TikTok<\/a> thanks to its provocative feminist lyrics and accompanying dance routine, bringing CMAT to a global audience. She even performed the song on Jimmy Kimmel\u2019s late night show, marking her first American TV appearance.<\/p>\nWhile CMAT\u2019s star is only rising, where did it all begin for the singer?<\/p>\n
GROWING UP<\/p>\n
CMAT and her family are from Dublin, but she moved to Dunboyne in Co. Meath as a child. \u201cI would never, ever say that I was poor growing up because I think my mother would kill me,\u201d she says. \u201cWe didn\u2019t lack anything. I had a good life in that way. But we\u2019re definitely working-class, and we\u2019re definitely commoner people than the vast majority of what makes up the music industry these days,\u201d she told Vogue.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Growing up, she was influenced by American country stars like Dolly Parton and Johnny Cash. \u201cJohnny Cash was the most famous guy, I thought he was a pop star.\u201d<\/p>\n
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. \u201cI\u2019m not trying to be a normal girl, not that I know what that is anyway, because I never was one myself.\u201d<\/p>\n
JOURNEY TO FAME<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
Here, she worked in TK Maxx during the day and supplemented her income by working as a \u2018shot girl\u2019 in a nightclub at night. \u201cCash in hand, \u00a38 an hour, 11pm to 3am, teetering up and down the stairs of a nightclub\u2026 with a tray of J\u00e4germeister shots they\u2019d put a bit of dry ice in \u2013 it burned your skin if you got it on your hands \u2013 selling them for three pound each. Terrible job,\u201d she told The Guardian.<\/p>\n
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. \u201cI feel like there\u2019s so many film scenes where people write songs and I\u2019m like, \u2018that didn\u2019t\u2026 happen like that\u2019, but this one did.\u201d<\/p>\n
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\u2019d Be Dead, was critically and commercially successful. Since then, she\u2019s released two more albums: Crazymad, for Me and Euro-Country.<\/p>\n
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. \u201cI 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,\u201d she told Interview magazine.<\/p>\n
She took to the pyramid stage at this year\u2019s Glastonbury as well as headlining Irish festival All Together Now. \u201cIt was huge,\u201d she said about Glastonbury. \u201cThere is nothing bigger. I suppose the wheels are set in motion for something like this from the beginning of your career.\u201d<\/p>\n
INFLUENCES<\/p>\n
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\u2019s why it\u2019s had such longevity.<\/p>\n
Her on-stage get-ups also have distinct country themes and are very reminiscent of her idol Dolly Parton\u2019s \u2013 think big hair, rhinestones and cowboy boots \u2013 except CMAT has the added sparkle of tooth gems.<\/p>\n
However, she claims she isn\u2019t accepted by the Nashville establishment. \u201cPeople think that I\u2019m taking the p*** or I\u2019m using elements of country music because I think it\u2019s a funny, interesting thing to do, and not because it is a really inherent and important pillar of my work as a songwriter,\u201d she told Vogue.<\/p>\n
Another massive influence on CMAT\u2019s music is Ireland. Euro-Country\u2019s cover is CMAT stepping out of the old Blanchardstown Shopping Centre fountain, somewhere she used to haunt in her teen years.<\/p>\n
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\u2019t afraid to fight against the romanticised version of Ireland that\u2019s often portrayed in the media. \u201cIt\u2019s a really hard place to live, a really hard place to grow up, unless you have money, which we didn\u2019t. So yeah, magical, beautiful, mystical Ireland: it\u2019s a shopping centre, that\u2019s what I grew up with,\u201d she told The Guardian. She also doesn\u2019t shy from talking about her own issues with mental health, explaining that songwriting comes from a place of heightened emotions. \u201cI\u2019m crazy and I do crazy things, and I have crazy relationships with people,\u201d she told The Guardian, explaining that she\u2019s experienced auditory and visual hallucinations, such as seeing bugs in her apartment that weren\u2019t there.<\/p>\n
WHAT\u2019S NEXT<\/p>\n
So what keeps pushing CMAT forward? The same thing as many Irish people \u2013 Catholic guilt! She is plagued with thoughts like \u201cI don\u2019t deserve to be here, so I\u2019m not allowed to be lazy,\u201d she told Vogue. \u201cIf I\u2019m going to be here, if I\u2019m going to have this job, this life, then I have to work harder than everyone who\u2019s ever worked, or I deserve to die \u2013because that is Irish Catholic guilt and that\u2019s how it works.\u201d<\/p>\n
This article originally appeared in December’s issue of RSVP Magazine.<\/p>\n
You can buy your copy and have it delivered directly to your door through our online shop here.<\/a> Postage fees apply.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Irish music’s newest ‘Euro-Country’ pop sensation is a fast-rising star thanks to one of her songs going viral…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":235477,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[15544,61,60,15949,43],"class_list":["post-235476","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-ireland","tag-country-music","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-meath","tag-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235476","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=235476"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/235476\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/235477"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=235476"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=235476"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=235476"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
![\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/0_GettyImages-2227262757.jpg\")
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)<\/p>\n