I n 2019, Tolü Makay, then 22, was cutting a swathe in the tech industry, enjoying the status of a prestigious career in Google, not to mention the financial stability that went along with it. No one was more surprised than her to find that, even at the pinnacle of professional success and fulfilment, she was not personally happy.
“I felt like I was going against who I am and what I was supposed to be doing,” Makay recalls. All the while, she kept hearing the siren song of a full-time musical career. Growing up in Offaly, she had sung with her local Pentecostal church choir from the age of eight; at 10, she was told by a visiting voice coach that she definitely “had something”. After graduating with a degree in psychology and philosophy, Makay decided to pursue a postgrad in psychology at Trinity College (“I thought I would be a neuropsychologist by day and then a singer by night,” she laughs.)
Yet by her early twenties, and encouraged by further interest from a record label, Makay decided to take a leap of faith, chase her dreams and move into music full-time.
She went on to tour with Dublin artist Soulé, playing at the Body & Soul and Longitude festivals, and performing at songwriting showcases such as The Ruby Sessions. By 2020, it looked like things were falling into place nicely.
Around the same time, she was going through a break-up, and re-examining her own relationship with religion. It was an eventful time.
I tell her it’s a potent thing to give up on a solid, stable life and follow one’s dreams. “I mean, for me, it’s just like breathing. But with fear,” she smiles. “I mean, I’m just doing what makes me feel good, and feels right.
“I thought, ‘If I can do a solid year of music, I can continue.’ That was the time frame I gave myself,” Makay recalls. “I just needed to make sure I stayed on for a year. But guess what? That year was 2020.”
It was a terrible quirk of fate that Makay decided to pursue a full-time music career just as the music industry was being decimated by the Covid-19 pandemic. It meant that most traditional opportunities to make inroads into the industry — touring, live performances — were largely shut off. It was up to Makay, as with most other musicians, to adapt and evolve in a new world order.
“For me it was like, ‘Well, I’ve made a decision, and I’m going to stick with that decision,’” she muses of the earliest days of the pandemic.
“I think the pandemic made me kind of aware of myself a lot more — before the pandemic, in the songs I was writing, there was a lot about trying to become who I want to be. So now, this feels like the start of a new chapter.
“It took a little longer for the EP to be released because of the pandemic,” Makay says, before noting that much of 2020 was spent collaborating alongside producers.
Following a handful of well-received singles, she unveiled her debut EP, Being, in October 2020, via Berlin-based label Welcome to the New World. The release was preceded by a Late Late Show performance with Irish Women in Harmony, which piqued immediate, widespread interest in Makay.
It instantly singled her out as a blazing, fresh talent, drawing from soul and pop influences to create an authentic and soulful musical journey.
Moving into music full-time was a dream very much realised, but the year wasn’t without its cloudier moments. “I think December [2020] was a very difficult month because it’s when everyone is supposed to go home, meet their family and stuff,” Makay reflects. “I think there was a time period where the Government allowed people in the arts to get out there and do a bit of work. In that week alone, there were so many people asking for me to be involved in so many things. I knew I had to take it because I didn’t know when money was going to make its way into my pocket again.
“I was just giving it my all but, even so, there were many times of just sadness and numbness. But still, I really wanted to make sure I gave that year my everything.
“Whenever I have kind of been in my sad moments, it’s because I needed to be,” she adds. “Maybe to reflect, maybe just to sit still and really feel the emotion I needed to. All of those emotions serve their purpose. I just let them do their thing, and then they’re washed away. The next moment I’m all happy again, and the next moment after that, I could be back to, ‘Oh God, the world is awful.’”
Missing home would soon feed into an extraordinary, career-boosting performance. As part of RTÉ’s New Year’s Eve programming, Makay delivered a showstopping cover version of The Saw Doctors’ N17. The clip was viewed over 600,000 times in 24 hours, putting Makay firmly on the stage for 2021.
The Saw Doctors heartily approved, tweeting, “Thanks for bringing it to a whole new audience who might have heard it before but never listened as they did last night. Beautiful version.”
So did Graham Norton. The Cork chat-show host confessed on social media that Makay’s performance had reduced him to a “sobbing mess”.
“I didn’t know everyone was going to be in love with it as much as they were,” Makay reflects. “I think it was the feeling I put towards it — mostly the feeling of missing home, and being unable to actually travel out and meet your family. They were the emotions that I was drawing from.”
From there, she has built a steadily growing fanbase who are eager to catch the singer performing live. A headline tour across Ireland, her first, has been announced for November.
On the prospect of returning to the stage in front of an audience for the first time in several months, Makay understandably admits to a degree of trepidation.
“Honestly? I’m anxious. I’m scared,” she says. “I feel like I’m stepping into a new territory and with new audiences. When I get to the stage, that energy, you know, is going to be very different from what I’ve ever experienced. I’m very excited about it, but I’m rightfully nervous about it too. I think the only way to combat it is to keep doing what I’m doing, and just keep going.
“Once you get on stage and start performing, it just becomes the most natural thing. You learn to understand the magic of music and the spirit behind music, and I take those things really seriously.”
As part of Independent.ie’s Rock Against Homelessness, in aid of Focus Ireland, Makay will share a stage with Aslan, Wyvern Lingo, Pillow Queens and Blindboy Boatclub, among others.
“It’s just amazing to be part of that line-up, and to be at the Olympia Theatre, but it’s not for us — it’s for the people that need [the funds raised]; it’s for them and their safety, and people feeling like they have a space to call home,” she says.
In addition to live performances, Makay has also created a podcast with Felicia Olusanya, AKA performance artist Felispeaks. The two are as close as “sisters”, as evidenced by their endearing appearance together on The Tommy Tiernan Show earlier this year.
“We hadn’t seen each other in about a month so we were in this little bubble of excitement,” Makay laughs. “Tommy was great, too. He was just bouncing off our jokes. After the reaction to that [appearance], I think that was why we decided to make our own show.”
The Tolü & Feli Show (found on YouTube and Spotify), Makay says, “doesn’t even feel like work”.
“We want people to know that, ‘Hello, people like us exist. It’s fine for us to get vulnerable with each other, as long as you guys get vulnerable with us,’” Makay explains. “We talk about different topics, from friendship toxicity and trauma to raising daughters — all these things. It’s basically us chinwagging and letting everyone else in.”
Beyond that, Makay has no master plan for the future, for perhaps obvious reasons. “I think one thing that the pandemic has taught me is about making plans,” she surmises. “It’s just not going to work.
“So I think one thing I’m kind of focusing on now is just taking care of myself and my mental and physical health, and trying to enjoy the process of making music. It’s all very busy, but I’ve learned that I need to take care of myself first and foremost, or nothing is actually going to work.”
Independent.ie’s ‘Rock Against Homelessness’ is available to watch online on June 20 at 8pm. Tickets are from €23, in aid of Focus Ireland. A special edition of ‘The Tolü & Feli Show’ has been recorded in Bantry House for this year’s West Cork Literary Festival — the event will be broadcast as part of the literary festival on Saturday July 10. See westcorkmusic.ie/LFprogramme for further details