Singer- songwriter Allie Sherlock told David Hennessy about building an army of millions of followers after starting off busking and her forthcoming tour.
Allie Sherlock is about to embark on her Damage Control tour that takes her all around Europe with several dates around the UK.
Allie has shared the stage with massive names such as The Script, Macklemore and Gavin James.
And she worked her way up from the streets busking from the age of 11 first in her native Cork, as she is originally from Douglas, and then on Grafton Street in Dublin with her videos going viral and earning her millions of followers.
We caught up with the singer- songwriter, who is still only 20 to talk about her new music and forthcoming tour.
You’re obviously not doing any busking today but you still do busk quite a lot, don’t you?
“Yeah, I do.
“I do it every Saturday and Sunday, just not weekdays.
“I’m in Dublin Saturday and Sundays and Monday through Friday I’m in Cork.
“I still love it.
“It’s the best.
“Honestly it’s just like a whole community up there, I’ve got so many friends and I get to perform.
“It’s just the whole thing.
“It’s amazing.”
You’ve got your biggest tour to date coming up, is there a difference for you between playing on the stage and the street because I know some people miss that closer interaction when they get on stage..
“I do.
“I always say that I love both, that every performance is just amazing for me.
“When I supported Macklemore, it was amazing.
“They were screaming, they were singing.
“It was so much fun.
“But I love performing whether it’s small stage, big stage, Grafton Street: It’s all fun for me.”
And it was with the busking that you really made your name. I bet when you first went out in Cork or on Grafton Street in Dublin, you never thought it would get you millions of followers..
“No, definitely not.
“I just went for fun, never expected anything out of it.
“My dad started recording and it just went viral. It just blew up.
“It was completely unexpected.”
You just mentioned supporting Macklemore and you have supported other big names like Gavin James, what’s been the big pinch me moment for you?
“You know what? I had tickets to go see Macklemore in Cork so when I got the email I was like, ‘This is absolutely insane. This couldn’t be real’.
“I thought it was a fake email but no, it was real and it was amazing, and the crowd was amazing.
“I think that was definitely a pinch me moment because I’m a huge fan of Macklemore.
“I love The Script.
“It’s going to be even double the size of what I did with Macklemore so it’s going to be pretty cool.”
You have been on The Late Late Show, is that also a special highlight?
“That was one of my goals for such a long time and to be able to go on there and play my own song was amazing and it was so much fun.
“Everyone was super sweet.”
You have named the big tour coming up Damage Control after your song of the same name. That’s a really meaningful song to you, isn’t it?
“Yeah.
“Damage Control is one of my most meaningful songs to me.
“I mean they’re all really meaningful.
“They’re all about me and something that’s happened in my life.
“Damage Control is something I go through every day because I’ve always struggled with talking about my feelings and my emotions and I wrote that song about feeling like I always have to be happy and smiling and all that.
“And I know a lot of people can relate to it as well so it’s the name of the song and it’s also the name of the tour.”
You say you have struggled with talking about your feelings, has music always been there for you? Has it been your way of communicating even?
“Yeah, 100%.
“If I’m going through anything at all, I’ll just sit down and write a song about it and it helps me.
“I know I say I don’t talk about my feelings but it’s more like an awkward thing where one of my friends comes up to me and asks me, ‘Are you okay? What’s wrong? Are you feeling okay?’
“I’m just like, ‘I’m all good, perfectly fine’, even when I’m not.
“But for my own self and for my own mental health, I’m okay because I can talk to my dad.
“It’s definitely easier than any of my friends.
“I still find it tough to do it but I do get it out through writing, writing music and singing, even covers.”
Allie left mainstream school to be home schooled due to bullying.
You’ve had tough times yourself, has music helped you through those tough times?
“Definitely, even just for me listening to music is one of the greatest things, you can feel so much.
“And again writing music just helps you get it out of your system.”
Allie lost her mother at 9 years of age.
Your song Back Together is clearly very personal and about loss.
It means a lot to you that song, doesn’t it?
“Yeah, it does.
“It’s about losing someone and just trying to get used to life without them and how different it can be and remembering all those little things that at that time when they were happening, they were just small things.
“They were nice but they didn’t mean that much but now that they’re gone, they mean everything.”
I found out something interesting in my research but I’m not sure, did you go on Britain’s Got Talent, is that right?
“Yeah, I did do Britain’s Got Talent.
“I did the first audition and then I did it in front of the judges, and I loved it.
“I got a standing ovation.
“It was amazing.
“But we left, we didn’t continue,” Allie laughs.
“We literally just walked out so it never got aired.”
Oh, so that’s why I couldn’t find any video.
It wasn’t for you basically, is that it?
“No, it wasn’t for me.
“I kind of wanted to do it and I was advised not to do it, but I did it and it was like 10 hours of interviews and videos.
“But I’m glad I did it because I think I would have regretted not doing it because I was like, ‘I want to do it. I want to do it’.
“But no, it never got aired and so that’s why nobody ever really knows.
“I just love doing the busking and all that so yeah, we said no.”
Obviously you have millions of fans across numerous social networks and that’s great but I think what impresses me more is how committed some of them are.
I saw about one guy flying around the world to sing with you.
What’s it like to have such committed fans?
“It’s beautiful, it’s amazing.
“Yeah, the guy that came around the world, he was from Mexico and he was just such a fan and he asked to sing with me and he was amazing.
“Sometimes they come up and they ask to sing and I’m like, ‘Yeah, sure’ and it’s not the best but I just smile through it, but he was really good and it was so much fun.”
Does it get difficult at all being so recognisable now?
“Yeah, sometimes they can get a little bit weird, sometimes a little bit too touchy but I always have my dad with me so he’s always there to make sure nobody’s being too weird. He’ll stop them but I’m also strong enough to be like, ‘Don’t get too close, thank you. Or too touchy’.
“I mean, close is fine.
“You can put your arm around me for a picture but sometimes they just go their arms around here and they’re going this area (Allie indicates her chest).
“I’m just like, ‘No, take your hand off’, and I just walked away.
“So if you want a picture, respect, but most of the time it’s amazing and I rarely have problems.”
I’ve seen videos of you singing on the street with people like Tom Grennan and Ella Henderson, what’s it like to have such well known people liking what you do?
“It’s amazing.
“I’m such a huge fan of Tom Grennan and Ella, they are genuinely the sweetest people ever.
“I wrote my song How Love Works with Ella Henderson actually so I knew her before that and it was just really cool.
“And I got to sing it.
“I sang How Love Works while she was there before it was released and she loved it which is really cool and singing with Tom Grennan was also amazing.
“The street was insane.
“Thousands of people stopped.”
I’m not surprised. You say music’s always been there for you. Would you ever have thought of doing anything other than music?
“No, I was one that believed that I needed to have a backup plan.
“My dad was like, ‘You need to have a plan B just in case’.
“Because music might not always be the safest option but so far, I’ve never needed to use my plan B.
“Well my dad and my aunt owned a creche so that was my plan B.
“When I finished school, I would do the course and work there in case music didn’t work out.
“But then they sold the creche and now it’s just music.”
What do you like to do away from music? If you’re not performing or singing or writing?
“I’m usually doing one of them.
“But if I’m not, I sometimes go out with my friends.
“I always have time for myself but I also do a lot of the background work for my music because there’s so many emails and I do my social media and editing videos.
“And sometimes I do the accountancy work for the company because sometimes I might not be gigging or might not be doing music, so I always have something that will keep me busy.”
You have gotten to work with Ryan Tedder since signing to his Patriot Records label some years ago.
He is well known as a song writer, producer and, of course, lead singer of One Republic, what is it like to work with someone like that?
“It’s incredible and it’s such an amazing opportunity and thankfully, he was such an amazing guy.
“He was super, super kind to us.
“He would always send me birthday presents and he was just so nice and he treated us so well.
“Sometimes you can expect some famous people to be a little bit snobby and not the nicest but he was genuinely so sweet and an incredible songwriter and producer.
“I couldn’t even fathom.
“When I was in the room I was just like, ‘This is insane’.
“It was just right there.
“In five minutes he had a whole song written.
“He was just walking around the room and he was like, ‘Okay, we’re going to write this’.
“And then types it down and he sings it, and then he’s, ‘Sing that, sing that’.
“And I’m like, ‘Insane’.”
I bet you really learned there, what about joining the collective Irish Women in Harmoney back in the lockdown. It also included big names like Moya Brennan, Imelda May, Lisa Hannigan, Una Healy and Caroline Corr, was that also a learning experience?
“Yeah, it was such an amazing opportunity to be a part of that because what they do is so beautiful for domestic violence.
“It was really cool.
“They’re all so sweet.
“I love RuthAnne.
“I wrote with her when I was in London once and she’s really sweet.”
Do you get to come to London much?
“Yeah, I’m over in London every so often.
“I’m either over there for songwriting sessions or for meetings or content like music videos and things like that so I’m over there a good bit.”
What’s next for you? Obviously, you’re just looking forward to this Damage Control tour and there’s new music to come also..
“Yeah, I’m really excited for the tour.
“I can’t wait.
“And new music, it’s gonna keep coming.
“I’ve got a cover Ordinary by Alex Warren and then my next single.
“But yeah. Very excited.”
Can you tell us about the new single you have coming?
“I only wrote it recently.
“It’s about a guy that was a little bit too clingy for me and I’m very hot and cold.
“Sometimes first I’m like, ‘Oh, I love you’.
“And the next week I’m like, ‘Get away from me’.
“I’m very hot and cold.
“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.
“So I wrote a song about that and I’m like, ‘I want you’ and then the second verse is like, ‘I don’t want you’.
“’Stay’ but, ‘Don’t stay’.
“It’s like going through phases.”
Obviously you have kept up the busking until now. It’s where you really honed your craft and although you’re touring Europe, I get the sense you have no intention of giving it up, would I be right?
“You know, I love it so much right now.
“I’ve always said that I will continue it until I can’t do it anymore so right now I’m still going to continue it.
“I’ve got so many friends up there and it’s a really big, beautiful community and it’s a lot of fun.
“So right now I want to stay, I want to stick to it but if one day I can’t do it anymore then maybe move on to bigger, bigger things.”
Ordinary by Allie Sherlock is out now.
Allie Sherlock tours Europe with her Damage Control tour in October.
Allie plays O2 Academy 2 in Liverpool on 22 October, Key Club in Leeds on 23 October, Patterns in Brighton on 25 October, MK11 in Milton Keynes on 26 October, O2 Academy 2 in Birmingham on 27 October and Bush Hall in London on 29 October.
Before that she also joins Tom Grennan on his UK tour in September.
For more information, click here.
