Co.Down singer Triona raising awareness for mental health through new single ‘Invisible’
She has opened up about her family's heartbreak, as part of our 'Invest in Life' campaign.
Last updated 24th Oct 2018
The 21-year-old from Teconnaught who has opened concerts for Van Morrison, Brian McFadden and Nathan Carter in the past, today released a single she wrote after losing her cousin to suicide in 2013.
The track called 'Invisible' helped her work through her emotions in the wake of the tragedy.
She paid tribute to her late cousin Shane Brennan, who she said played a 'pivotal role' in her music career.
"Shane would have been very, very musical and...we would have sat for hours on end up in the wee caravan he was living in and we used to create music together," she said.
"He would've taken me down to my first competition and he wrote my first song with me and produced it for me.
"Around that time everybody was just trying to deal with the pain and the hurt and so I sat down one night and I was just writing this song and I was just trying to let my emotions flow.
"It was always so personal to me that...I didn't want to do anything with it because I was just like, this is my story."
Four years on, the Teconnaught woman feels she is now ready to make the track public, in a bid to help others suffering from mental health issues.
"If people don't talk out their problems it's just going to keep getting bigger and bigger in their own heads and it could lead to the same tragedy happening," she said.
"That's why I feel it's key that people are made aware of mental health and that they feel like they're able to talk it out.
Triona also opened up about her own personal struggle.
The County Down woman revealed she was bullied at school from a young age and felt very down as a result.
“I probably was depressed, I was coming home here and I didn’t have any willpower to do anything.
“Whenever you’re having such a hard time, you’re just like well, what’s the point?"
Triona turned to music as an emotional outlet.
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"I got a really hard time at school, I never fitted in and it was hard to deal with and that’s why I started writing songs and trying to let my emotions flow because it was just getting bottled up," she said.
“It was maybe coming out at home where I would’ve came home balling my eyes out every day.
“It was really hard and it had a big impact on my mental health.”
The singer who is currently working on music projects in Nashville alongside Grammy award winning producer Drew Ramsey, recently played at the U19 Women’s Euros tournament opening ceremony, hosted in Belfast.
Her track “Day’s like These” was used as the official song for the competition.
Triona says music helped her heal growing up.
“Music was a great outlet for me it was an escape, even just writing songs it was an escape to get away from the real world.”