PLAY NEXT RIANNE DOWNEY 'T'M NOT GONNA LET LIFE GET IN THE WAY OF MY DREAM'

After showcasing her incredible voice with The Beautiful South, the Scottish singer is introducing her own sound with debut album The Consequence of Love

- By NICK REILLY

It was while touring with The Beautiful South last year and this summer that the 26-year-old Rianne Downey proved that she has one hell of a voice to be reckoned with.

The story behind that collaboration began in 2020, when the band’s frontman Paul Heaton complimented a cover Downey had uploaded of The Beautiful South song ‘Rotterdam (Or Anywhere)’. Three years later, when Heaton was looking for a new co-singer after his frequent collaborator Jacqui Abbott stopped touring, he asked Downey if she would sing with him on tour.

Now, Downey is releasing her own music, and on debut album The Consequence of Love, her voice really shines. After over a decade busking and posting covers on YouTube, it’s the first chance for her to show what she’s all about.

Recorded in Seattle with Ryan Hadlock, the album shows off the Scottish rising star’s love of country, while the stories focus on love, loss (both romantic and familial), and on the soaring title track, the importance of putting herself first.

“The most important relationship is the relationship with myself, because I am my own worst enemy sometimes and I definitely have been in the past. I’m not gonna let life get in the way of my dream anymore,” she defiantly explains.

What does your debut record say about you as an artist?