CMAT (2026)

One Liner:  Irish power pop gal with a strong voice

Wikipedia Genre:  Folk, pop, country

Home: Dublin

Poster Position: Second Quarter - Line 11.
Both Weekends.
Friday at 2:45

American Express Stage.

Thoughts:  Just here in 2024, so not a very long turnaround.

Not the Common Management Admission Test taken in India to apply to a management programme.  Instead, this is an Irish musician named Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson whose first album - If My Wife Knew I'd Be Dead - was released in 2022 and debuted at number one on the Irish Chart.

This has nothing to do with anything, but I just tried making mayonnaise for the first time.  It is terrible.  I think the cookbook should have done more to detail the proper type of oil to use, as this goop now tastes like solidified olive oil.  And it is very yellow.  Not appetizing in the least.  I need to smear it on a bacon sandwich now and then see what's up.

Anyhoo, she left Ireland to move to Manchester, England to pursue music with her boyfriend, performing together as Bad Sea.  She has since described that relationship as toxic and so she quit music for a while, but Charlie XCX met her and advised her to get back on the horse.  That has worked out really well for her, as that debut album won the Choice Music Prize in Ireland for album of the year.  I think her voice reminds me of Neko Case, and a little like Kate Bush.  Or am I hearing the Lake Street Dive lady?  I like it.

Lotta singles, then that 2022 album followed up by 2023's Crazymad, For Me.  Her top track is from that debut album - "I Don't Really Care For You," with 18.2 million streams.

Her voice is really good - has a cool tone that is a little old-timey and fulsome.  I've been letting her roll for longer than I needed to, just enjoying the vibe.  The top track off of the 2023 album is "Stay for Something," with 21.9 million streams.  

Sounds like a War on Drugs song there at the beginning.  Or Strand of Oaks?  Never can really remember which one of those to invoke when I hear their sound.  Whatevs.  Her aesthetic is whack with the huge red hair and a gold tooth.  But again, I think her voice is really choice.  It feels caged in for a lot of that song, like she would love to release it but keeps it in check for us until the chorus.  Wikipedia says she has been described as a bisexual icon.

Since she was last here, she released 2025's Euro-Country, which has great song titles like "Billy Byrne from Ballybrack, the Leader of the Pigeon Convoy" or "Lord, Let That Tesla Crash."  The top track on there is "Take a Sexy Picture of Me."  31.3 million streams.

Yeah, that is a kind of funny one.  "When a Good Man Cries" definitely sounds like Neko Case again.  Nothing not to like about this gal - enjoying it for sure.

I can see her really banging this show out inside of the Tito's Tent - feels like she'll rip the roof off of that sucker.