Hot Picks
The Best of the Articles & Interviews
Enya through Watermark:
By far, the best of the Hot Picks are from this era. Enya
was a fresh face, a fresh voice, bringing out music that no one had ever
heard before. She was interviewed by some of the best music industry reporters.
At 27 years old and not entirely certain of how long her career would
last, Enya was far more open in her responses than she would be eight
years later with the release of The Memory of Trees. In her responses,
you can sense the excitement and the determination of a young woman standing
on the brink of an extraordinary career.
If you read nothing else out of this era, you have to
read the articles published in Hot Press magazine. Hot Press reporters
Bill Graham and Niall Stokes not only interviewed Enya, but captured the
excitement and expectation of a young artist at the start of her career.
Enya, the Latest Score, Hot
Press. Spring 1987. Bill Graham.
The article precedes the airing of the BBC documentary, The Celts, for
which Enya provided the score.
Going with the Flow, Hot Press
October 1988. Niall Stokes
Niall Stokes' late-night interview with Enya and Nicky Ryan at the old
Artane Aigle Studio is just damn fine reporting, full of the edgy excitement
of listening to Watermark prior to its release and wondering where the
music will take this creative trio.
Growing with the Flow, Hot
Press. November 1988. Niall Stokes
Niall Stokes once again interviews Enya, this time after her successful
Top of the Pops appearance and the rise of Orinoco Flow to #1 on the charts.
When a frail girl is surrounded by hundreds of fans at a record signing
in Dublin, what does the future portend?
Around the World in 300 Days,
Hot Press. December 1989. Enya and Roma Ryan.
Enya's own account of the nearly one-year around-the-world promotional
trip she undertook for Watermark. If she wasn't exhausted by the time
she stopped promoting the album, you will be by the time you finish this
whirl-wind, non-stop, account of her travels.
The Country Girl, Tracks.
January 1989.
Enya, Clannad's Little Sister
Sails Away, Musician. May 1989.
A competently written interview with a strong focus on the recording techniques
for Watermark. When I read articles like this, I regret that Enya is no
longer interviewed by magazines that cater to musicians or those in the
recording industry. Articles like this provide a little meat to readers
who have tired of hearing about 'twelve little stories.'
Miss Prim of Pop, Daily Mail.
January 1989. Anne Barraclough.
Enya's public image then, and perhaps even now, is that of a reclusive
woman devoted only to music, prim, proper, straight-laced. Somewhere the
reporters have begun to notice that Enya will not talk about her private
life. Anne Barraclough might have been among the first to point that out.
No Sex and the Single Girl,
Mail on Sunday. February 1989. Max Bell.
If Enya's Miss Prim of Pop, Miss No-interest-in-boyfriends naturally follows.
Interviewed at the Ryan's Artane home, Enya addreses and dismisses the
public perception that she's controlled by the Ryan's. Her final statement,
"Above all, I want to make my mark," says it all.
Shepherd Moons
It was a still-wary but more media-savvy Enya who rolled out
Shepherd Moons in late 1991. Reporters who had met her previously during
the Watermark promotion noted that Enya approached interviews with more
confidence. Perhaps she did, but Nicky Ryan was still often at her side.
There's something else journalists began to fix upon during the roll-out
of Shepherd Moons: Enya's private life. And as reporters note that she
still won't talk about her life outside of music, the barbs they throw
have more sting to them.
Haunting, Ethereal, Mystical.
Q Magazine. May 1992. Giles Smith.
Shepherd Moons Rise over
the Watermark. Irish Times. October 1991.
Joe Jackson. A more media-savvy and wary Enya confronts the press at the
release of Shepherd Moons.
Enigmatic Enya moves ahead
with Shepherd Moons. The Boston Globe. Jim Sullivan. December 1991.
This is the first of Jim Sullivan's interviews with Enya. He would interview her
again during the promotion of The Memory of Trees.
A Day in the Life of Enya.
The Sunday TImes. Anne McFerrin. Mid-1992.
Enya may bang her head against the wall when she remembers this interview.
With comments about her Japanese massage bed, her love of the 'drama of
clothes', and meticulous attention to making breakfast, this is Enya at
her blondest. But beyond the silly remarks, there are plenty of comments
that indicate an intensely driven artist with a few worries on her mind.
When reading the article take into consideration that Enya may have been
interviewed at length and then the reporter pulled the quotes out of context
for effect. Read the article and smile: this is an Enya just realizing
that she has a career that may last beyond one or two albums.
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