History Music / Enya

She is still recording music, with her latest album being released in 2015 (Enya is a self-admitted slow worker, and as such it is not uncommon for five or six years to elapse between albums). She is also notable for being the second-best selling Irish artist next to {{Music/U2}}. To be in competition with a band completely outside her genre is something of a SugarWiki/MomentOfAwesome.

* LoveHurts: Implied in a few of her lonelier, sadder pieces, although even then she seems to take Tennyson's position on the matter.

* MediumBlending: She tends to use this in a lot of her music videos, from simple matters such as back-projection putting her image on a wind-blown curtain in "Evening Falls" to literally becoming parts of the landscape in "Orinoco Flow" and "It's in the Rain." But the ultimate example of this would have to be "Caribbean Blue", where all the scenes within the portraits were filmed, rotoscoped, re-colored with smudged pastels, and even glass painting to achieve a swirling, dream-like effect that is rather stunning.

* OlderThanTheyLook: She's 60 as of 2021 yet still looks like a 30-something.

* PepTalkSong: "Solace" is a gentler, more bittersweet version of the trope than the usual. "Only If", "Pilgrim", and "Dreams are More Precious Than Gold" count as well.

* RecurringRiff: The opening lines of "Dark Sky Island" and "So I Could Find My Way" sound strikingly similar.

** "My! My! Time Flies" references Music/TheBeatles, and specifically the cover image for ''[[AbbeyRoadCrossing Abbey Road]]'', as well as Music/ElvisPresley.

* SomethingCompletelyDifferent: Every once in a while she'll throw in something unusual and unique, or at least unlike her usual fare.
** A good example would be "My! My! Time Flies" from ''And Winter Came'', which not only includes rather informal lyrics ("[[AbbeyRoadCrossing Four guys across Abbey Road/One forgot to wear shoes]]") but thanks to a reference to Elvis ("A king to sing you the blues") has a bridge passage of bluesy music with electric guitar come out of nowhere.
** See also "I Want Tomorrow."
** "I May Not Awaken", aside from being about ten times sadder than most of her other pieces, has essentially none of the echo-y self-backing Enya is known for. The single track on the melody gives this song a sparser sound that fits its mood well.
** "Anywhere Is" could perhaps be fairly described as the closest Enya gets to ''rap.'' The verses are half-chanted, with a lighter, more melodic chorus.
** The music video for "Trains and Winter Rains" is set in an urban environment. (The music video for "Wild Child" is also set in a city, but it's a CityOfCanals based off of Venice; this one is much more modern in style.)

* MohsScaleOfLyricalHardness: Tends to hang around a 4, given that a lot of her songs are mature, realistic discussions of love, loneliness, and wanderlust. Not all sunshine and roses by any means, but generally optimistic. Has gone all the way down to 1 or 2 ([[PepTalkSong "Wild Child"]]) and all the way up to around 9 ([[DrivenToSuicide "I May Not Awaken"]]), though.

* OlderThanTheyLook: She's in her late 50s yet still looks like a 30-something.

* {{Mondegreen}}: Irish accent + heavy vocal layering + tons of reverb = beautiful voice that's really hard to understand.
** "Exile" has an odd one. To someone unfamiliar with the lyrics, "I will sail home to you" could easily come out as, of all things, "I will sail the Baltic".

** The original BBC Records release of the 1986 album ''Enya'' has a front-cover photo of Enya in a black dress, high heels and posing with stuffed wolves. The rear sleeve featured her with more stuffed animals and pouffed-up 80s big hair. Not quite the ethereal Celtic pixie princess look she cultivated from ''Watermark'' onwards. When the album was reissued in 1992 (retitled ''The Celts''), these images were replaced with new photographs of the singer that were more "on-brand").

* BookEnds: Initially, during the production gap between ''The Memory of Trees'' and ''A Day Without Rain'', Enya's work was bookended by the songs "Orinoco Flow" and "On My Way Home"--both songs contain the same lyrics ("Turn it up, turn it up, turn it up, [[GratuitousFrench adieu]]"), as a bridge in the first song and after the chorus in the second. Once ''A Day Without Rain'' came out, it became a CallBack; in both cases it showed how far she had come in her music.

* EverythingsLouderWithBagpipes: Though not the perfect example of this trope, she tends to use Uilleann pipes a LOT. (Which suits her anyways seeing as she's a Celtic artist).

* LyricalDissonance: While the tune of "Tempus Vernum" is dark, brooding, and unsettling, and the lyrics, as noted below, are an example of OminousLatinChanting, the ''translation'' is...simply a list of the seasons, the cardinal directions, and various elements of nature.

* BookEnds: Initially, during the ScheduleSlip between ''The Memory of Trees'' and ''A Day Without Rain'', Enya's work was bookended by the songs "Orinoco Flow" and "On My Way Home"--both songs contain the same lyrics ("Turn it up, turn it up, turn it up, [[GratuitousFrench adieu]]"), as a bridge in the first song and after the chorus in the second. Once ''A Day Without Rain'' came out, it became a CallBack; in both cases it showed how far she had come in her music.

* ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin: Some of the lyrics of "Anywhere Is" are "It's either this or that way, it's one way or the other." At the point where she sings this in the music video, she is faced with a set of four doors with placards that actually ''say'' "This Way", "That Way", "One Way", and "Other Way". [[SurrealMusicVideo And then it cuts to the other side of the doors, and twenty-four Enyas march out of them.]] [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments So that's who does her backing.]]

** "Evacuee". The non-appearing title is effectively WordOfGod on the song's context - the lyric itself is vague enough that it could be about any parting from loved ones.

** Enya also poses like the cover for ''Memory of Trees'' in the video for "Anywhere Is", then "comes to life". [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments And promptly falls asleep on her throne.]]

* SingleStanzaSong: "Sancta Maria" is nothing lyrically but [[TitleOnlyChorus its title]], [[BrokenRecord repeated over and over]] for almost four minutes. [[SugarWiki/AwesomeMusic But instrumentally]]...

* EpicRocking: "Smaointe" from 4:33 to the end. Also pretty much the entirety of "The River Sings", any time the piano comes in on "The Longships" (but especially from 2:37 onward), and the opening seven seconds of "Echoes in Rain" (plus the final chorus from 2:34 onward).

She made a triumphant return in the 2000s with a new album, and featured as a vocalist for "May It Be" in the first ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' movie. Around this time, Enya scored another major hit with "Only Time". The song became closely identified with the 9/11 attacks because US media, for some reason, incessantly used the song as background music during coverage of the aftermath. Enya was reportedly uncomfortable with this, but agreed to release a special version of the song, with proceeds supporting 9/11 families.

** The music video for "May it Be" features clips from the first ''Film/TheLordOfTheRings'' movie. A number of clips from ''Film/FarAndAway'' also feature in the music video for "Book of Days."

* EpicRocking: "Smaointe" at 6:07. Also pretty much the entirety of "The River Sings".

** The original BBC Records release of the 1986 album ''Enya'' has a front-cover photo of Enya looking sexy in an LBD, pumps, and posing with stuffed wolves. The rear sleeve featured her with more stuffed animals and pouffed-up 80s big hair. Not quite the ethereal Celtic pixie princess look she cultivated from ''Watermark'' onwards. When the album was reissued in 1992 (retitled ''The Celts''), these images were replaced with new photographs of the singer that were more "on-brand").

* WomanInWhite: In the videos for "Wild Child", "On My Way Home", and "Only Time" (during [[SeasonalMontage the winter segment]], of course). This last is particularly relevant since the {{Motif}} and the meaning of the song both refer to loss and death.

* BookEnds[=/=]CallBack: Initially, during the ScheduleSlip between ''The Memory of Trees'' and ''A Day Without Rain'', Enya's work was bookended by the songs "Orinoco Flow" and "On My Way Home"--both songs contain the same lyrics ("Turn it up, turn it up, turn it up, [[GratuitousFrench adieu]]"), as a bridge in the first song and after the chorus in the second. Once ''A Day Without Rain'' came out, it became a CallBack; in both cases it showed how far she had come in her music.

** It's easy to assume "Book of Days" is called "Far and Away", as the latter words appear more often throughout the song than the former, which only show up once. Considering this song was (according to ThatOtherWiki) written first as an instrumental piece for [[Film/FarAndAway the film of the same name]], and the expanded version for ''Shepherd Moons'' had lyrics written by Roma Ryan "based on the film's themes", the recurrence of the phrase is likely intentional.

** It's easy to assume "Book of Days" is called "Far and Away", as the latter words appear more often throughout the song than the former, which only show up once. Considering this song was (according to TheOtherWiki) written first as an instrumental piece for [[Film/FarAndAway the film of the same name]], and the expanded version for ''Shepherd Moons'' had lyrics written by Roma Ryan "based on the film's themes", the recurrence of the phrase is likely intentional.

** It's easy to assume "Book of Days" is called "Far and Away", as the latter words appear more often throughout the song than the former, which only show up once.

* FaceOnTheCover: All her singles and albums except compilations. A deliberate subversion by WEA's Rob Dickins (who signed her) of the convention of New Age marketing which eschewed artist portraits.

Then, in 1988, she struck gold with her landmark album ''Watermark''. From that album is the famous (or infamous as some of her fans hate the song) "Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)", which gained some moderate radio airplay. ''Watermark'' has been critically praised as a masterpiece of NewAge music, but for some reason Enya refused to let herself be labeled with the NewAge scene.

* BerserkButton: She tries to stay [[DownplayedTrope low key]] about it, but Enya doesn't like it when her music is called NewAge. As a devout Christian, she doesn't want to be lumped in with the NewAgeRetroHippie crowd.

** A good example would be "My! My! Time Flies" from ''And Winter Came'', which not only includes rather informal lyrics ("[[AbbeyRoadCrossing Four guys across Abbey Road/One forgot to wear shoes]]") but thanks to a reference to Elvis ("A king to sing you the blues") has a bridge passage of bluesy music come out of nowhere.

** See also "I Want Tomorrow."
** The music video for "Trains and Winter Rains" is set in an urban environment.