By Leona Gilmore

There is no more authentic way to earn your musical wings that to take yourself and your guitar onto a busy street and sing for all you’re worth – although parents mightn’t always see it as the best career option!

That’s where aspiring Galway singer/songwriter Aisling Fuller fell out with her folks last summer, when she revealed her plans after completing her year in university.

“I wanted to busk for ages, but I was scared about what others would think,” admits the 23-year-old singer/songwriter from Renmore.

Aisling’s parents insisted on her getting a more traditional sort of summer job, but she wasn’t for turning.

“My parents said ‘you better get a job’ and I said that I wanted to work on my music, we had an argument about it!” she laughs.

Adamant on following her heart, Aisling took to the streets of Galway to perform her original music anyway.

“I went out and I really enjoyed it, I figured I could still make enough money that I wouldn’t have to work at the same time,” she says.

And it was the start of a rapid upward projection that has seen her write, perform and release her music ever since.

She released her latest single, Sunday Mourning, in June – and she reveals she wrote the song a year ago when she was going through what she calls ‘a not-so-great time’ in a relationship.

“If you listen to the lyrics of the song, despite the upbeat vibes the lyrics are quite sad,” she says.

But when Aisling decided that she wanted to release the song as a single she didn’t ‘want it to be sad anymore’.

“I changed the lyrics and reorientated how the track would sound and made it into this upbeat song,” she says.

“A lot of people ask me why I don’t put out songs sooner but it’s because I like to fine tune things and go back over it, change things and sit with it for a while before actually putting it out there”, Aisling adds.

Not that this was her first foray into the world of recording, because she secretly released her first song at eighteen years of age.

“I put out a song called soulmate on Spotify but I put it out in secret, so I didn’t tell anybody and then I let a few friends know,” she says.

Now that she’s into the rhythm, she is planning more regular releases of her own material throughout the rest of 2025.

“If you look back at my discography, I released just one song in 2023, none in 2022, a couple of originals in 2021, and more again in 2024. But this year, I’m really focusing on putting out more of my own music,” she says.

She describes that music as ‘giving the raw lyrics, telling stories through my songs and writing relatable songs for teenage girls and women in their twenties’.

And her popularity is clearly spreading – by capitalising on that same approach to busking abroad as she did at home. In June, while on holidays in France, Aisling spotted a busker.

“I said I would ask him if he wanted to sing a song together and he let me sing my song,” she says.

And she attracted a massive crowd who listened to her latest single.

“I got a way bigger crowd than I would in Ireland,” she adds.

She’s also making strides at performing indoors as well.

“I had a few opportunities where people approached me asking me to play in their bars…it’s not something that I have gotten full time into yet,” she says.

“There is a big gig scene in Galway. I haven’t broken into that because at the moment I just do it on occasion, but I really enjoy it especially sitting down and people actually knowing the songs that you’re singing and singing along – even if they are not my songs it is still a really rewarding experience”.

To follow along on Aisling’s music journey, you can check out her social media platforms; her Instagram is @aisling.fuller and her Spotify handle is @aislingfuller.

Pictured: Aisling Fuller performing on the streets of Galway.