CMAT hits out at ‘fake version' of Irish identity ‘built up by Americans and English people'
The 29-year-old, whose real name is Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson, is part of a number of Irish acts to rise to popularity abroad in recent years alongside the likes of indie rockers Fontaines DC and rap trio Kneecap, which has prompted a surge in interest in Irish culture in the UK and US.
Speaking to Glamour UK, the Co Meath singer, who plays the Guinness Storehouse tomorrow night, said: 'I didn't relate to any of it, like, why am I seeing Claddagh rings everywhere? The GAA jerseys?
'Why is everyone pretending we had this exact same childhood?
'There's this very romantic vision of Ireland, but I grew up in a place where it's not very fun to grow up. This fake version of our identity was being built up by Americans and English people and claimed for themselves.'
The singer is due to release her third album, Euro-Country, later this year, and says the record features a song about a performance at BBC Radio 1's Big Weekend – when the BBC had to switch the comments off due to people body-shaming her – called Take a Sexy Picture of Me.
'That song is about getting fat-shamed on the internet all the time. I wanted to really dig into commercial attractiveness and how women are pruned into this marketable product until they turn about 27,' she told Glamour UK.
'I genuinely didn't care that people got so angry that I thought I was sexy, but it forced a lot of 15-year-old girls who love CMAT, who might even be bigger than me, to witness a level of vitriol against a woman's body against her will.'
The full interview can be read in the May digital issue of Glamour UK.
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