The Irish singer-songwriter spoke to NME about her upcoming second album, working with "real deal" Declan McKenna, the impact of the collaborative group FIZZ on her solo music, and the inspiration of St. Vincent and Caroline Polachek Orla Gartland has spoken to NME about her “bolder” and “more intentional” second studio album, ‘Everybody Needs A Hero’ – on which she tackles themes of “girlhood and womanhood”. The Irish singer-songwriter’s new record will be released on October 4 via her own label, New Friends.
It’s a record she told NME was created very differently to her debut, 2021’s ‘Woman On The Internet’ , with the album’s title being key to its narrative. “The last track of the record is called ‘Everybody Needs A Hero’ as well, and I actually just really wanted to call both the album and the song this before they existed, which is very different to how it worked with the first album,” Gartland explained. “For the first album, I really did just write a collection of songs and then took the title from a lyric, whereas this whole album process was a lot more intentional,” she added.
Gartland elaborated on the differences between the two records, saying: “Making this album took a lot longer than the first one did, and it was picked up and put down because of how busy I was last year, and I’m really proud of myself for pushing forward and for committing. “When I listen to it now, I have a real ‘We did it Joe’ feeling, we ju.