‘We didn’t know Normal People was going to be so big’

The producer tells Barry Egan about song’s inspiration and getting Strange Boy on board

Paul Mescal as Connell Waldron in Normal People (the BBC’s television adaptation of Sally Rooney’s 2018 novel by the same name, with Dublin’s Element Pictures) made a star of the young actor from Maynooth.

The series also brought to international attention the Kildare producer/composer Enda Gallery and Limerick rapper Strange Boy with It’s Alright in 2020.

The song about healing in hard times gripped many during the Covid-19 pandemic and the video, shot in Limerick, was watched by more than 60 million people on YouTube and social media channels.

What inspired It’s Alright?

I was at home in Ireland for Christmas in 2016. I had been living in Berlin for about three years by that point. The chords and vibe were inspired by wanting to have a song to kick off the show. I brought my mellotron back from Berlin for Christmas with my Ableton Push [a beat-making tool] and made the whole sketch in my childhood bedroom while my family watched a movie downstairs. I had that ‘dun-dunnnnn’ part in my head and I got it down quick and built up the song.

How did it evolve back in Berlin? I had some incredible musicians play on it. At the point it was almost finished there was a 12-bar jazzy piano solo in the middle of the track. As the track got close to completion I had the insight that I should get an Irish rapper on that section. Irish rap was not yet having its moment so this was a bit out of the blue, but I always trust my instincts like that.

What is the song about?

It’s about a relationship that hadn’t worked out – I was calling myself to higher action in the future as if calling a friend, and also making peace with the way life

goes. In fact it could be a conversation between two friends – one where you can really speak the harsh truth but still with love. I was imagining the kind of love that’s only possible between true friends. One that can say to another, you know: “Snap out of it, own your situation” and give total clarity, while still keeping your friend in your heart. A relationship that cannot go to the depths of honest does not deserve the word friendship.

How did you bring Strange Boy on board?

I asked a few people who I knew were into underground rap to assemble me lists of people they digged. I got it, and listened to every one. Two stood out as being special to me and one of them was Strange Boy.

The other was Kojaque. Kojaque had released one big tune already, Midnight Flower, which was really great. He’s a great artist and he’s been great since too. But Strange Boy [then Jonen Dekay], was very much underground. He has a mixtape on Soundcloud he did at 17, and back then there was the knowledge in certain circles in Limerick that he was class. His voice was so distinct. I just felt - yes, it’s him and I only wanted him.

So I wrote to him on Facebook Messenger and he was really excited to be on the track – he’d wanted to be on a track like that for a long time. So far he’d mostly only worked with sampled music rather than fully composed and performed original music.

We arranged a date to record in Limerick where I had done my Music Technology Masters, in UL. It was 10 minutes from his house. He was notoriously bad with Messenger at the time so there was a week before the date where I didn’t hear from him at all and I was a little bit worried.

You tracked him down?

I went down there with two friends and we picked him up and brought him to the studio. He was quiet, shy but very nice. A good heart and a sharp, intelligent mind. A friend of mine set us up with a studio in the World Academy and we got straight to work. His verse was very technically ambitious and the meaning was awesome. He brought Greek mythology into it. It was a real joy to work with him. My friend Dave Bart was there and started filming it, including a little interview with him. “Everything works better when you’re honest,” was one of the lines he dropped in that. I did the music and the parts I sing, and Strange Boy did all his lyrics for his rap.

How did you feel when it was featured in Normal People?

That was wild. There was a series of awesome occurrences. Firstly, we didn’t know the show was going to be so big. When they approached us to use the song we were really happy. It was lovely to get the recognition on something we worked so hard on and invested so much into but then the show ended up being huge and they put the song as track five on the official soundtrack, so that was even better. It also made the BBC Introducing... Mixtape and was getting spins on BBC6 and Radio X. It was all great, really.

It was lovely to get the recognition on something we worked so hard on and invested so much into