'Confessional' Review: Janet Devlin bares her soul in this bold and intimate collection of heartfelt pop songs
Irish folklore is rich with tales of men and women who overcame insurmountable odds in their quest for glory and fame. With the release of her new album 'Confessional', the young Irish singer-songwriter Janet Devlin can now stake a claim to being just as brave and wise as the Celtic goddesses Morrigan or Clíodhna. Following her incredible rise to fame after her 2011 appearance on 'The X Factor', the 16-year-old Janet Devlin often found herself seeking strength and stability as she battled her inner demons, but she managed to overcome these odds through the power of music and her own resolute determination.
Being shy and reserved, Devlin often overanalyzed everything life threw at her and was plagued by panic attacks and bouts of low self-esteem and depression. She abused alcohol and pills, and dealt with a number of personal insecurities, such as coming to terms with her bisexuality in a strictly-Catholic upbringing and the highs and lows of celebrity scrutiny. Music and television deals saw Devlin’s tryst with fame devolve into an inner state of pain and a need to escape from her own self. Something clearly needed to change, and young Janet needed an outlet for her turbulent emotions.
She soon embraced sobriety and took to YouTube to reach out to her fans, giving the world intimate glimpses into her personal life with refreshing candor. As her posts grew in number, those vlogs became Devlin’s own confessional to the world. Today, Devlin stands tall with her latest concept album, ‘Confessional’, wherein the talented songstress has crafted personal memories and past inspirations into 12 powerful songs that chronicle her rise to contemporary heroine status. And considering June is also Pride Month, it's the perfect time for this loud and proud bisexual artiste to release her latest moving work.
Devlin kicks things off with ‘Confessional,’ a powerful, rousing number that sees Devlin laying her cards on the table. "There’s no grace for what I have done / But I must face what I’ve become," she sings. Reminiscent of a rousing Celtic war-anthem, this track gets your hair standing on end and fills one with a sense of strength and power often tied to mythical inspiration. This is Janet’s song of redemption and triumph, as she sings, "There’s so much sin for just 21 / Hear my penance and all I have done / This self-destructive war I’ve won."
‘So Cold,’ was written during a mentally fragile phase. Two years into sobriety, her depression and mental health issues resurfaced and her reliance on Prozac began to dull her passion for life and music. Going out on a limb, Devlin went off her medication and dove headfirst into creating something out of the darkness. The outcome was this incredibly personal song, with Devlin seemingly lamenting the loss of a fading self that she once loved and cherished. "The doctor says I’ll feel no pain / Colors fade turning all my blues to grey / I miss you like I miss my home / But it’s gone now that I’m grown."
On ‘Saint Of The Sinners,’ Devlin sings about her victories over self-harming tendencies. Over the years, her cutting attempts had become more volatile and potentially fatal. This rousing song assures us that she has now taken the power back for herself. With lyrics like, "I am more than the tears I’ve cried / I am more than the blood that’s dried / I am more than my tiger stripes," Devlin’s words invoke vivid imagery of a heroine besting a powerful demon. The violins on this number also help infuse the track with a powerful, emotive mythos.
‘Cinema Screen' sees Devlin shift gears with a fun, Celtic-inspired number. Besides talking about how the glamor of celebrity life can color one’s perception to an unrealistic degree, we also see parallels to Devlin’s own personal victory over anorexia and body dysmorphia. "I've been shrinking again, over-thinking again / Pushing me round the bend again / Tip-toeing over the edge, trying my best to pretend / That I am not losing myself," she sings cheerily, looking back at the battles she’s won along the way.
‘Speak’ is a superbly produced, intimate song about a painful, personal incident that Janet openly admits shaped her life. Devlin channels a distant memory of sexual assault into this achingly beautiful song as she takes us through the distressing incident in profound, poetic detail. "Oh Danny boy, the meadows are in bloom / Oh Danny boy, oh how I trusted you / Now there’s blood on the roses, a broken bouquet / The flowers are dying, they shrivel in shame." The instrumentation is lush and highly cinematic, and despite the disturbing imagery, this is easily one of the album's most beautiful tracks.
In ‘Honest Men', Janet sings about the many tricksters and charlatans she encountered during her rise to fame. For a humble young lass, her path to success was slow and winding, and she was often misled by people who feigned care and respect for her career. "I’m flocked by vultures in the summer sun / They take what they can get / Then gone in another breath," she sings in this dirge-like, anti-ballad. Another highly cinematic track, it builds into a rousing ending with striking piano chords, chant-like backing vocals, and a thumping heartbeat.
Being in a loveless relationship is an incredibly hollow feeling that a lot of us have probably already experienced. As an ode to her doomed relationships where she never felt a real sense of love for the other person, Devlin creates a beautifully romantic track that is ironically titled, ‘Love Song’. Honestly coming to terms with her own feelings, Devlin also believes that true love will come to her in time. "And sometimes, something saves you, or someone / Then you can write them a love song / A truly honest one / And maybe this is one."
With ‘Big Wide World’, Devlin taps into one of her fondest memories. Inspired by her first few days in New York after securing a music deal, this fun, upbeat song is imbued with a sense of wonder and adventure. With lines like "Feel the glow of the street light / Let your hair down at midnight / Don't stop now, live life loud," Devlin shows us that there is much more to life if we only know where and how to look. "Wake up to the big wide world / Where everything is open / If you keep your mind from closing." This song is sure to brighten up anybody’s day and is full of wisdom gained from dark times.
Devlin then crafts a modern-day mythic folk song with ‘Away With The Fairies’. With this incredibly powerful track that would be right at home in Pixar’s ‘Brave’, Devlin channels her battle with alcoholism into a tale of triumph and transcendence. "There’s a bottle of ghosts / And the horror it hosts / I’ve been hiding under tables / Drowning in the fables," she sings with a stoic pain in her voice. Invoking more imagery of a noble faerie queen besting a nemesis, this song chronicles her time in sobriety and how she now finds herself more powerful after overcoming her alcohol dependence.
With ‘Sweet Sacred Friend', Devlin gives us another lovely inspirational song infused with Celtic magic and mysticism. Talking about her relationship with alcohol, she likens it to a "sweet, sacred friend" who got her through trying times, but she is now powerful enough to say goodbye to it. "Couldn’t live without your touch but when your love became too much / Then you made me fight, to the death or life / But in this war nobody won, I lost a friend the only one / Who could fill my skin, the void within," goes her unabashed, bittersweet confession.
‘Holy Water’ is a fun, gospel-infused number that sees Devlin incorporate many aspects of her culture and upbringing. Recorded in Dublin with traditional, Irish instruments, ‘Holy Water’ was born during a phase of sobriety and medication where Janet began to feel emotionally numb and devoid of feelings. She channels this into a gorgeously uplifting number that makes light of all the hardships she faced. Full of Catholic symbolism and imagery, Devlin turns to a higher power as she prays aloud for strength and grace. "Holy water save me from myself / Yeah, save me from me," she sings honestly.
‘Confessional,’ closes with the slow and haunting ‘Better Now’. This lie we often tell ourselves is channeled into a song of self-love and reassurance with Devlin’s incredible songwriting. "All the world is moving on / And everything I've got is gone / Can you hear me now? I'm better now," she sings optimistically. This is Devlin taking stock of the battles she faced, as she stands tall amidst the remnants of past inner conflicts. Musically reminiscent of ‘Nobody’s Home’ by Pink Floyd, Devlin signs off with this last, most personal, and human of confessions.
As previously revealed, Devlin's new concept album is accompanied by an autobiography, 'My Confessional', which was written as a companion piece for these new songs. The book's 12 chapters goes deeper into the numbers that Devlin crafted on ‘Confessional.’ For the curious, Devlin’s YouTube channel has excerpts from her new book and older vlogs that can shed a lot more light into the deeper meanings of her work. But even as a standalone endeavor, 'Confessional' is an incredibly powerful and spellbinding album. Thanks to her impassioned and candid take on life, 'Confessional' elevates Janet Devlin's status to that of an inspirational role model and a bold heroine of our modern times.