It was a mammoth year last year for Cork pop star Lyra, after releasing her debut album in 2024 which flew to number one in the charts.
Her self-titled album reached the top of the Irish chart after its release, surpassing Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter.
Now she is working on album number two, set to be released later this year - she has opened up to RSVP Magazine about what we can expect from it.
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"It’s so much fun because I’m finally done with writing about me and my ex-boyfriend," Lyra laughed. "I am having fun exploring me as a woman and as a female in the industry, just as a female in general. I’m finding it very empowering. Having album number one behind me, and it having such success, it’s given me lovely confidence and I believe in myself a bit more for album two. It makes it more fun as I feel like I’m not stuck following rules, or writing to be number one or be on the radio. I’m writing because I passionately want to get a second album out there. The first song I’ve written for the album is juicy. I love it."
With her debut album being such as success, one might think there's a lot of pressure on her second to be even better - but Lyra isn't feeling that way.
"I actually feel less pressure, because I feel accepted in the music industry now in a way I’ve never felt before," she explained. "I’ve been in the music industry and always been told to change, until this LYRA album. I had a new team and a lot of people were accepting me for who I was as an artist and I got to bring out a body of work that I was very proud of. Because that went No1 and I got so much love from the Irish public, I feel accepted, I feel a bit taller, a bit prouder.
"When I go into writing rooms now, I’m much more dominant and I feel a bit more powerful. I feel like, ‘Actually, I am great at this and I can do it’. That’s why I’m very excited about album two, because that scared feeling is gone now."
She has been travelling between Ireland and UK as she has been working on the album, but she ruled out a permanent move to the UK.
"No, I am a homebird," said Lyra. "I love my family to death, we’re very close. I don’t go a day where I don’t speak to my mum and dad at least once. That’s how close we are. And the kids, my nieces and nephews, I love them too much. Time is so precious, my dad’s getting older, my mum is getting older, the kids are growing up and I want to be around."
Lyra was recently announced as the Safe Home, Safe Pathways Campaign Ambassador to help Safe Ireland encourage the public to stand together against domestic violence. You can find more information on Safe Ireland’s services on their website, safeireland.ie.
Read the full interview in this month's issue of RSVP Magazine - on shelves now
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