“Oblivion” - Ste Kelly
Photo Credit: Artist EPK
Ste Kelly is back, and this time he’s hitting where it really counts—with a song and video that manage to feel both deeply personal and entirely collective. OBLIVION marks the first taste of his upcoming sophomore record Midnight Manifesto, and it arrives hand in hand with a visual companion directed by longtime collaborator Finn Keenan.
The track itself is a meditation on inevitability—the frustration of knowing some things are out of your hands, and the strange calm that comes when you stop fighting it. Kelly leans into that tension, his songwriting capturing both the heaviness and the flicker of light that comes from acceptance. There’s grit in the delivery, but also a kind of weathered tenderness—like the words are carrying both the wound and the salve.
Keenan’s video takes that feeling and stretches it out into a portrait of Ireland right now. Shot in stark, intimate moments, it’s less a “music video” than a love letter to the people who make up the fabric of a place—different ages, different backgrounds, different walks of life, moving through their own quiet routines yet bound together by the land they share. It’s not glossy or idealized, but grounded, real, and strangely hopeful. You don’t just watch these faces; you recognize them, maybe even see yourself in them.
There’s also something touching about the way this collaboration came to be. After 15 years of bouncing ideas back and forth, Kelly sent Keenan the track late at night over WhatsApp—no grand plan, just an artist reaching out to a trusted friend. What came back wasn’t just a video, but a complete surprise: a ready-made companion piece built from years of people-watching and observation. The synchronicity is uncanny, as though both artists had been circling the same idea in parallel without knowing it.
Photo Credit: Artist EPK
For Kelly, this feels like a milestone moment. His past work with Raglans put him on the map, and his songwriting has already earned accolades (including a Choice Music Prize nomination for “Who Knows”), but OBLIVION is different. It’s less about youthful bravado and more about staring life’s fragility in the eye—then choosing optimism anyway. It’s music that doesn’t just speak to Ireland, but emerges from it, rooted in community and shared resilience.
OBLIVION isn’t flashy, it isn’t pandering, and that’s exactly why it resonates. It’s a song about surrender that ends up feeling strangely defiant—a reminder that even in the face of inevitability, connection, and solidarity can still win out. Kelly calls it his proudest work to date, and it’s easy to see why.
“Oblivion” is available now on all major streaming platforms
