Samantha Kay, known professionally as Soulé (Stylised as SOULÉ, born 4 January 1995), is an Irish singer-songwriter who was born in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

but raised in

Dublin Dublin is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. Situated on Dublin Bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, and is bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, pa ...

Early life

Soulé was born Samantha Kay in

, England to Congolese parents from the

Democratic Republic of the Congo The Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), also known as the DR Congo, Congo-Kinshasa, or simply the Congo (the last ambiguously also referring to the neighbouring Republic of the Congo), is a country in Central Africa. By land area, it is t ...

. The family moved to Ireland and settled in

Balbriggan Balbriggan (; , ) is a suburban coastal town in Fingal, in the northern part of County Dublin, Ireland. It is approximately 34 km north of the city of Dublin, for which it is a commuter town. The 2022 census population was 24,322 for Bal ...

, County Dublin when Soulé was 12. She attended the Loreto school in Balbriggan. She auditioned for ''

The X-Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for '' Pop Idol'' (2001–200 ...

'' in the UK at age 16, but did not progress through to the television show. In her early years, she was involved in music and performing arts in the

Foróige Foróige is an Irish organisation whose purpose is "to enable young people to involve themselves consciously and actively in their development and in the development of society". Macra na Tuaithe, the youth branch of Macra na Feirme, was formed ...

youth club in the town, and was mentored by Messiah J. She was involved in organising the Nitrogen music festival in the town. She received a degree in Tourism from the

Dublin Institute of Technology Dublin Institute of Technology (DIT, ) was a major third-level institution in Dublin, Ireland. On 1 January 2019 DIT was dissolved and its functions were transferred to the Technological University Dublin, as TU Dublin City Campus. The insti ...

Career

Soulé's singing was spotted online by a Dublin musician, Precious, in 2015 and she was invited to feature on a song he was recording at an experimental production house in Dublin. This is the studio in which Soulé has produced all of her music. She released her first single, "Love No More", in September 2016. Her music has been described as "fun

R'n'B Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

", taking inspiration from the genre in the 1990s. Her singles "Love No More" and "Troublemaker" were nominated for the Choice Music Awards' Song of the Year in 2017 and 2018 respectively. Her single "Love Tonight" featuring

C Cane C, or c, is the third letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''cee'' (pronounced ), plural ''cees''. History "C" ...

, was played on each episode of ''Love Island'' in 2019. This single was also nominated for the Choice Music Awards' 2019 Song of the Year and was the biggest song by an Irish female artist that same year. She was named one of

RTÉ 2fm RTÉ 2fm, or 2FM as it is more commonly referred to, is an Irish radio station operated by RTÉ. The station specialises in current popular music and chart hits and is the second national radio station in Ireland. History The station commenc ...

's Rising Stars in 2019. She performed at

Eurosonic ESNS (Eurosonic Noorderslag) is an annual four-day music showcase festival and conference held in January in Groningen, the Netherlands. The first three days of the festival (Eurosonic) feature artists from all over Europe, the last day of the f ...

in 2018, and has featured at

Electric Picnic Electric Picnic is an annual arts-and-music festival which has been staged since 2004 at Stradbally Hall in Stradbally, County Laois, Ireland. Overview It is organised by Pod Concerts and Festival Republic, who purchased the majority sh ...

Longitude Longitude (, ) is a geographic coordinate that specifies the east- west position of a point on the surface of the Earth, or another celestial body. It is an angular measurement, usually expressed in degrees and denoted by the Greek lett ...

, and

Forbidden Fruit In Abrahamic religions, forbidden fruit is a name given to the fruit growing in the Garden of Eden that God commands mankind Taboo#In religion and mythology, not to eat. In the biblical story, Adam and Eve eat the fruit from the tree of the know ...

music festivals in Ireland. She was one of the acts featured at the Love Sensation festival in

Royal Hospital Kilmainham The Royal Hospital Kilmainham () in Kilmainham, Dublin, is a 17th-century former hospital and retirement home which is now mainly used to house the Irish Museum of Modern Art and as a concert and events venue. It is notable as being the first l ...

, the 2fm Christmas Ball in the

3Arena 3Arena may refer to the following: * 3Arena (Dublin) The 3Arena (originally The O2) is an indoor amphitheatre located at North Wall Quay in the Dublin Docklands in Dublin, Ireland. The venue opened as The O2 on 16 December 2008 and was re-bran ...

, and on '' The Late Late Show'' in 2019. She regularly performs with a dj. She collaborated with Sorcha Richardson and Elaine Mai on the single "Butterflies" in 2019 as part of the

Three Ireland Three Ireland (Hutchison) Limited (formerly Hutchison 3G Ireland Limited), commonly known as 3 Ireland or Three Ireland, is a telecommunications and Internet service provider operating in Ireland as a subsidiary of CK Hutchison Holdings, oper ...

''Made by Music'' campaign. In 2020, Soulé was part of an Irish collective of female singers and musicians called

Irish Women in Harmony "Dreams" is the debut single of Irish rock band the Cranberries. It was originally released in October 1992, by Island Records, and later appeared on the band's debut album, ''Everybody Else Is Doing It, So Why Can't We?'' (1993). The song reache ...

, that recorded a version of the Cranberries song "

Dreams A dream is a succession of images, ideas, emotions, and sensations that usually occur involuntarily in the mind during certain stages of sleep. Humans spend about two hours dreaming per night, and each dream lasts around 5–20 minutes, althou ...

" in aid of the charity SafeIreland, which deals with

domestic abuse Domestic violence is violence that occurs in a domestic setting, such as in a marriage or cohabitation. In a broader sense, abuse including nonphysical abuse in such settings is called domestic abuse. The term "domestic violence" is often use ...

which had reportedly risen significantly during the

COVID-19 lockdown During the early stages of the COVID-19 pandemic, a number of non-pharmaceutical interventions, particularly lockdowns (encompassing stay-at-home orders, curfews, quarantines, and similar societal restrictions), were implemented in numero ...

. Their version of the song received Gold status; this was Soulé's first Gold disc. In 2022, Soulé parted ways with her management and became fully independent. Soulé released her single " Body" co-written with Irish artist

Cian Ducrot Cian Ducrot (born 30 August 1997) is a Grammy Award-winning Irish singer-songwriter. He rose to prominence with his single " All for You", which gained popularity in 2022 via TikTok and reaching number 2 in the Irish Singles Chart and peaked at n ...

at a Spotify songwriting camp. " Body" received critical acclaim and was number 1 on the Irish Breakers Chart at the same time amassing over 400,000 streams on Spotify. In April 2022, Soulé was announced as a support act for

Westlife Westlife are an Irish pop group formed in Dublin in 1998. The group consists of members Nicky Byrne, Shane Filan, Kian Egan and Mark Feehily. Brian McFadden was a member before leaving in March 2004. The group disbanded in 2012 and later reun ...

The Wild Dreams Tour The Wild Dreams Tour or The Hits Tour, originally known as the Stadiums in the Summer Tour, is a concert tour by Irish pop vocal group, Westlife. It was first scheduled to begin on 17 June 2020 in Scarborough, North Yor ...

in the Aviva Stadium Alongside

Sugababes The Sugababes are an English girl group composed of Mutya Buena, Keisha Buchanan, and Siobhán Donaghy. The lineup changed three times before returning to the original lineup in 2011. Formed in 1998 by Ron Tom, the manager of All Saints, ...

. With over 50,000 in attendance, this was Soulé's biggest stage to date and she received a positive response from critics. In 2022, Soulé was also announced as a judge on Junk Kouture a television fashion competition for secondary school students. She was on the judging panel alongside

Louis Walsh Michael Louis Vincent Walsh (born 5 August 1952) is an Irish music manager and television personality. He has managed Johnny Logan (singer), Johnny Logan, Boyzone, Jedward and Westlife, four of Ireland's most successful pop acts in the 1990s an ...

Rozanna Purcell Rozanna "Roz" Purcell (born 3 September 1990) is an Irish model, charity worker and beauty pageant titleholder who won Miss Universe Ireland 2010 and represented Ireland at Miss Universe 2010. Miss Universe Purcell competed in Miss Universe Ire ...

and Stephen McLaughlin.

Discography

* ''Love No More'' single (2016) * ''Troublemaker'' single (2017) * ''Good Life'' single (2017) * ''What Do You Know'' single (2017) * ''Don’t Hold Your Breath'' single (2018) * ''Love Tonight'' featuring

single (2019) * ''Butterflies '' collaboration with Sorcha Richardson and Elaine Mai single (2019) * ''Love Cycle'' EP (2019) * ''Dreams'' as part of Irish Women in Harmony (2020) * ''Queenish'' single (2021) * ''Body'' single ( 2022)

References

External links

Soulé on Spotify
* {{authority control Irish women singers Irish hip-hop musicians Black Irish people 1995 births Living people Irish people of Democratic Republic of the Congo descent British emigrants to Ireland Singers from London People from Balbriggan Irish contemporary R&B singers