It didn’t take long into CMAT’s London show for the woman herself to summarise exactly why 5000 people were crammed into Brixton’s O2 Academy to see her on a Monday night. “Not only am I the most beautiful face in the world,” CMAT declared, mugging for the audience. “Not only am I a talented songwriter,” as she was handed an acoustic guitar. “But I am also,” she struggled momentarily with the strap, “a mediocre guitar player” before launching into another song.
The 29-year-old Irish singer CMAT (real name Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson) has made waves through the indie scene with her first two albums, which launched her onto the festival circuit in 2024. After fat-shaming comments on her performances forced the BBC to disable comments their Instagram, she wrote the retort “Take A Sexy Picture Of Me”, ironically dubbed “the woke macarena”; it went viral, and her fame skyrocketed.
She cancelled a run of October tour dates due to an infected wisdom tooth – but now she is back and in her absolute element: gutsy and self-assured with powerhouse pipes, but funny, self-effacing, relentlessly silly. You can see why she draws in such vast (and intergenerational) crowds: she has a magnetic stage presence, last night swaggering and stomping around the stage as she crooned, kicked, yodelled and belted her stream of heartfelt country pop hits.
CMAT has a magnetic stage presence (Photo by Lorne Thomson/Redferns)Starting from the balcony behind the crowd with a crooning “Janis Joplining”, from her 2025 album, Euro-Country, she then launched into the relentless “The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station”. The song, despite appearances, is less about Jamie Oliver than about how pointless and consuming annoyances at other people serves her no purpose. It also proved to be a great, cathartic singalong, with the whole room joining in for the refrain: “Okay, don’t be a bitch, the man’s got kids and they wouldn’t like this”. It’s catchy and self-assured, with determined percussion never letting the energy dip.
square ALBUM REVIEWS CMAT's Euro-Country is the best album of the year
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The show was riddled with slapstick. CMAT and her band bounced between tightly choreographed, ridiculous poses; at two separate points percussion is played against an arse. CMAT led the room in a full on panto “he’s behind you!” during her band introductions, after the keyboardist, “accidentally” left out, flounced to the floor out of sight. (He was then brought back to life with some loving attention, before they launched into haunting, lilting harmony together.)
She couldn’t get away with all this silliness, this deliberate tomfoolery and fun, if she didn’t have the serious alent to support it. But she does, in spades. At moments tender and melancholic in her reflective duet “Where Are Your Kids Tonight?”, furious and mocking in summer hit “Take a Sexy Picture of Me”, playful and knowing in country send-up “Oh Shoot”. She leads the room in a swaying two step to her 2022 breakout hit “I Wanna Be a Cowboy, Baby!” before ending on “Stay For Something”. The room screamed the chorus as she ran into the crowd, sharing in the heartbroken glee of singing to an ex “hope you find what you’re looking for”. CMAT fans certainly did.
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