Dublin songwriter returns with her most contemplative single yet, the first taste of new music since her second album Smiling Like An Idiot.
Sorcha Richardson is back. ‘Grenadine’ is her first new music since Smiling Like An Idiot landed at number four in the Official Irish Album Charts and topped the Irish Independent Albums Chart – a record that confirmed in numbers what we already knew that Sorcha is one of the most consistent and compelling Irish songwriters working today.
Before that, her debut First Prize Bravery earned a Choice Music Prize nomination and introduced her voice to a much wider audience. In the years since, she’s accumulated over 80 million streams, toured the world as both headliner and special guest for Mitski, Villagers, Snow Patrol and Dodie, and sold out the Barbican in London. Fans range from Ellie Goulding to Gwyneth Paltrow.
Last month she debuted new material at Other Voices in Dingle, performing at St. James Church in what was described as a blistering set. ‘Grenadine’ is the first official single from whatever comes next.
It was written in West Kerry and recorded in Belfast with Chris Ryan, who has also worked with Just Mustard, NewDad and Chalk. The production centres on warm guitars and atmospheric Hammond organ, and the arrangement gives Richardson space to do what she does best – write hook-led lyrics that sit with an uncomfortable thought until it becomes unavoidable.
The song deals with a slow, quiet kind of collapse. A crisis of faith in herself, in relationships, in what she assumed to be true about life. She describes life’s most devastating moments as ones that can occur so quietly they trick you into thinking nothing has changed at all. ‘Grenadine’ is the process of reaching back for the things you still know to be real, using them to stay grounded while everything else shifts.
“’Grenadine’ is kind of a crisis of faith… in myself, in relationships, in what I thought to be true about life. Sometimes life’s most devastating moments occur so quietly as to trick you into thinking nothing’s changed at all. It takes a long time to make sense of it. This is a way of reaching for things you still know to be true, no matter how small, to ground yourself in rocky waters.”
Sorcha Richardson
More new music is planned throughout 2026. On this evidence, it’s shaping up to be her most inward-facing and emotionally precise work yet.
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Niall Byrne is the founder of the most-influential Irish music site Nialler9, where he has been writing about music since 2005. He is the co-host of the Nialler9 Podcast and has written for the Irish Times, Irish Independent, Sunday Times, Totally Dublin, Cara Magazine, Red Bull and more. Niall is a DJ, co-founder of Lumo Club, event curator, Indie Sleaze club promoter, and producer of gigs and monthly listening parties & events in Dublin.
