Irish singer-songwriter Megan O’Neill today returns with The Questioning Type, a deeply personal new EP written during a period of profound change, grief, and quiet reckoning. Across three intimate tracks, O’Neill captures the emotional disorientation of loss, and the fragile moments of connection and curiosity that can exist within it.
“All three songs were written during a period of change and grief, while I was slowly losing someone very close to me to a long-term illness,” O’Neill explains. “That curiosity and restlessness threads through every track.”
The EP opens with She Is the Bird, written overlooking Coolmain Beach in West Cork after what O’Neill describes as “one of those conversations that shakes something loose.” The song lives in a space of emotional tension – the pull of repeatedly returning to a difficult situation, even when you know you need space. “It’s about how misery can become bearable when you have company,” she says, “when you’re reminded you’re not alone in your grief or your struggle.”
You Don’t Feel Like Home followed during a series of trips to London in 2022, shortly after the pandemic. Having lived in the city for five years, O’Neill was unsettled by how unfamiliar it suddenly felt. “London can feel lonely when you don’t have the energy to meet its chaos,” she reflects. While the song wrestles with displacement and discomfort, it ultimately reveals how grief can quietly reshape even the places we once loved most.
The EP’s lead track, The Questioning Type, became the emotional anchor for the project. “Grief made me question everything,” O’Neill says. “Why are we here? What’s it all for? Where do we go?” The song – and its title – encapsulates a chapter defined by uncertainty, introspection, and more questions than answers. “Why am I reacting this way? What’s next? Why doesn’t this place feel like it used to?”
Despite the weight of its themes, recording The Questioning Type was, in O’Neill’s words, “pure magic.” The EP was recorded at Sonic Studios with producer Ber Quinn, alongside Paul Kenny (drums, percussion), Joe Doyle (bass), and Sam Killeen (guitars). Gareth Quinn Redmond contributed strings remotely, with pedal steel added by David Murphy. “They created such a supportive, collaborative space to experiment, share ideas, and talk through melodies,” O’Neill says.
Best known for her commanding vocals and emotionally resonant songwriting, Megan O’Neill has earned acclaim on both sides of the Atlantic. American Songwriter has described her as “one of the most commanding vocalists working today.” Her work has featured on Netflix’s Firefly Lane, ABC’s Nashville, and received extensive radio airplay. She has toured internationally, opened for artists including Sir Tom Jones and Lighthouse Family, and performed at high-profile events such as private Oscars parties in Los Angeles.
The Questioning Type marks a turning point. “It feels like a gentle closing of one chapter and the beginning of another,” O’Neill shares. Since writing the EP, she has become a mother, and her new work – currently in progress and expected in 2027/28 – explores “this magical (and chaotic) season of learning and growing” alongside her child. “I’m not ‘moving on’ from the grief – that never truly happens – but I am writing from where I am now, in this new and brighter phase of life.”
With The Questioning Type, Megan O’Neill offers listeners an honest, beautifully rendered snapshot of grief in motion – tender, searching, and quietly hopeful.