Róisín Meets . . . singer-songwriter Róisín O

Róisín O can’t say exactly what - or who - her latest single Give It Up is about, but it is characteristic of the darker tone in her new music than that found on her 2012 album The Secret Life of Blue.

“It’s a tough one to talk about. I just wrote it recently so it’s a little bit more close to home for me at the moment.

“I suppose it’s about a relationship . . . If you listen to the lyrics, it’s a conversation between two people, like the verses are in conversation with the chorus,” she tells Róisín Ingle, before performing the song on this week’s Róisín Meets podcast.

“I think you just have to have a guess about what it’s about!”

As with many songwriters, writing for Róisín is a form of therapy for difficult situations.

“Definitely, a lot more so recently. I’ve had a pretty good life and a lot of my songs show that. They’re happy-go-lucky songs.

“A lot of the next album is going to be about the more challenging aspects of life that we all go through. It’s definitely therapy for me”.

Famous mother

And as with many proud musical offspring of famous parents, Róisín wouldn’t consider using her mother Mary Black’s fame or name to aid her own career.

“Obviously I’m so proud of my mam, but I wanted to have people have their own conceptions of me. And my name is O’Reilly, I didn’t want to change it just to be her, my dad might get the hump!”

To listen to the conversation or other episodes of the podcast, go to Soundcloud,iTunes, Stitcher or irishtimes.com