Keep your boring new popsters, we’re only interested in the ones with true star power - and nobody has more of that than EFÉ. Words: Martyn Young. Photos: Patrick Gunning.

Most promising new artists can do good songs. That’s a given. The really special ones, though, can transcend the hype and turn good songs into a whole exciting world you can immerse yourself in, recognising that personality and character are what makes a star. Right now, few other artists better represent this than Irish alt-popster EFÉ. Welcome to her fantastical world.

EFÉ is one of those brilliant pop magpies who take sounds, influences and inspirations from all manner of different places, collating them in exciting collages of sound, visuals and creativity. Born Anita Ikharo, EFÉ is 22 and based in Dublin. She’s already released one EP, the dreamy bedroom pop stylings of 2020’s ‘What Should We Do This Summer?’, but this year she’s firmly taking things to the next level and ramping up her boundless creativity with her second EP ‘VITAMIN - C’. Going right back to her childhood and formative musical memories, it was clear that EFÉ was destined to be more than just a singer singing her songs. “I love the idea of music videos,” she says excitedly. “That’s what drove me to want to make music, so I can have my own music video. I was watching 90s and 00s music videos last week, and I was like, woah, the standard back then was insane. I was watching a Black Eyed Peas video, and I was like, oh my gosh. It was ‘Let’s Get It Started’. How is that even possible?”

That’s the level she’s aiming for with her creativity, but naturally, it’s a winding journey to fully realise that for an emerging artist. If you watch the evolution of her music videos on this EP - from the sweet story of falling in love with Coco the bear on the gorgeous single ‘Kiwi’, to the melodrama of the reality-aping talent show caper of ‘Lime’ - it’s clear that we’re dealing with a singular talent with a flair for the unexpected.