- 2025-05-25
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MUSIC
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Orla Gartland Releases Extended Edition of “Everybody Needs A Hero”
Irish singer-songwriter Orla Gartland released the extended edition of her sophomore album “Everybody Needs A Hero” on May 16, 2025 via her own label New Friends.
“Everybody Needs A Hero” was released last October for the first time in three years since the 2021 debut album “Woman on the Internet”.
The extended edition comprises 17 track, including the original 12 songs, 4 new songs, and a live version of “Mine”.
The album features guest appearances from London-based indie rock duo Tommy Lefroy, British singer-songwriter dodie and British singer-songwriter Greta Isaac.
“Mine” won Best Song Musically and Lyrically at Ivor Novello Awards 2025. This marks her first Ivor Novello win.
Orla Gartland said of the extended edition, “I've added five new tracks to this extended edition of Everybody Needs A Hero; a mix of new songs & offcuts from the initial album recording process. It's easy to resent the length of time between writing a song and releasing it as sometimes life (and everything you're singing about) has changed by the time the music comes out! This was true for me in this case so it felt good to revisit the record and distill some more recent thoughts & feelings into songs like 'Now What?' and 'Thirty'. There are some features too; I loved bringing Tommy Lefroy in on 'Pest' and singing a new live version of 'Mine' with my best friends, Greta Isaac & dodie.”- She added, “My second album 'Everybody Needs A Hero' came out in October 2024 and I started this year with a strong feeling that I had more to say. Last year I experienced some big life changes; I felt more unravelled & pensive than any other time in my adult life.”
She said of winning of Ivor Novello Awards, “I think the greatest mission we take on as writers and artists is to channel our pain into art for people to soak up & as a result feel less alone. this song is my best crack at that; bringing it to the studio & putting it out was the most vulnerable I've ever felt but i'm forever glad I saw it through.” -
Orla Gartland explained track-by-track for the album.
“Now What?”
“You've lived with this one for a few weeks now; a shrek-2-soundtrack-worthy song about the aftermath of a great love & the passing of time.
'Now What?' explores the vast unknown we face after a breakup and how our feelings morph and change over time.
'So now what?', it's a song about the aftermath of relationships. So it felt right. Sort of put it like a question mark at the end of this record. And I found when I came back in January, I just had more to say, and the songs were coming, and so I just followed the thread.
The main record was a lot of songs written about one person, sort of viewing the same relationship from different angles, celebrating all these, like multitudes of wild, messy feelings we can have about one person. And so this is almost like coming back to that same feeling, but like time stamps, like, how do you feel six months after you part from that person. One year on all these like, different moments. I'm really fascinated by, like, how those feelings shift over time.”
“Pest” with Tommy Lefroy
“An old gem revisited & made even better with the addition of Tommy Lefroy. Tales of a highly specific kind of punisher (iykyk) and a collective battle cry to take them out.
When I asked Tommy Lefroy if they'd be up for writing & singing a verse on PEST, I had a strong feeling they'd nail the assignment. I've been a fan of these 2 curly girlies for years now & I loved the idea of all 3 of us on this song together, forming a john-tucker-must-die-meets-ghostbuster style pest control team for a v particular kind of BEAM ME UP SOFTBOI: THE SOFTENING type punisher. Too niche? highly likely.
So if you're historically partial to a boy with a moustache and a poetry book in the back pocket (and have suffered as a result) give us a call. PEST FREE IS THE WAY TO BE!.”
“One Eye Open”
“One we originally tracked for the main album but never made the cut, an anthem from the pov of a protective (and very threatening) friend.”
“Thirty”
“A song I wrote at the end of last year, a snapshot of this chapter of life. I originally recorded this version for my secret demo club (on patreon) and immediately wanted to release it properly.”
“Mine” Live at Middle Farm Studios
“Part of our Middle Farm Studios live sessions, I adore this version of the song shoutout to dodes for the beautiful vocal arrangement.
'Mine' is by far the most vulnerable song I've written to date – putting it feels a little scary but also hugely important to me. It tells a fragmented story of an experience that really affected my relationship with intimacy and how that stayed with me throughout relationships that followed.
I wanted to give the lyrics on this song space to breathe so we kept the production super minimal on this track; live vocal & guitar and a super beautiful, haunting four-piece string part. This was my first time recording real strings on a song of mine and for me they bring even more emotional depth to the track. I'm really proud of this song and whilst I hope in a way that no one relates to it, I hope it can bring comfort and hope to anyone who does.”
Photo by Nicole Ngai
Background photo by Emily Marcovecchio - source : Apple Music
