‘It’s been a long road, it’s been a happy road, it’s been a sad road, a fun road and a filthy road!’

A broken heart, dealing with bullying, body image issues and getting down with American guys... Lyra’s ‘had a bit of a life’,

SHE’S on her way to becoming Ireland’s next superstar, and like many superstars — from Bono to Beyoncé — she’s already known by just one name.

Cork-born bombshell Lyra — real name Laura McNamara — released her first album on Friday and it’s filled with compelling, personal and sometimes salacious song stories of her eventful and remarkable journey so far.

The gregarious 30-yearold from Bandon has been through the mill of life.

She was bullied at school, struggled with body issues and self-confidence and was left devastated after an unhealthy relationship that ended with her being dumped.

But Lyra has had a lot of fun along the way too, judging by her songs such as the album’s second track, Drink Me Up.

“On the album I get so personal in the songs and then I get a bit mortified talking about it,” she says with a loud, infectious cackle before going on to talk about it.

“I’ve had a bit of a life,” she laughs again. “It’s been a long road, it’s been a happy road, it’s been a sad road, a fun road, a filthy road… a lot of roads gone down.”

Drink Me Up, Lyra then confides, was inspired by some carefree sexual encounters as a single lady while she was working on the album in Los Angeles.

She says: “I went over to LA… that’s the dirty ones [songs on the album]. I was like, ‘Sure no one knows me here, I’ll go a bit wild.’ Oh my God what was I like!... with Americans!… God help us all.”

Now we’re both in fits of laughter. “I think it’s good that they’re American so that they don’t know me and they’ll never find me ever again,” she continues. “I think that’s a good way to be… incognito. It won’t come back to haunt me