Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lilly Ireland. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Lilly , thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you think your parents have had a meaningful impact on you and your journey?

My mum is an artist (painter) and she taught me how important art and creativity is. She always encouraged me to sing and to take lessons and helped me have confidence in my voice. My dad taught me that you can achieve anything in this world if you put your mind to it and do the work needed to acheive it.

I remember a good lesson I learned from them when I was 13; I really wanted a guitar and wanted to learn how to play. Coming from a family of 5 kids, I didn’t just get what I wanted when I asked especially this guitar as it was expensive. They said I’d need to work and pay for this myself if I really wanted it. So I did just that. I worked at my uncles bakery and saved up enough to buy the guitar. Working hard for it made me really want to learn how to play the guitar and become good at it. I stuck to it and that’s when I started writing my own songs. I think if I’d just been gifted it I wouldn’t feel the motivation to learn it as much as I did because that was MY guitar that I worked for.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers.

I’m from Sydney, Australia but I grew up in the States for a few years as a young child. I moved to Nashville, Tennessee last year to pursue music.

I’m a singer song/songwriter, I play guitar and piano. I’ve been writing songs for 13 years and releasing music for 5. I would say my genre is indie/folk pop but I can perform a number of genres.

I have released 3 singles and an EP. My lyrics have been described as raw and vulnerable as I write about my experiences navigating life as a young adult and the struggles we go through figuring out our paths, relationships and the few happy moments in between.

I’ve always been obsessed with music as a kid, I’m the only one in my family who got into music and I was never surrounded by other musicians growing up but I was always singing and learning all the lyrics to my favorite songs. When I was 12 my mum put me in singing lessons and it’s been my passion ever since.

I’m most proud of the responses I get from fans explaining to me that my music has helped them get through hard times and to a happier place. This makes me feel warm and fuzzy hearing that others connect with my music and can relate with similar struggles I’ve personally gone through whether that’s heart break, identity crisis or falling in love.

My goal in music is to be the soundtrack to peoples lives. A fun roadtrip or crying while staring outside the window while it’s raining.

How did you build your audience on social media?

For years I had between 800-1000 followers on instagram who were mainly people I met in person, family/friends and that number never really grew from there.

I didn’t have much of a “big fanbase” other than friends and family I shared my music with who always gave words of encouragement. It wasn’t until 2024 when I created a whole new account on IG just devoted to my music.

I started posting my own singing videos with popular cover songs and really focusing on the quality of the videos with visuals and sound. I would also spend a lot of time researching what was trending at time and what audio sounds were popular. I would make short videos with my spin on them as an aspiring musician. I also created videos with engaging captions where other artists would network in the comments and I met a lot of good musicians/producers some of whom I ended up collaborating with which was really amazing.

I continued the grind of posting 1-3 reels a day on instagram just to see what did well and continued posting covers as well so when the short reels grabbed peoples attention they could then go on to actually listen to my music or just me singing a cover.

I started to grow my following on instagram quite fast and went from 60 followers on my new account to 10k followers in the span of 4 months and now I’m at 17k. I’m not as consistent as I’d like to be these days with posting as I’m trying to find a happy balance of creating content and working on new music.

My advice would be find a happy balance where you find the time to create content to promote your music and the time to sit down and actually create music YOU love as an artist.

Have any books or other resources had a big impact on you?

One book I absolutely love as an artist and I read time and time again when I’m feeling in a funk as a creative – “BIG MAGIC” by Elizabeth Gilbert.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://linktr.ee/lillyireland?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaeFkVKFlKnBnHqmuXkjFNGKl38_K_UmtDEWh40Q-5ihGYOFD-xAoVl-cJY0Eg_aem_08wUYrGbeTDFP1r2YE39CQ
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lillymusiclisteners/