Noor NanjiReporting fromGlastonburyGetty Images
Irish singer CMAT says she is still facing abuse after writing a single in response to being fat-shamed over her appearance at a festival last year.
Speaking to BBC News at Glastonbury, the 29-year-old said the online comments are so bad that she does not have TikTok on her phone.
The singer – real name Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson – spoke following her Friday afternoon set on the Pyramid stage, which lit up the festival with her powerful vocals and stage presence.
A huge crowd of fans also joined the dance to the single Take A Sexy Picture Of Me, which pushed back on last year’s fat-shaming incident and went viral on TikTok.
Before performing the song, CMAT reflected on the abuse she says she received last year.
“Lots of people would come and film us on their phone. The comments section was filled with very nasty comments about my physical appearance,” she said.
The crowd booed at this, while I heard several people shouting out “you’re stunning” back to her.
Following her set, I met her backstage where I asked her whether online abuse is still something she’s facing.
“Oh yeah. Oh yeah. Oh yeah. I’m not allowed to really have TikTok on my phone or anything,” she said.
“Every day, people will leave terrible terrible comments under my TikToks and posts and stuff.
“But they have their full face and full name attached to it. They’re just saying terrible things knowing that they’re backing it up with their online footprints.”
She admitted that to some extent, “we’ve all actually done it” because of how “desensitised” people have become to posting online.
“I think a lot of people do it unaware that people are actually reading this stuff,” she said.
Take A Sexy Picture Of Me, the second single from upcoming album Euro Country, charts the challenges of being a woman in the public eye.
The track begins with CMAT singing about trying to wax her legs with sticky tape when she was nine, and how the pressure to be attractive has meant she’s “been having a horrible time of late”.
But the lyrics are contrasted with poppy hooks and the tongue-in-cheek solution of having someone “take a sexy picture”.
CMAT indicated that she had mixed feelings about the response to the song.
“It’s just sad that so many people are like, yeah relatable, totally get you, really relate to this song about ageing out of commercial attraction and people being mean to me about my physical appearance,” she said.
“It’s a double-edged sword, like I don’t know if it’s good that so many people relate to it but I’m glad that it’s there.”
She also said she likes the dance routine that was made up to go with it.
“I think it’s doubling down on the ridiculousness of the situation, and I like that if you are someone who has related to the song in some way, you are able to physically manifest how you relate to it.”
‘It’s taken my entire life’
CMAT’s performance on the Pyramid Stage made fans laugh, dance and cry as she went through a string of her hits.
Speaking a few hours after, she said she was still “in shock” at the reaction to her set.
“It’s taken my entire life [to get to Pyramid Stage],” she said. “It’s constantly grafting.”
“I also begged Emily Eavis,” she said, naming the festival’s organiser.
CMAT ended her set with an incredible moment – she parted the crowd and met fans as everyone belted out the lyrics I just can’t do it from the song Stay for Something.
It’s only Friday, but I’m already convinced this is one of the moments we’ll remember from Glastonbury 2025.
Artists work so hard to get to the Pyramid Stage but there’s also something to be said for how that stage itself can make some artists’ careers. It felt like we just saw that happening with CMAT.