POST-BURNOUT
When Post-Burnout spoke with former X Factor star Janet Devlin last year, she had just released her latest album, Emotional Rodeo, which saw her transition into country music. While Beyoncé’s Cowboy Carter was a progenitor, since Emotional Rodeo, we have seen acts like Chappell Roan and Sabrina Carpenter also incorporate country into their distinctive pop stylings.
“True to form, I had been planning to go into country for so long, and, as a lifelong follower of country, I understand that it comes and goes, as far as the charts, per se,” Janet says of this coincidental timing when she spoke with us this year. “I had seen it in the early 2000s, obviously, when Shania Twain had all of her hits. You had the… [Sings ‘Life is a Highway’].
“So, you know what? I’ll be really honest, because I get asked about that a lot, like, ‘How do you feel about country being back, and you’ve been planning…?’, whatever. For me, I don’t really look sideways, you know what I mean? I’ve always been under this belief of, ‘Run your own race. Comparison’s a thief of joy,’ and I don’t need to know what everybody else is doing because that doesn’t affect me. [Laughs] I’m in my own lane!
“Maybe it would be different if I was as big as Sabrina Carpenter or something, and then I’d be like, ‘Gosh darn it! I really wanted to be the next Queen of Country!’ But, no, it doesn’t really affect my life at all, realistically. If anything, just as a country fan, it’s nice to see more people dipping their toes in it, the listeners, you know?
“There’s a lot of people who, maybe, their whole life had gone, ‘I’d never listen to country!’, and now they’re like, ‘Oh, you know, I like a little bit of Zack Bryan. I like a little bit of Morgan Wallen,’ you know? ‘Chris Stapleton’s got a great voice!’ I like that people are taking a bit more of an interest in it because it’s a great genre.”
Since making the transition last year, Janet has found that she’s been able to maintain the fanbase she worked so hard to establish, who were willing to go along on the ride with her, and a new fanbase of country fans. On a personal level, Janet, who has exorcised a lot of demons through her lyrics, finds that the transition to country has actually helped her in her personal life and with reevaluating perspectives. “It’s easier than the Confessional album,” she quips while discussing writing her current output.
“‘Cause that was incredibly difficult to write, these metaphorical songs that you’ve been through, with the Irish Catholicism thrown in. That was incredibly difficult, so anything from there has been incredibly easy. [Laughs]
“What’s been lovely is the writing side of things; it’s brought me closer to home, and the reason why I’m so glad that I did the proper move to country when I did was that I started appreciating the little things, I guess. Like, I have my parents, I have my brothers, I have my nieces and my nephew.
“I really, really do appreciate the smaller things in life, and, as a genre, you get to express that a lot more than maybe others, because it’s not cheesy to sing about being grateful and thankful in this genre, which I really appreciate, but, also, on the same token, I’m a silly person.
“I love being silly, I don’t take life too seriously at all, and, within country music, I get to express that as well. And, I’ve joked about this before, but I’m also an alcoholic, so I’ve got that wee box ticked, as well!”
To celebrate the anniversary of Emotional Rodeo, later in the year, Janet will release a deluxe version, titled Not My First Emotional Rodeo. “When I went out to Nashville for the first time to do Emotional Rodeo, I did, like, twenty-four songs,” Janet explains. “And then, on my second trip out, I did a further twenty-three or twenty-two songs, and an album is only fourteen songs long. [Laughs]
“So, yeah, I was left with this…and I still have so many tracks that haven’t been used. The sad thing about putting out Emotional Rodeo was the fact that I had to cut songs. You know, you don’t want to overload an album, either, you know what I mean? And the thing to consider when you’re putting out an album, for the people who actually listen top-to-tail, is there has to be a journey. You have to have the highs, lows, and middle-of-the-roads. All of those things need to be considered.
“So, some of my favourite songs didn’t make it on the album, so it was a bit like, Oh, bummer. So, especially when I came back from Nashville and had the twenty-four, I was like, What am I going to do with these? I always had in my head that there would be a deluxe, and, obviously, because the album was called Emotional Rodeo, what’s the deluxe going to be called? Easy-peasy! Not My First…!”
Of course, the journey and overall throughline of the album that Janet spoke of were still in consideration when adding these additional tracks. “So, essentially, the original album will stay in its place,” Janet explains of the order. “And then I will try and…Well, I already have! Saying it as if I’m going to do it! [Laughs] I had to consider the journey for these next tracks, which is much more difficult, obviously, because it’s eight songs and some of them weren’t put on the album because of how hard it was to fit ‘em in the journey. But I’ve done my best!”
The first release from this new version of Emotional Rodeo was the fun, light-hearted, and catchy pop-country track “Houston,” which was released two weeks ago. “I’ll be honest, I wrote this for the new album,” Janet says of the track. “But when I came back from Nashville, I talked with the label, and they were like, ‘How would you feel about putting it on Emo?’, and I was like, ‘You know what?’ No fighting, no know-how; I was just like, ‘That kind of makes sense, and I get it.’
“Then I heard what we did in Nashville, and it was much slower tempo, it was much more traditional country, like a ‘devil-may-care’ kind of track. So, if you added 15 BPM, that’s kind of where ‘Houston’ sits now. And that was solely because I was like, ‘I wonder what it would sound like, sped up.’
“So, I sped it up really garishly on my computer, and was like, ‘Oh, it actually could be a bit of a wee pop-country thing.’ And I think when I pitched it, I was like, ‘We can put the pop version on Emo, and then we could do the old-timey version on the next album,’ and that seems to be what I’m going for.”
We wrap by asking Janet when fans can expect Emotional Rodeo’s successor. “My aim is to have the whole thing…because it’s all organic instruments and all this sort of stuff, so the actual making part is less difficult than me getting it in and vocalising,” she responds.
“So, my deadline to have it all done by is October. The thing with doing that is that certain songs get done before the rest, and, naturally, it kind of falls in this order of what I like the most and what I want to get done quicker. The way I write is quite different; I have a big note that I add all my new ideas to, so even though I’m still coming up with new ideas, my focus is very much on what I’m doing.
“Even though the album might not be done until October, like with Emotional Rodeo, I might release a single from it way, way, way ahead of whenever these things get done. So, when it comes to the actual planning of releases and stuff, that’s out of my wheelhouse! [Laughs]”
Janet Devlin’s latest single, “Houston,” is out now. You can keep up with her through her website.
You can see Janet Devlin live at:
Aug. 22nd – Stanford Hall, UK – The Long Road Festival
Aug. 31st – Blackpool, UK – The British Country Music Festival
Oct. 16th – London, UK – Colours, Huxton
Tune into POSTBURNOUT.COM Interviews… tonight at 21:00 (IST) to hear this interview in full, where we expand on everything discussed as well as talk about her fans’ reactions to her going country, the state of the music industry and predictions on its future, and the use of AI in music. Available on YouTube, Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and Amazon Music Podcasts.
Aaron Kavanagh is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Post-Burnout. His writing can also be found in the Irish Daily Star, Buzz.ie, Totally Dublin, The GOO, Headstuff, New Noise Magazine, XS Noize, DSCVRD and more.