Transitioning from a teenager to a young adult can be a little hectic, and doing so in the age of the Internet can be even more hectic! There’s so much pressure to reach a certain level of perceived perfection, and sometimes it feels as though it’s impossible to curve. (Seriously, it’s hard to break a cycle.)
Completely changing and turning into a product of such pressure is the last thing Orla Gartland is trying to do. The London-based singer-songwriter/producer has always done the most she can to show her authentic self online, and has used music as a way to embrace the real her. If there’s a moment in time when you’ll realize it more than ever, it’ll probably be when you listen to her new album Woman on the Internet.
Orla started writing Woman on the Internet towards the beginning of the pandemic, and as it started coming together, she quickly realized just how much it reflected the good, the bad, and the ugly that comes with growing up. She says, “When I was a few songs into writing the album it became clear that Woman on the Internet is about the chaos of my 20s. It’s a different chaos to your late teens, such a different brand of angst. I feel so much more settled and sure of myself now than I was when I was 18 or 19 but I’m still just half the person I’m going to be and to capture that became really important.”
As Orla grew, she vowed to not lose her identity. The title Woman On The Internet refers to someone who has completely conformed to a lifestyle many on the web would consider to be glamorous. Orla described it as “a caricature; a nameless, faceless figure telling me to eat better or buy some specific hair product; when I feel low I’m so vulnerable to questionable advice. The woman appears in these songs as someone I look to for guidance when it feels like no one in my real life can help, when I’m truly lost. A lot of this album is about learning to really own that lostness.”
In all honesty, Orla doesn’t need to post videos of herself walking out of Starbucks or doing an upper-body dance in order to be relatable. Just by singing her truth, she’s bound to form a connection with you! She says, “I’d love for people to come away understanding me more, but also it doesn’t have to be all about me. Even if it’s the odd lyric here and there, I’d love it if people felt more understood just by listening to the album.”
What’s not to love about that?
Stream Woman on the Internet below.
