This past October, Orla Gartland released her first full-length album, Woman On The Internet. The Dublin-born, London-based singer-songwriter began her career in 2009, when the then-13-year-old posted covers on YouTube before graduating to writing and releasing her own music in 2011. Since then, she’s released four EPs and a number of singles—many of which she wrote, performed, and produced herself. Woman On The Internet marks the first project that Gartland has created and released under her own independent music label.
The album begins with “Things That I’ve Learned,” a semi-self-help song that advises and reminds the listener—and Gartland herself—about everything from not buying jeans without trying them on first to not comparing yourself to other women. The song starts off musically bare, with Gartland only singing with a drum to keep the beat, and then the instrumentation continues to build as the song goes on. This musically and thematically sets the tone for the rest of the album, which honestly explores some of the most vulnerable parts of being human, including growing up, growing apart, love, loss, and indifference. Gartland’s lyrics and simple musical styles make Woman On The Internet at once deeply personal and universally applicable. The raw vocals aid in the intimate tone of the album, which balance on the line between seeming as though she is singing specifically about your feelings of insecurity and jealousy and also only specifically about her own emotions and experiences.
In reference to the album’s title, Gartland refers to the ever-relatable, never-attainable “woman on the internet,” who she uses as a foil for her own self-discovery and growth. On songs such as “More Like You” and “Pretending,” Gartland specifically addresses her idolization of this ever-present figure as she attempts to navigate her own self-discovery. In “More Like You,” Gartland vocalizes her feelings of inferiority and jealousy as she looks to the woman on the internet, who apparently has her life together. She sings, “I know that I’ve been flirting with the enemy, / But please don’t be so perfect right in front of me. / I think of all the things that I will never be / (Tell me how) To be more like you.”
As the album progresses, Gartland shifts from discussing her own insecurities to focus on the messiest parts of her interpersonal relationships. In “Zombie!,” which marks the first upbeat track on the album, she tackles the negative impact toxic masculinity had on one of her romantic relationships. Gartland explores the cognitive dissonance that she feels when faced with the unfiltered rage of her partner, which makes him unrecognizable from the man she loves. “Who is this monster on the phone? / Jacked up on your testosterone / And I hate it, I hate it, I hate it.” By exploring this emotional grey area of love and hate, “Zombie!” easily is one of the most lyrically interesting tracks on the album, and it’s also one of the most musically interesting as Gartland showcases the full skill of her vocals by ending the song with a 9-measure scream that is at once raw and musical.
Other highlights from the album include “Codependency” and “Left Behind,” where Gartland confronts her own faults and explores the messiest aspects of love while mourning toxic relationships that have come to an end. The final track, “Bloodlines / Difficult Things” is another standout, and it perfectly concludes the album by connecting all the threads of growing up, growing apart, and dealing with trauma into one two-part song. Gartland ends the song—and consequently the album—by repeating the line, “I keep it all in / 'Cause we never talk about difficult things,” after ironically spending the last 38 minutes baring her soul to the listener.
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