Padraig Cahill – Wicklow Towns Very Own Ed Sheeran
As we can imagine there is plenty of talent within the music industry in Ireland between talented singer/songwriters and musicians. These talents can sometimes go below the radar, although Wicklow Town’s very own musical revelation Padraig Cahill has really became noticed in recent months and I got the great opportunity to speak with the local talent.
Padraig Cahill, the nearly 17-year-old Wicklow Town teenager who has taken YouTube and the streets of busking by storm. He’s just your ordinary local lad who’s played for the local Rugby club, GAA club and plays golf in the local club in the summer, but his talent at singing is what makes him so special. Singing was a talent that the young star only realised in recent years at a school singing competition. “I got into singing in first year, our school held a mini X Factor and I didn’t know I could sing but I sang ‘All of Me’ by John Legend and people told me it was really good so I just kept singing”.
People have all the confidence in the world to sing in the shower and on their own but it’s a totally different ballgame to have the confidence out in public. Padraig doesn’t seem to be shy in front of crowds, he’s an experienced busker now, but it all started at the Galway Arts Festival on a family holiday “Me and two friends went busking in Galway and it just continued from there” That was only the beginning of the busking, since then the student who has just completed transition year has got a busking license and has become a frequent fixture on Grafton Street. The Wicklow Town native took every opportunity he could to go busking between school holidays and weekends. “I just loved it”.
Padraig has managed to get quite a solid fan base. His videos have gone viral on YouTube, Facebook, Dublin Live and much more social media outlets. People love his music and they are constantly sharing his videos with their friends. On top of all that Padraig made an Instagram purely for his music which has currently 35.4 thousand followers. It’s fair to say that he is creating his own fame. “It all happened really quick. I just went busking one day with my Instagram name on a sign and I saw how many followers I got and I was shocked and it just built from there. It’s a very hard feeling to describe, it’s kind of all just a big shock”.
He is a young man who loves his music and he seems to enjoy every moment performing, but there’s one moment he will never forget. One of his most popular video’s to go viral was of course singing “Falling Slowly” with the original singer of the song Glen Hansard. Hansard was watching Padraig before he was asked to duet with the young busker performing Hansard’s hit, it was an unbelievable experience he’ll never forget captured by his father on camera. “My Dad was messing with me after saying he forgot to press record and I got so mad but then he told me he was messing”. Well, I think the video was enjoyed by everybody who seen it, so we thank our lucky stars for that!
https://www.instagram.com/p/BvKbTXtDvkv/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link
Many young people take to the streets busking in the hope of being spotted or mainly for their own enjoyment and Padraig has made plenty of life-long friends while busking. They take turns performing, all singing in different slots and sometimes dueting together. For some of these young people fame is the aim but for others it’s just for their own enjoyment. If they all keep going the way they’re going, they won’t be far off the big-time if that is where they want to go. In an era where Lewis Capaldi is a big craze in the music world, there is plenty of inspiration out there for young singer/songwriters. Padraig has done covers of Lewis Capaldi, John Legend, Glen Hansard and many more. These are all inspirations to the young man, but none more so than ED Sheeran. “Ed is an extremely big influence”. Well, it’s fair to say that Wicklow Town might have found their own Ed Sheeran in the making.
People might suggest that the next step for the schoolboy is to enter a Music reality show like the XFactor, but that is of no interest to him and I don’t blame him, these shows aren’t for everyone. For the time being Padraig is going to enjoy his summer as he heads into 5th year in September “when the real work stars”. He hopes to go on to study music in college and there is no doubt in anybody’s mind he definitely on the right path to being a massive star in the music world. Get your autographs and photo’s now folks because the stock of Padraig Cahill will only rise!
Here’s the link to Padraig’s Instagram Account where you can follow him and check out his work: https://www.instagram.com/padraigcahill_music/
Interview by Ciaron Noble
Ciaron is currently studying journalism and hopes to become a sports journalist. He has got a big passion for the football and is hoping to try and get into the local football this summer and for the future. We wish Ciaran every success and he has obviously got the skills to have a very successful career ahead of him. We have great admiration for the brilliant Sports Journalists around like Brendan Lawrence and hopefully one of the local professional publications can offer Ciaron a role.
IF YOU HAVE A PASSION FOR SPORTS JOURNALISM OR WRITING LOCAL SPORTS ARTICLES OR EVEN JUST WISH TO HIGHLIGHT THE EVENTS HAPPENING IN YOUR CHOSEN SPORTS THEN FEEL FREE TO GET IN TOUCH AS WE WOULD BE GLAD TO HAVE YOUR ARTICLES FEATURED ON OUR WEBSITE AND SOCIAL MEDIA ACCOUNTS.
