Check out the exclusive interview below:
1. Can you tell us a bit about where you come from and how it all got started?
Ivon: I grew up in a small town called Rosscarbery in southern Ireland writing music. I wrote my first song when I was 9 years old. It was my escape and my outlet in my youth when I didn’t have many friends to talk to. I worked on my craft for a solid decade before I even entertained the idea of making music publicly. I wanted to make sure I had the pipes and the lyricism to pull off the songs that I wanted to write. Then when “2020” happened, there was nothing to use as an excuse not to release the music I’d been recording and writing over the years. So I released 2 EPs in June of that year and I just went from there.
Cian: Well I began writing music in 2016 and didn’t write a good song until probably 2019! Producing was something I picked up in 2017 and I loved it and just kept doing it. In 2020 I realised, ‘wow I might actually be able to produce good quality music’, and so I started producing for artist friends – such as GER, and that’s how I became aware of Ivon. 3 years later, we’re releasing a song together and I couldn’t be more thrilled!
2. Did you have any formal training or are you self-taught?
Ivon: I began teaching myself the basics of singing so I could ensure I had a decent foundation to build on, and then I studied Singing and Theory for 4 years in university to solidify my skills. When it comes to songwriting, I don’t really believe you can teach someone that per se. You mainly need to consistently create and experiment with sounds and themes to discover yourself and your own style with time.
Cian: I am a self-taught producer – I just found the best way to get better is keep making music, and not acknowledge just how bad I was in comparison to professionals until eventually I was good enough to start comparing my work to theirs.
3. Who were your first and strongest musical influences and why the name ‘IVON ROBERTS’/‘CIAN O’DONOGHUE’?
Ivon: I always loved The Corrs growing up and the reinvented sound that they presented with each body of work.
However, my writing became inspired by more outrageous, over-the-top Pop artists like Ke$ha as I grew up and decided to incorporate my brutally honest personality into my music. And I think I speak for both of us when I say we just chose our names because they’re our names. We’re clearly not that original!
Cian: As a child my favourite artist was by far ‘The Script’. As I started to make my own music, it became Charlie Puth due to him being his own producer and I really enjoyed the R&B/funk/jazz/pop fusion sound he was making and so I tried to incorporate that into my songs.
4. What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
Ivon: My songs are like “Catchy Confessionals.” I’m too honest, and it’ll get stuck in your head for days. I can’t help it.
Cian: My sound is based around pop and modern R&B – think Charlie Puth, Ed Sheeran and Bruno Mars all kind of mixed together. The key elements to my sound are my vocal performances and my chord progressions. I just love to find ways to put non-diatonic chords into very poppy songs. (In ‘Better Guy’, there are 2 key changes!)
5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as POP?
Ivon: At this point, I’ve dipped my toe into almost every genre during my decade-long quest for a sense of my own sound in music. From Commercial Pop to Country to Classical to Celtic. (I even had a brief stint as a rapper which we won’t go into for the sake of my mental health!) But what I’ve found is that the sounds will always overlap and you can find similarities in every chord sequence and melody if you go looking for them. The true sense of a unique sound is making sure you’re using your own voice. You’re saying what you feel, what you believe, and what you’ve experienced in the way that is true to who you are. That’s the way you find your own sound. Sonically, you can play off the sounds you enjoy to listen to yourself, and then you simply inject your own personality into these sounds to give the music new life.
Cian: The ‘emulating others’ idea fascinates me – whenever I write a song, immediately I can think of 2/3 songs it is definitely inspired by. I think inspiration is the key word – every artist is an amalgamation of their biggest influences, and that’s what makes them unique. For me, it all began in 2016 with Ed Sheeran/Gavin James type of guitar songs, followed by Charlie Puth/Bruno Mars funk/R&B in 2019, and now I don’t even know!
6. What’s your view on the role and function of music as political, cultural, spiritual, and/or social vehicles – and do you try and affront any of these themes in your work, or are you purely interested in music as an expression of technical artistry, personal narrative, and entertainment?
Ivon: I speak about what’s true to me and true to the experience I’m talking about in each song. It’s a case-by-case situation. If the lines of ‘personal’ and ‘political’ overlap and it’s relevant to the song then I’ll speak about it, if it isn’t then I won’t. But I don’t feel any necessity or aversion to speaking about any topic, as long as I’ve done my homework first.
Cian: There is a very powerful space for music in these subjects, but for me I listen to music to connect to whatever emotions I feel at the time. For my music personally, I don’t tackle important topics on any of these levels because that is not how I use music in my life. I use music to engage with my emotions, and I hope people can connect to my music in a similar way.
7. Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it or are you expecting something more, or different in the future?
Ivon: Writing music just feels like second nature at this point. It’s like skincare or reading – it’s just something that’s part of my routine that I make the time for. Now when it comes to releasing music, that’s a different story. My take on releasing is that I’ll do it as long as it feels worth it and the song is something that I want out there. That’s been a less certain aspect for me as of late so I’m definitely seeing an “indefinite hiatus” of sorts in releasing music coming in the new year once the current projects I’m working on and releasing are complete. But I will always create music, whether or not anyone hears it. It’s part of who I am.
Cian: For sure, I think making music is extremely fulfilling! There’s no better high than coming out of the studio feeling like you really created something special. I try my best to focus on the making of the music and not the results, because if you focus on numbers you will never be satisfied. There’s always more to achieve.
8. Could you describe your creative processes? How do usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song? Do you usually start with a tune, a beat, or a narrative in your head? And do you collaborate with others in this process?
Ivon: It’s different every time. Generally it’s lyrical when I’m inspired. A phrase or quote I hear in my everyday life. But a melody can come along with the lyrics too which is helpful. Sometimes I’ll even hear a full song from start to finish with every layer and lyric complete in my head and it’s just a case of getting that from my head to the point of a finished song. Collaborations are a different story. You’ve almost got to “volley” ideas back and forth until the best ones come to the surface and you build on those until you have a song you all love. It involves a lot more patience, awareness and openness to those you collaborate and share ideas with. You can’t be too proud and too set on an idea when there are multiple cooks in the kitchen.
Cian: Songs for me begin with chords and melodies. When I have those I try to sit with the song, sit with the emotions it creates, and figure out the subject of the song – whether that subject is something that relates to my personal feelings at the time or doesn’t. If it isn’t something that is inherently personal, I try to embody the song’s emotions and write something personal through this ‘other’ body…if that makes sense.
9. What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
Ivon: Yikes. I think I’m the more cynical one of the two of us because I’ve got so many disaster stories to tell at this point that I could almost write a book – I’ve been verbally ripped apart by several communities, I’ve had songs stolen from me and released by others, I’ve been used and abused countless times. If I was to boil it down to the nitty gritty though, I would say when music has caused friendships or relationships to end, or when a song has marked the end of one of those relationships. That would be the thing that stings the most for me. I’m a very emotional person, so when a song relates to the connection I’ve had with somebody being severed, I always feel that a little bit when I hear the song.
Cian: I have to say that for me so far in my life, I have been very lucky to not have had too many difficult experiences. My music career is very young so I have a lot to experience in my life and career, and I’m sure when I face those difficulties it will shape my music as well.
10. On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
Ivon: I’ve been extremely lucky with the performance of my music, especially on Spotify. But I feel like I’m just proud of my discography in general (both what’s been released and what has yet to be) and how it’s represented who I am and how I feel at the time. I’m honest to a fault in my everyday life, and I think I’ve found a way to effectively incorporate that into my music so that it’s true to life. It’s “catchy, crazy honesty” and I’m proud to be able to deliver that in a way that both I and others can enjoy.
Cian: Well ‘Better Guy’ hit 10,000 streams in a week, so that for me would probably be the greatest achievement! Having said that, I try not to focus on these types of things though – just try to focus on how proud I am of the music I have created whether it is successful or not.
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