It was just after noon when Irish-bred, London-based singer-songwriter Janet Devlin and I met at La Palapa in the East Village, which meant it was technically lunchtime. But this is New York—and we are millennials—so we brunched. 

“It’s definitely an American thing,” Devlin said in a sweet brogue, wild strawberry blonde hair a halo around her face, signature cat eyeliner contouring her pale blue eyes. “No one really does brunch. All my girlfriends do brunch—that’s a given—they love going out to brunch, but everyone else is like, ‘It’s either breakfast or lunch, man.’ No one even says brunch.”

She’s characteristically early and I’m characteristically late, which meant Devlin had been waiting for me by the time I arrived. When we sat, she explained why through a little bit of Irish folklore: If you were born early, you’ll arrive early for things, the opposite if you were born late. We fit the mold.

Devlin, though, doesn’t fit in any other preconceived template for what a young singer-songwriter “should” be. She got her start on television at age 16, placing fifth on the X Factor in the UK in 2011, yet was heavily bullied in school. She’s reserved and a little shy, yet bubbly and charismatic once she hits her stride in conversation. A gifted singer, yet not completely aware of her ability. A budding star, yet uncomfortable in the spotlight.

“Being a singer-songwriter, you should be used to being the center of attention almost, but I’m not,” Devlin said. “I never want to be the center of attention, so the idea of people singing ‘Happy Birthday’ and stuff is hell.” 

She’d just turned 21 a few days prior, which meant Devlin and I could now share an adult beverage together during her brief time in the States. But she doesn’t drink anymore and ordered an Americano. She had her fair share of wild times at the ripe old age of 17—thanks to that young UK drinking age—and has swapped late nights with meditation and yoga, she said. 

This bit of self-awareness is just the tip of the nuanced iceberg that is the life and times of Janet Devlin. 

A songwriter since the age of six, Devlin initially showed her chops on YouTube, posting covers of Elton John, City and Colour and Regina Spektor. She continued putting her spin on others’ songs during her time on The X Factor, finishing fifth in 2011. It wasn’t until 2014 when her debut, Running With Scissors, was released in the UK. (Early 2015 for us here in America.) 

A collection of whimsical folk-pop, Running With Scissors is drenched with sugary-sweet melodies and maladies that evoke your inner teen. Devlin serves as a delicate-voiced narrator audibly retracing memories from romances past, the plights of adolescence, growing up. It’s an album’s worth of a Top 40 showcase with its honesty and accessibility. It’s also an album that almost never was. 

The would-be debut was all but complete when Devlin decided to put the brakes on the project and start over. The revamped project was conceived and executed in a matter of six weeks and finally she was satisfied.

“I don’t believe in releasing anything I’m not happy with because then I have to sit in interviews and talk about something I’m not proud of and then guilt—not good with it—I couldn’t do it. I wouldn’t be able to live with myself.” 

By this time, our food had arrived and Devlin began politely noshing on her chicken quesadilla. 

“I always eat chicken when I’m here,” she said. “It’s always the safest thing on the menu, so I’m just going to go with it. Every restaurant we’ve been to, we’ve been to Thai, we’ve been to stereotypical American and I’ll have the chicken fingers!” 

Her culinary preferences seemingly have not caught up to the more adventurous persona she’s begun to embody only recently. Notorious for hiding herself away when she’s not working, Devlin’s shed her safety blanket of seclusion and has found herself in more social situations and with that, the anxiety and panic attacks are loosening their grip on her psyche. 

“You want to be a Pokémon, you want to get better and better and better instead of going backwards.” She paused. “Did I just use a Pokémon reference?” 

Her affinity for progression is translating to her music. Where Running was raw, its follow up will be even more evocative. Drawing inspiration from her Catholic upbringing, Devlin dives deep into past, her flaws with Holy Water, which she’s in the beginning phases of writing. Shrouded in mystery and metaphor, Holy Water tackles what Running merely touched on, she said. 

“It’s almost like I’m confessing my sins and the only way you can be reconciled for your sins is by telling another person and admitting it to yourself, like confessions. So I figure if I write the song, I’m admitting it to myself, and by releasing it, by people hearing it, I’ll be forgiven for it completely because I’ve done both of those steps.” 

Instrumentally, she’s carrying over the momentum built from her latest EP December Daze, a collection of holiday songs, including two originals, which she wrote and played every instrument on. It’s another way to push herself musically, she said. 

In every aspect, Devlin’s baring it all. These are her words, her skills, her sounds, her creations—open for criticism. But when all is said and done, she’s not scared of what the public will say. It’s she who’s the hardest to please. 

“For years, I was always so mean to myself and always put myself down,” Devlin said. “I still don’t build myself up, but I kind of stay on a level of ‘You’re just being mean to yourself now, stop it.’”

So she’s working on it. Even as we strolled down St. Mark’s Place to Barcade, where Devlin would soon destroy me in vintage gaming, she seemed buoyant, lifted by New York City, the future and growing into her own skin. Exactly where every 21-year-old should be. 

“For me I had to make a distinction: There’s Janet Devlin and there’s Janet,” she began. “Just because I’m not on stage doest mean I can’t be my stage persona. And then if I’m ‘me,’ I’m still really shy, I’m really nervous. I’m okay with it, that’s kind of who you are.”