Sitting in a London studio amid the constant churn of filming, editing, releasing, and preparing for another run of live shows, Janet Devlin is exactly where you’d expect her to be: in motion. Even before the conversation properly begins, she’s laughing about the whirlwind surrounding her latest release.
Janet Devlin
“It’s chaos at the minute,” she says. “Especially when releases happen, because I have so much content to film and edit and upload whilst also trying to do the artist stuff.”
That sense of controlled chaos isn’t new — in fact, it’s become something of a defining trait. “It’s always chaos,” she continues. “It’s just what brand of chaos we’re dealing with.”
It’s a mindset that feels hard-earned. After an intense stretch of near non-stop work from April 2024 through to Christmas, Devlin finally allowed herself a rare pause. “I took January off, which was absolutely lovely,” she says. “I was back home in Ireland, just hanging out with my mum, taking care of the pony, watching TV… and I definitely put on like a stone and a half. But that was my break — I hadn’t taken a holiday in like four years.” The reset was brief, though. With her latest single Working For The Man now out, she’s firmly back in the grind. “It’s pretty much me in the grind for the next two years.”
That relentless output — particularly across social media — isn’t something Devlin has adopted to keep up with the industry. It’s simply who she’s always been. “I was definitely an internet kid,” she explains. “Since I was like 10, when we got broadband.” Long before it became an expectation for artists, she was uploading to YouTube, sharing snippets of her life. “I started my YouTube channel in like 2006 — just silly wee horse videos, life stuff, my friends… I’ve always loved that side of things.”
By 2010, she’d already built a following of around 20,000 subscribers, though she never viewed it through a professional lens. “I had no concept of it. I just… I’ve always been a very online, sharing type of person.” That instinct didn’t always align with how the industry operated at the time. “I remember being laughed at when I was posting vlogs,” she says. “People were like, ‘Oh, that’s so cute you upload these little videos.’ And then after COVID, the same people had to do it. I was like, well… sucks for you.”
Janet Devlin
For Devlin, the appeal of creating content goes beyond visibility — it’s about ownership. Having experienced the loss of control that can come with early exposure to television, she now values being able to shape her own narrative. “With my upbringing in TV, I see it as such a blessing to be the one in the editor’s chair,” she explains. “I’m an oversharer, chronically, so I do it on the internet now.” While her openness has often been linked to her time in the spotlight, she’s quick to point out it’s always been part of her personality. “I had my YouTube channel before the show — I’ve just always been like this.”
Still, that early exposure came with its own challenges. “You’re watching it live with everyone else,” she recalls. “You have no idea how you’ve been edited or how you’re going to come across.” Regaining that control became a turning point. “It excited me when I got back in the driver’s seat,” she says. “Like, I can just edit it myself.” Now, her music and storytelling feel intrinsically linked. “It felt weird to just put music out,” she admits. “People seemed to really care about me… so it was about marrying those two worlds.”
That blending of personal narrative and music is perhaps best exemplified by Working For The Man. While the track feels immediate, its origins stretch back 14 years. “I wrote it when I was 17,” she says. Initially recorded for a project that never saw the light of day, the song lingered in the background despite fan enthusiasm. “That really bugged me,” she admits. “Fans loved it, I loved it… and then to not put it out felt really bad.”
It wasn’t until a recent trip to Nashville — where Devlin recorded 22 songs in just three days — that the opportunity to revisit it arose. “I just thought, I don’t want to waste the opportunity of never getting to record this song,” she says. Even then, she didn’t expect it to become a focal point. “When it was proposed as a single, I was shocked. In my brain, why would I assume a song I wrote 14 years ago would be a single now?”
Janet Devlin @ The Long Road Festival 2025
Yet the track’s themes have only become more resonant with time. “Annoyingly, it is still relevant,” she says. “If anything, it’s gotten worse.” Rooted in her upbringing, the song reflects early experiences of financial struggle and the emotional weight that came with it. “We didn’t have a lot of money growing up,” she recalls. “My dad built the house with his own hands — concrete floors, unpainted walls.” One memory in particular still lingers. “I remember my mum apologising that we couldn’t go on foreign holidays… and that broke my heart, because all I saw was my parents working so hard and still not being able to afford things.”
That sense of frustration hasn’t faded. “I still feel 17,” she says. “Frustrated, annoyed, angry… and there’s still no solution.” It’s that emotion that fuels the track’s energy. “I wanted it to feel gritty, angry — like it gets your back up a little bit.” The new version leans into that intensity, even adding a rapid-fire section that pushes the song further. “It’s even angrier than the rest of the song,” she says. “I needed something that married it all together.”
Despite the weight of the subject matter, Devlin’s creative outlook feels more balanced than ever. After releasing deeply confessional work in the past, she now embraces both the heavier and lighter sides of her personality. “I did that confessional album and poured everything out,” she says. “From there, I was like ten stone lighter mentally.” Now, she’s comfortable existing in both spaces. “I’m a very silly, not-taking-life-too-seriously type of girl. But I also feel things super deeply. It’s nice to have both the light and the shade.”
There are still areas she feels remain unresolved — particularly when it comes to writing love songs. “I’ve written loads,” she admits. “But every time I send them to people I trust, it’s like, ‘No, not your best.’” Despite confidence in the lyrics, something doesn’t quite connect. “The melodies just don’t seem to sing with it,” she says, suggesting the issue may be more personal than technical. “Maybe it’s because I’ve not been in love properly… I’ve only got into remission with BPD in the last two years, so maybe I need a relationship that’s actually normal and lovely.”
Looking back, Devlin is candid about the struggles she’s faced, but equally clear about their value. “All that pain… it’s been useful,” she says. That openness has translated into meaningful connections with listeners. “I’ve had people message me saying they poured booze down the sink after hearing my story… and then three years later, they’re sober. That’s insane.” It’s a responsibility she acknowledges, but she doesn’t let it weigh her down. “I don’t fear failure,” she says. “If something happens, you just push on.”
Janet Devlin
That same authenticity carries through to her live performances. Whether playing with a full band or in a stripped-back trio, the energy remains rooted in connection. “With the full band, you get that big sound,” she says. “But the stripped-down set… it’s just a different energy.” That smaller setup, built with longtime collaborators, offers something equally powerful. “I love them like brothers,” she says. “And the joy and love we have on stage kind of makes up for the fact that there’s only three of us.”
If there’s a single thread running through everything Devlin does, it’s momentum — a refusal to stand still, paired with a willingness to evolve and an honesty that never feels diluted. “I’m making the most out of the cards I was dealt,” she says simply.
And with Working For The Man, she proves she’s still pushing forward — as fiercely, and as unapologetically, as ever.
Janet Devlin @ The Long Road Festival 2025
Interview with Janet Devlin by Henry Finnegan, April 2026. Instagram: @finneganfoto | Facebook: @finneganfoto
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