Janet Devlin

Janet Devlin, a singer and songwriter from Northern Ireland, first attracted notice through her performances on the 2011 U.K. season of The X Factor, after which she launched an independent career highlighted by the 2014 release of her debut album Running with Scissors, a folk-infused collection. Confessional, issued in 2020, highlighted her gift for introspective lyrics paired with witty yet deeply felt storytelling, whereas Emotional Rodeo in 2024 marked her initial venture into country music.

Raised in the village of Gortin, County Tyrone, Devlin began by uploading cover videos to her social media accounts before traveling to London in 2011 for her X Factor audition. Her powerful but heart-touching performances drew widespread public interest, leading her to join the other finalists on the show's subsequent live tour. In the years that followed she developed original material, collaborating on songs with Newton Faulkner and Jack Savoretti, and ultimately issued her debut album, the alternative pop- and folk-driven Running with Scissors, in 2014. The EP Duvet Daze arrived in 2015, after which she reentered the studio for the holiday-themed December Daze; 2016 brought a second seasonal release, Little Lights. She then spent several years developing her sophomore album, whose earliest fruits surfaced in early 2020 with the single "Honest Men." Later that year, coinciding with the publication of her autobiography My Confessional, she released the resilient Confessional, whose songs explore love, self-discovery, mental health, and addiction. The singles "Country Singer" and "Emotional Rodeo" appeared in early 2024, signaling Devlin's first foray into country music, and both tracks featured on the full-length Emotional Rodeo issued later that year.