowboy boots – except CMAT has the added sparkle of tooth gems.
However, she claims she isn’t accepted by the Nashville establishment. “People think that I’m taking the p*** or I’m using elements of country music because I think it’s a funny, interesting thing to do, and not because it is a really inherent and important pillar of my work as a songwriter,” she told Vogue.
Another massive influence on CMAT’s music is Ireland. Euro-Country’s cover is CMAT stepping out of the old Blanchardstown Shopping Centre fountain, somewhere she used to haunt in her teen years.
The title track touches on serious topics like the 2008 economic crash and the subsequent sky-high suicide rates, the lack of opportunities for young people in Ireland and the housing crisis. Bertie Ahern is even called out by name. She isn’t afraid to fight against the romanticised version of Ireland that’s often portrayed in the media. “It’s a really hard place to live, a really hard place to grow up, unless you have money, which we didn’t. So yeah, magical, beautiful, mystical Ireland: it’s a shopping centre, that’s what I grew up with,” she told The Guardian. She also doesn’t shy from talking about her own issues with mental health, explaining that songwriting comes from a place of heightened emotions. “I’m crazy and I do crazy things, and I have crazy relationships with people,” she told The Guardian, explaining that she’s experienced auditory and visual hallucinations, such as seeing bugs in her apartment that weren’t there.
WHAT’S NEXT
So what keeps pushing CMAT forward? The same thing as many Irish people – Catholic guilt! She is plagued with thoughts like “I don’t deserve to be here, so I’m not allowed to be lazy,” she told Vogue. “If I’m going to be here, if I’m going to have this job, this life, then I have to work harder than everyone who’s ever worked, or I deserve to die –because that is Irish Catholic guilt and that’s how it works.”
This article originally appeared in December’s issue of RSVP Magazine.
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