Ger: "Love Tattoo"
“I’ll be honest. I recorded the idea for this song at 4am, drunk, in a bathroom at a party with my friends.” Honesty is always a feature with Ger, the 22-year-old singer-songwriter from Cork, Ireland. This summer sees him release luminous summer pop single, “Love Tattoo”, and it’s the fusion of forthright personality and unabashed fun on offer which makes this track feel special.
About the song, Ger says it came from a desire to write a love song – but one which would resonate with where he’s at, and where he wants to be. “I’m not gonna write a sad love song. That’s not me,” he says. About the lyrics, he goes on to say, “It’s about when you meet someone you can’t get out of your head. When it’s a practically physical feeling, and you can’t remove them from you. Like a tattoo.”
“I felt nearly infatuated with someone,” Ger shares. “And he was playing with me.”
Ger smiles as he discusses a small detail in the song: a Dua Lipa reference, “dance to Dua til we hallucinate”.
“He was obsessed with her. I wanted that to be in there too.” The track winds its way through smart and gorgeous synth melodies, wrapped up with Ger’s own unmistakeable world-class vocal performance. Through it all, Ger’s highly personal brand of lyrics and melodies shine, amidst the glitter of a rich production.
Once Ger had listened back to his recording of the melody for ‘Love Tattoo’, captured hurriedly in a bathroom, he knew he had something. “It’s catchy. It’s a song for when you’re driving in your car with the sun blaring down on you.” He wrote and performed the song, with Cian O’Donoghue producing and mixing the track, and mastering done by F.O.B (Matthew Nolan, uppbeat).
Ger (née Gerard O’Hanlon) is a 22-year-old singer-songwriter from Cork, Ireland, currently based in Greece. He moved into a foster home at a young age, after the passing of his mother at 33. “Music was the one thing which always brought us together.” Ger decided to study music at the University of Limerick in 2017. In 2018, he gained the online attention of British singer Jessie J for his vocal ability, and 6-octave vocal range, and moved to the noted commercial music institute BIMM Dublin in 2019 to focus his studies. Since his debut in 2020, Ger has secured 5 Top 10 Hits on the Irish iTunes Charts. “To Be With Him” and “Suffocating” took No. 1 on the Top 100 Singles and Top 100 Pop Singles charts respectively, and his latest single, “When Ash Turns Into Diamonds” achieved a No. 1 position on the Top 100 Alternative Singles chart in January. Ger is a powerhouse of positivity, and one of the most exciting songwriters to emerge from the art city of Cork in recent years.
Ger’s music is inspired by a long-time love of iconic vocalists like Mariah Carey, Christina Aguilera and Whitney Houston. Traces of Dua Lipa can also be found in his songs, as well as nods to 2010s-era pop in the vein of Katy Perry and Ke$ha. His personal and powerful delivery has drawn comparisons with Sam Smith and Adele.
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