Written by Oscar Yards

ARTIST SPOTLIGHT #001 : ETAOIN

If you could get a degree in writing painfully specific lyrics and songs that somehow know exactly what you were trying not to think about, Etaoin would indeed, be a doctor.

There is a particular kind of artist you discover before anyone else does, the kind where everything already feels fully formed, even while the world around them is still catching up. Etaoin is one of those artists.

The London based, Irish singer-songwriter has quietly been building a catalogue defined by her emotional honesty and ability to make intensely personal experiences feel strangely universal. Across her discography songs like Pale Damp Cheeks, I Hate Everyone (but I don't mind you), Golden and ever blue, Etaoin has carved a space out that is somewhere between confessional pop and contemporary singer-songwriter but reducing her music to either doesn't even begin to capture what makes it work.

The heart of it all, is her writing. Etaoin doesn't seem particularly interested in sanding down emotions to make them easier for us to consume. In fact, her songs relish in the awkward parts, the conversations you replay afterwards and the relationships you're technically over until something reminds you that you're not. 

It's feels like you have been dropped directly into the moment.

FROM BEDROOM WALLS TO SOMETHING BIGGER

Etaoin's 2021 debut EP Bedroom Walls introduced an artist whose strength was already remarkably clear. Songs 'For Her, I Dare You and Bedroom walls" established the intimate storytelling that would soon become central to her work and her artistic hook. Her work drew very early support from BBC Introducing and began a journey that has since taken her far beyond the bedroom walls she was talking to. Bedroom Walls, her debut single is actually how I first discovered Etaoin, deep into the apple music new release page I found a hidden Gem.

"I've been talking to my bedroom walls"  

"Cause' I never had the guts to call, when I wonder how you're doing."

Is Etaoin's version of "hello", instead of quietly introducing herself she immediately throws you into her heartbreak, grit and all.

Her catalogue has continued to evolve with her.

Later releases have expanded the world around her songwriting without sacrificing what made it compelling in the first place. The production has grown and found it's welcome depth and the perspective has shifted. Her confidence has become increasingly apparent, but there remains a recognisable thread running through everything Etaoin makes: the song always comes first.

In a music landscape where artists can sometimes feel pressured to manufacture a fifteen-second moment before they've even finished writing the chorus, Etaoin's music rewards actually listening. Verses matter. Details matter. The line before the hook matters.

And when the hook does arrives, it almost always usually hurts.

BUILT INDEPENDENTLY

Perhaps what is equally as interesting is her career being built around the music.

With millions of streams, sold-out headline shows in London and Dublin, international touring and deeper industry recognition including Amazon Music's One to Watch, Etaoin has already reached milestones that demonstrate something increasingly important for emerging artists: there isn't only one route to building an audience.

in 2026 she is now releasing independently through her own imprint, Manic Pixie Records, Etaoin is part of a generation of artists increasingly taking greater ownership over how their music reaches the world and that is an important step for the industry to take, acknowledging the artist is the only one who can truly make the music connect.For Etaoin this makes sense for an artist whose work has always felt distinctly hers.

Not only does it feel distinctly hers, it is. Being written primarily on a guitar and transported to the studio in demo forms her music doesn't seem to need much polishing from pen to streaming. Her songwriting is so solid the studio time seems to be spent working almost entirely on building the music around the song, and more recently that production is rooting itself deeper into the track than ever. Bedroom walls as an EP was a very acoustic and simplistic sound,  beautifully so. But with tracks like forest fire, and I hate everyone, there's a sense of pride when you hear those blueprints transform into something bigger, where architecture becomes more ambitious. Etaoin, fully produced just... Makes sense...

Her second EP which we just briefly mentioned, I Hate Everyone (but I don't mind you) delivers something interesting, a clear evolution from her original debut which, I know now was written initially many years ago and obviously held a beautiful sentiment for Etaoin that she needed to return to it, for her first official release. I Hate Everyone, the EP, as I'm going to call it, was much more of a recent creation and you can hear that in its freshness. Even now, the EP has a crispness that doesn't stale. The title track which also happens to be the opening track throws some new sounds at you, of course the guitar is there but this time it's accompanied by some other instrumentation and like I said before it was a welcome change. Possibly more surprising than the increased production was the unusual sound of a pop song, chorus drums some plinky strings and piano hook. For Etaoin that was something that likely felt like a reach, something that perhaps she'd even scoff at, but I'm sure to her surprise, pop Etaoin has potential on her own.

Imagine Maisie Peters and Lily Allen birthed a paradoxical parallel universe version of Phoebe Bridgers, Lizzie Mcalphine or even Gracie Abrams and then pointed a gun at her head and told her to write a pop song. Obviously, we all know It'd be a great song, but unavoidable would be the layer of darkness and melancholy. I Hate Everyone even has that amusing sarcasm to it that only the greatest songwriters have learnt to master. 

While we wait for Etaoin's first full length project which I'm sure is somewhere just over the horizon giving credit to her penmanship by listening to her work is all we can do, after all she has no physical releases yet, which is a shame but considering she is so early into her career its understandable. I know I will be one of the first to buy her music on vinyl when it gets its well deserved run. Currently she is doing odd shows and the occasional small tour as either a headliner or a supporting act.

I got the privilege to see Etaoin in 21 Soho in London for a headline show and despite the intimacy of the venue and the small production her presence was huge, she had the audience laughing, singing and definitely shedding a few tears. Vocally her distinctive voice is just as powerful live as she recreates perfectly her music from streaming to the stage and it'd be wrong not to mention her impressive guitar skills which I'm sure are often overlooked by her voice.

WHY ETAOIN?

The Artist Spotlight exists for exactly this kind of artist.

Artists where their trajectory feels unfinished and they are just getting started. Sure what they've already created is very exciting but what they could create next is even more interesting and anticipated.

Etaoin has already proved she can write.

She's proved people will listen.

And she's building an audience willing to follow her into whatever comes next.

As her production builds, so does everything else and I'm dying to see where she will go.

Etaoin will be supporting Freya Ridings for her Sheffield date of her headline tour, Get tickets here

Artist Spotlight #001: Etaoin

Songsense Recommends:

Start with: For Her
Then listen to: Hate Everyone (but I don't mind you), Forest Fire, I hate how I look in my head
For fans of: diaristic songwriting, intimate pop, devastating bridges.

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