Ella Eyre talks to Hot Press

When up and coming soul songstress Ella Eyre plays Dublin’s Academy in October, it’ll hopefully be second time lucky for the 20-year-old Londoner. The BRIT winner was meant to deliver her debut solo Irish show in Bundoran this summer, but a road accident truly scuppered that.

“I’ve actually played Ireland before with the Rudimental boys when I was on tour with them,” she explains. “Then I was meant to play my own gig at Sea Sessions. I was absolutely gutted when we had a bus crash soon after we’d got off the ferry.”
She and her band were an hour into the drive to Donegal when it happened. “Our bus collided with a car,” she recalls. “My keyboard player and one of my backing singers went to the hospital. So it was just a very dramatic day. I was disappointed about that because that was going to be my first solo show, and my first festival in Ireland. It was such a shame I had to cancel. I’m really looking forward to coming back to play the Academy.”
Although Ella’s real surname is McMahon, she doesn’t actually have any Irish blood. “Yeah, it is an Irish name. I’m not Irish though,” she explains. “It’s quite depressing, really. I’m actually Jamaican, and one of my Jamaican ancestors was shipped over to Ireland to be a slave – and then you take on your master’s surname. So that’s how I got the name, apparently.”
Thankfully, the only thing Ella is a slave to is rhythm. Since signing to Virgin EMI two years ago, she has featured on chart-topping band Bastille’s cover of TLC’s ‘No Scrubs’ . Shortly after, casual songwriting sessions with then unknowns Rudimental and Naughty Boy led to Ella being involved in a No.1 and No.2 album respectively in the form of Home and Hotel Cabana. Her single with Rudimental, ‘Waiting All Night’ was one of 2013’s biggest hits. She spent much of last year on tour with Plan B, Rudimental and Bastille, playing sold-out shows across the globe.
With her magnificent mane of leonine hair, powerhouse soul vocal and impressively energetic dancing, this year she’s mostly been making waves with her own solo performances. “I’ve been doing loads of shows,” she enthuses. “They’ve been so much fun because I did a lot with the Rudimental boys the year before. To go back and do the same stages as a solo artist was quite surreal, especially because everything went really well.”
Ella is now set to release her euphoric new single ‘Comeback’, a thrilling, horn-led smash with a whole heap of attitude. The song is based on a break-up when Eyre was 17. However, it is written from the point of view of a troubled best friend.
“When I write, I’m quite honest about my situation,” she says. “ With ‘Comeback’ it’s pretty obvious that it’s about someone who’s sort of screwed you over and taken advantage. And, if anything, it’s a revenge song. A motivational song to make people feel better if somebody they care about is taking advantage of a friendship. That’s exactly what it was about for me.”
Her highly anticipated debut album will land in early 2015. “Because I’ve been writing for three years I guess it’s about growing up. It’s almost
like a diary.”
She has already been dubbed the “British Beyoncé.” Does that sort of heavyweight comparison add a lot of pressure?
“Not really, because I think the ‘British Beyoncé’ can be interpreted how you like it. Beyoncé’s an incredible artist so, if anything, it’s very flattering. But no... no pressure.”

Ella Eyre plays The Academy, Dublin, on October 20