Irish singer-songwriter and ethnomusicologist Peadar Connolly released “The Feeling is Over” on May 28th, and it went straight to the top of the overall Irish iTunes chart on release day, with airplay on Resonance FM following shortly after. Hot Press called his debut single Codhlaím go Suan a “breathtaking debut,” and Connolly has since been featured on BBC Radio 3 and RTÉ Lyric FM, with Songlines-recognised production projects across Europe and a songwriting credit on the runner-up entry for RTÉ’s Eurosong 2024. “The Feeling is Over” was written and produced with his ex-boyfriend, Mitchell Keely. Originally a dance-pop track, it was dismantled and rebuilt entirely when Connolly brought it to Keely, becoming something quieter and more spacious in the process. The song is about the relief that comes after an amicable breakup: not the devastation, but the exhale. The fact that the two wrote it together after the relationship ended is its own kind of answer to what it’s about.
You can tell when you’re listening to a song that it’s special. I’m glad the collaboration between Mitch and Peadar ended up transforming the song from a dance-pop song to this much quieter and significantly more emotionally poignant version. I can’t imagine this song any other way – it feels timeless, it feels like this is the way it should be. The vocals are so intimate for the entire song, but especially in the first third, where the story is being laid out like the first act of a play. Then the warm textures that support the vocals harmonically get bigger and take up more space, and the vocals soar to heights I did not expect. It is breathtaking to listen to.
Connolly has described the song as being about the sighs of relief that happen through a breakup – the moment you finally speak honestly, when you stop overthinking, when you realise you’ll be okay. What’s remarkable is that the song actually makes you feel those things in sequence as it unfolds. That’s not a production trick. That’s craft.