ATP! Exclusive: Janet Devlin - Running With Scissors (Album Track-By-Track)

Ireland's hottest commodity Janet Devlin is gearing up to release her stunning debut album Running With Scissors tomorrow (Feb. 10) and we're stoked to be hosting Janet's track-by-track commentary of the album -- giving fans a behind-the-scenes insight of each song for the first time.

You can read our 4.5/5 review of Running With Scissors here.

Creatures of the Night - I wrote this song when I first started suffering from insomnia. I'd be awake at stupid o'clock in the morning and although it wasn't a pleasant experience I decided to turn it on its head and put a positive spin on the subject. I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to write with the uber talented Newton Faulkner on this track and even though it took longer than normal to write (maybe because we we're playing clash of clans) I felt this song was a perfect opener to the album because most people expected the record to be full of ballads.

House of Cards - The lyrics to this song came from a poem in my journal that I'd written on the day of a bad breakup. I had no intention of actually using the snippet because it was too personal but I decided that by adding a happy upbeat melody that it would disguise how sad the lyrics actually were. This song was the main reason that I recorded a whole new album. When I demo'd this track it seemed to have its own sonic stamp which really moulded the sound for most of the record. I co-wrote this song with my producer and it's actually how we met and started working together.

Hide and Seek - The lyrical idea for this song came from a little ditty that I wrote when I was around 6-7 years old. The track still has elements of a childlike playfulness but talks about the subject of unrequited love. It's supposed to remind people not to chase people and that if they aren't that into you then you deserve to move on.

Lifeboat - This song is to remind people that they are not broken. That even though our pieces can be a little askew that we don't need someone to come along and try and fix us that we're "learning how to swim". The idea that you want to help yourself on your own without help and that it may be a hard thing to do that you want to do it for yourself.

Things We Lost in the Fire - As this song is such an emotional and personal song I wanted to portray as much of the emotion in the track as I possibly could. My producers came up with this idea that if I could visualise the person that the song was written about it may help me get into the right mindset for singing it. Although I was successful in doing so, I must admit it was really hard to try and sing when on the verge of tears.

Wonderful - A fun fact about this song is that the vocals I did for this were recorded when I was 17, it’s the only song on the album that I didn't re-vocal due to time restraints. The song is about the possibility of love and realising that you have to be vulnerable and let someone know all the little secrets that you hide in your closet and that to fall in love with someone you do have to let your guard down and be vulnerable. Although I'm not guaranteeing it will necessarily be wonderful as I say it COULD be not that it WILL be.

Delicate - This song is a really personal one for me that I've never really talked about the story behind it because it's that personal. The track is actually sarcastic because I'm not actually delicate, what I'm actually saying is that the other person could do with being a bit more emotionally open. I love the crowd chanting at the end of this song because live people try to emulate it and they sing along with it and it's a really amazing feeling to be honest.

Friday I'm in Love - I never expected to actually put a cover on this album however I'm really glad that I did. I know that this was a risky track to cover because no one's going to do it just as good as The Cure can. I tried putting my own spin on this one though with the instruments I've chosen. This is another track that is great fun to do live because everyone knows it and most people get involved because it appeals to not only the older audience members but the younger ones too!

When You Were Mine - This was my first ever 'across the water' co-write, I've still never met the other writer of this track! This song sticks out because it doesn't really sound like any of the other tracks on the album as it almost crosses over into the dance world. I really love the atmosphere of this song I feel it really helps to get the mood of the song across.

Whiskey Lullabies - This song is actually my favorite song on the whole album. I only wrote it about 2 months before we started recording so it was the last song actually written for the record. I love the little music box on the track because not only am I singing about childhood but also as the music box closes it actually closes the album too.