CMAT hits out at ‘fake version' of Irish identity ‘built up by Americans and English people'

Irish Independent

23-05-2025

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.