Alex Tierney on New Single “Settle For (21)” and the Power of Great Songwriting
Photo Credit: Christian Tierney
Interview by Megan Armstrong
Graphic by Rebekah Witt
Alex Tierney was brought up on great songwriting. His father, Greg, fronted an Irish rock band called Refugee and managed a different band, so once Alex came along, he knew exactly what to tell his youngest son: “It’s about writing great songs.”
Tierney took that to heart. Growing up in Dublin, the 22-year-old singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist would obsessively write. In the middle of class? Didn’t matter. He would simply tap out lyrics in his Notes app under the desk or ask to go to the bathroom so he could say them into Voice Memos. With his older brother, the prolific music photographer Christian Tierney, as his manager and producer, Alex made the choice to dedicate his life to fully pursuing music.
The early returns have been impressive. Tierney opened for Lewis Capaldi at Dublin’s Olympia Theatre in November 2019, before he had even released an official single. His first two singles, “Over the Maybes” and “Painkiller” arrived in June and October 2020, respectively, and attracted support from Ireland’s golden boy Niall Horan. But the coronavirus pandemic temporarily halted Tierney’s initial momentum and forced him to keep focused on his purpose—on what was catching stars such as Capaldi and Horan’s attention in the first place: making well-written, vulnerably evocative songs.
The result is “Settle For (21),” which he began penning in February. The song arrived Oct. 29 and serves as the lead single for his forthcoming six-track debut EP, mixed by Jonas Jalhay (James Blake, Post Malone).
Tierney caught up with Kinda Cool over Zoom from his in-home studio, reflecting on his burgeoning career and forecasting what “Settle For (21)” means for his next chapter.
To start simply, where does the title “Settle For (21)” come from?
That was how I saved the original Logic file when I made the song. It just stuck. We thought it looked cool from a graphic design point of view. It really suited, and I was 21 when I wrote it.
We’ve spoken before about how your primary focus is always to make a well-written song. How does this single fulfill that goal, in your eyes?
It’s a good question. I guess, with any song, you want to be able to stand over it and feel like you got a message across with it. It’s something that you can pinpoint down to a certain idea. But the thing is a well-written song can also come from spontaneity. It doesn’t always have to be a well-thought-out idea you had beforehand. So, I guess the key thing is that you feel like you’ve done really good work, and it’s something you can really stand over. I feel like that’s the case for me with this song. I’m really proud of it.
If the music video were a movie, what would its synopsis be?
The song is about overcoming doubts and insecurities that will happen at the start of a relationship where you want to spend every minute with that person, but you’re trying to keep your distance because you don’t want to scare them off. But then that can end up having the complete opposite effect of you playing it too cool, and then they don’t think you’re interested in them. I thought that was an interesting idea, those juxtapositions.
The key line, which was on my Instagram in the short clip we released of the music video, is, “I wouldn’t change anything, anytime.” And that’s about explaining to that person how much you want to be 100 percent present. In the end, it’s a happy thing. It’s not an all-bad thing about confusion. It’s about overcoming and getting that message across to that person how you feel.
You were riding high a couple of years ago, opening for Lewis Capaldi at the Olympia Theatre and impressing Niall Horan with your first two singles “Over the Maybes” and “Painkiller.” The pandemic halted momentum in almost every way for everyone, but do you feel like being forced to hit pause made you a better songwriter?
I think so, yeah. I was talking about this with Christian recently. Everything was put on pause, so all I could do was write new songs. I couldn’t just be playing a load of gigs and all that kind of thing. The only way to keep music going in my life was working on music, as opposed to playing music. So, I think having that opportunity to take a step back over the last year and just write—I have a little home studio set up now, and that’s where I’ve been able to work on things. That’s been helpful. That space has just given me room to develop.
The project is mixed by Jonas Jalhay, known as a collaborator of James Blake and Post Malone. What is the primary thing you’ve held onto from working with him?
He’s just so great. I think one thing that has come from working with Jonas—because he’s mixed all three of the tracks we’ve released so far—is he just seems to completely get the sound that we want. He knows what we want from the track. We’ll give him notes, but like any mixer, they’re gonna have their own decisions throughout the mixing process. We just love the quality that he brings: that last little cherry on top, the last polishing.
I’ve actually never met him in person because he lives in the States. It’s only been emailing back and forth. We’ll send notes. But it’s a great communication process. He takes on board what we have to say, and we really love the decisions he makes along the way as well.
You’ve had the privilege of rubbing elbows with some of music’s best at a very young age. What has that done for your confidence?
It’s just great to break down those barriers, especially being an independent artist at the moment. What looks to be stardom or that higher tier of being a musician can feel like it’s always really far away, but when you work with people like that and see that it’s all just people who love making art, all that clouding can go away. You just realize they’re normal people that are making music that they love, and I’m just a normal person making music that I love. It’s nice that those walls are broken down.
“Settle For” is the lead single for your upcoming six-track EP. Why did you want to lead with it?
It is one of the most single-y ones in that stereotypical way. The other songs kind of came after—some of them. Some of them were started a little before [“Settle For”], but I feel like some of them were affected by this song. There’s another song that has similar guitar effects. It just felt like a bit of the lynchpin, I guess, in the EP. It just felt right.
How do you feel like this song shows growth from your initial releases?
I feel like I might be more connected to these songs, maybe. It’s a hard thing because I still stand by the first songs. You kind of always feel like you’re in the moment when you write each thing. It’s a difficult one to look back on and see growth exactly like that. Growth is one of those things that happens without us realizing, I guess. Sometimes it can take so long for us to actually look back on it, you know? You might see a photo from a year ago, and you might be like, ‘Oh, that’s not that different.’ But then you might see a photo from three years ago, and you’re like, ‘Whoa, I’ve changed a whole lot since then!’ It’s so incremental.
There is a bit of difference in the music. The kinds of sounds I’m using in my music have definitely changed. There are more live instruments than there would’ve been in the other ones, so maybe that’s a bit more of the direction I’m going.
What has been your biggest inspiration over the last year-plus?
A lot of the things my songs will be about are just growing up and living life, your mental health, and your relationships. It’s very introspective, the stuff that inspires me, which I think is the same for a lot of artists in general but a lot of young writers because when you’re in those late teenage years to early 20s, you’re kind of just constantly thinking about “What is my life? What am I doing with my life? What’s going on?” When you’re younger than that, you’re kind of chill. When you’re older than that, you might have more things in life figured out. It’s this in-between period where you’re left with everything to figure out in life, and that inspires me a lot because they’re just genuine thoughts.
When you look back at the process of making your EP, what memory, at this moment, stands out the most?
I have a few different ideas. Loving the process of making music is, like, almost as important as the music itself. If I didn’t like making a song, I don’t think I’d want to put it out as much, even if it turned out great.
One of the songs that’s gonna be on the EP, me, Christian, and two of our friends made in a little cottage that was on the very north coast of Ireland. You look out, and it’s like the next bit of land is America. It’s this beautiful rocky [land]. The sea is crashing. You feel like you’re on the edge of the world because the cottage was on a hill. I have moments like that were being in that situation, and you’re creating in that kind of situation, feels so special.
And then I have some great memories here of working on music with some of the guys. We worked in a studio called Camden Studios, which would be the biggest studio in Dublin. We had a couple of days in there with Jake Curran, who plays guitar for Niall Horan and has done stuff with Julia Michaels. He played guitar on “Settle For.” Memories like that, where even in the moment, you’re like, ‘This is special. There’s something about this.’ Those are the important moments, and being able to have a little project that you can compartmentalize that little moment of your life is so nice.
A lot of what you’re talking about, especially collecting memories with people, is the crux of the music video. It’s these two young people literally running around, having a fun day, and capturing it on camera.
Exactly. It’s an interesting one because I think people are becoming more and more aware of that. Instagram is all about capturing moments, but I think it can get to the stage where people become too obsessed with the idea of capturing a moment to actually be in the moment. But I think the idea is there. We’re all just trying to have those special moments with special people. I guess it’s nice with music that on top of having memories, you have this little time capsule of a song or a music video to go along with that.
What are you most proud of about “Settle For”?
Even though I do love the production on it, last night I was sitting down at the piano and just playing it. I think it still works that way. I think that’s a really nice place to be with a song: you can strip it back to just playing a few notes on the piano, and it still gets the message across and doesn’t feel like it’s missing something. Sometimes, people will make a song where it’s more about the production. And that can be great, too. But I think I am really proud when I write a song that I feel is a solid song on its own.
What do you wish to be known for as an artist, when it’s all said and done?
Just somebody who creates great music. That’s all I could ask for. I guess some people have bigger mottos—something like the punk guys would have, revolutionary slogans and that kind of thing. I just want to be someone that creates music I love and can stand over. I’m just about creating things and creating memories with the people that I love because that’s all I can do, isn’t it? It would feel weird to have too much of a slogan because I don’t know what music I’ll be making in five or 10 years. That’s kind of the beauty of it.
What I’m writing about now reflects what I’m going through as a young person, whereas in 10 years, I don’t know what I’ll be writing about because I’ll be in a different stage of my life. That’s the interesting thing about art. It reflects your own life, and then it can reflect the times and the world around you.