HXNEY’s music is exactly as her name would suggest. The singer, from Drogheda in Co. Louth is a purveyor of sweet R&B that positively drips with sensuality. Her latest track ‘Happy Ending’ pairs her signature sound with a fresh, folksy undertone.

“If we just released the demo,” she tells us, “it would technically be a folk song. I made it with my friend Sammy, also known as Solow The Astronaut. We started with a guitar on a loop, so the feeling really is very folky.”

It’s doing really well.

“It is,” she nods. “I don’t pay too much attention, because I’m always like, ‘Okay, let me focus on the next thing’. But compared to all my songs, it’s the one that has stood out. I’ve started to allow myself not to be so controlling when it comes to songwriting – I trust the people I work with.”

Some songs come easier than others: ‘Jeje’ – another song with a folksy twang – was written in a mere 10 minutes.

“It was about a guy that liked me and I wasn’t really feeling it,” she notes. “I was just talking into the mic, saying what was on my mind. It was so easy. Sometimes I feel like an imposter, because I feel, ‘Oh, I just got lucky with that one’ or ‘That’s just a lucky song’. Sometimes I’ll spend weeks trying to find the perfect hook, and then there are days where it it falls right out of you.”

Is there something specific that motivates HXNEY to create?

“I didn’t have a big sis or anyone to instil standards and confidence in me when I was younger,” she replies. “I think I want my music to be that for younger girls who are 20, 21. Girls who are feeling themselves, and they love this guy so much, but they’re not being treated right. I want them to listen to my music, and hear me talking like a bad b, and be like, ‘You know what? F that guy!’”

That approach is just one of the reasons HXNEY has made our Hot for 2024 list.

“I was recently planning my year,” she says, “and I wanted to reimagine who I want to be as an artist, to go back to the drawing board. I was asking, ‘What are you actually doing and what do you want out of this?’ I notice that when I write, a lot of it is about my emotions and feelings. Some of the new stuff I’ve written is coming from a place of, ‘I’m wiser now, so this is how I am going to approach it’.”

HXNEY is happy to elaborate on this new-found wisdom.

“How would I respond to a guy breaking my heart now, versus when I was in my early twenties?” she asks. “The way I would’ve written the song, it would probably have been from a place of, ‘I’m so sad’. But now, it’s more empowered. Like, ‘I know that I am better than this’. My approach to writing comes from a place of, ‘I’m raising my standard. I deserve this, I deserve that’.”

This attitude is reflected in some of HXNEY’s listening habits.

“I listen to a lot of Nicki Minaj,” she explains. “Funnily enough, because she is a rapper, it’s not even my sound. It’s like the opposite of everything I do. But I just love her confidence, and how she feels like she’s the best. I’m like, ‘I know I have that in me. I just need to work through all my traumas’.”

Hxney. Copyright Miguel Ruiz.

HXNEY’s mellifluous R&B is distinct from Minaj’s loud hip-hop, but there is a similar energy. Others on HXNEY’s playlist include SZA and Beyoncé.

“For sure, SZA is an inspiration, especially with writing,” she says. “She writes like she is having a conversation, which is almost my style of writing. I write like the person is in front of me, and I don’t need to make it sound clever, I just need to say what’s on my mind.”

Collaborating with female musicians is a high priority for HXNEY, who played an all-female bill headlined by Tara Devi last September.

“Honestly, I’m really trying to figure out where my intention is there too,” she says. “Like I said, I didn’t grow up with a big sis and I was kind of sheltered. When I was younger, I  had negative experiences when it comes to girls – bear in mind I went to an all-girl school in Drogheda – and I was bullied. I have freckles, so I got bullied for that.

“I was so sheltered that I’ve kind of been a lone wolf since forever. Since pursuing music properly, I try to cultivate my female friendships. I want to lean into that. Women are amazing – we’re very creative and so I want that community of womanhood.

“In the Irish scene, I see a lot of guys linking up in groups, but I feel like with the women, it’s less out there. I don’t know why we aren’t doing it. I want to lean into it and be like: we are the culture. If there’s a community of girls, I feel like we can make some dope stuff happen.”

So does HXNEY believe in girl power?

“Yes,” she responds. “I think we have a voice now, but we need to stop feeling like, ‘Oh I don’t know, I’m not gonna reach out’. Maybe I should set that example. It is scary sometimes, though. I want to make that my mission, to be an example.”

What are HXNEY’s plans for 2024?

“You can always plan, but you don’t know how things are going to go,” she muses. “What I am manifesting is to drop a project. If it’s not a project, at least four songs. An EP would be nice. I feel like it would give people an insight into me. Like, ‘This is her mind. I understand her now sonically’.

“I also want to play festivals. One thing I think artists might struggle with is feeling like you don’t have people in your corner, and I want to cultivate that this year. I wanna be busy, I wanna feel like I am reaching milestones. I wanna finish the year better than I started. I want growth.”

We’d put our money on that!

• HXNEY can be found on Instagram @hxneymusic. Listen to 'Happy Ending' below: