History Music / Enya

* DoubleSpeak: Many of her songs often include poetic euphemisms for death. "So I Could Find My Way" has "on another shore", , "Smaointe" has "in a deep peace", "I May Not Awaken" has a TitleDrop, as does "Someone Said Goodbye". On several occasions she uses "time keeps us apart" to indicate that someone has died.

The ethereal, soothing music Enya creates contains elements of {{classical|Music}}, {{folk|Music}}, {{pop}}, and {{world music}}, but it has most frequently been categorized as {{new age}}. Enya has disagreed with this label, having described it "thin air" and "without a spine" unlike the music she creates, and later as a term for record companies to pigeonhole artists whom they couldn't categorise. She simply calls the style of music she makes as "Enya" music.

Enya started her career in the early 1980s with small projects here and there for commercials and movies, usually providing vocals or keyboards. She initially had a short stint from 1980-82 alongside her siblings in Music/{{Clannad}}, but soon left, seeking more musical independence, with a solo career. In 1984, she released a soundtrack album for an obscure film called ''The Frog Prince'' that got her some recognition with the BBC, who hired her to do the soundtrack to a 1986 documentary series titled ''The Celts''. The singer was featured throughout the series, performing the opening theme on screen during the opening credits and also appearing in two music videos created for the series. Highlights from the soundtrack were released in 1987 by BBC Records as her debut album, ''[[SelfTitledAlbum Enya]]'', which made the UK charts.

In 1988, she was propelled to worldwide fame with the unexpected success of her album ''Watermark'', which contained the international top-ten hit "Orinoco Flow"[[note]]also released as "Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)"[[/note]] and is now considered a landmark of new age music (Enya's hang-ups on genre association notwithstanding). Enya's music continued its popularity into the mid 1990s, with much critical and commercial success.

At the TurnOfTheMillennium, Enya released her fifth album, '' A Day Without Rain'', and the following year released songs "Aníron" and "May It Be" for ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing'. Enya's song "Only Time" became closely identified with the 9/11 attacks after US media repeatedly used the song as background music during coverage of the aftermath. Enya was reportedly uncomfortable with this, but agreed to re-=release the single with proceeds supporting 9/11 families. Since then the song has featured in media from memes to big films, and has remained successful since its release.

Enya's latest album was released in 2015 (she is a self-admitted slow worker, and as such it is not uncommon for several years to elapse between albums). There have been several hints of a new album, but there is yet to be an official announcement. A [=YouTube=] "watch party" held in November 2021 for the 30th anniversary of her third album ''Shepherd Moons'' featured notes from the trio. The introductory written message from long-time business/recording partner Nicky Ryan announced that he and Enya used downtime from the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic to renovate their studio, and Enya will start work on new music after the renovation is finished. As of 2023, it looks like there's no album release this year, though it's RealSoonNow. The expected case is that Enya will release a new studio album in 2024.

Enya has won four UsefulNotes/{{Grammy Award}}s for Best New Age Album, and is also the second-best selling Irish artist behind {{Music/U2}}. Her music has also been [[{{Sampling}} sampled]] [[https://www.whosampled.com/Enya/ over 150 times]], primarily by artists in the hip-hop and R&B genres. One of the more recognizable uses of her music was the sampling of "Boadicea" by Music/TheFugees for their song "Ready or Not". As the sample was unauthorized, Enya originally wanted to sue, but she changed her mind when she found out they weren't a GangstaRap group. Both parties settled out of court, and she has had a sort-of friendship with the hip-hop scene since.

The ethereal, soothing music Enya creates contains elements of {{classical|music}}, {{folk|music}}, {{pop}}, and {{world music}}, but it has most frequently been categorized as {{new age}}. Enya has disagreed with this label, having described it "thin air" and "without a spine" unlike the music she creates, and later as a term for record companies to pigeonhole artists whom they couldn't categorise. She simply calls the style of music she makes as "Enya" music.

Enya's latest album was released in 2015 (she is a self-admitted slow worker, and as such it is not uncommon for several years to elapse between albums). There have been several hints of a new album, but there is yet to be an announcement, A [=YouTube=] "watch party" held in November 2021 for the 30th anniversary of her third album ''Shepherd Moons'' featured nose an introductory written message, long-time business/recording partner Nicky Ryan announced that he and Enya used downtime from the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic to renovate their studio, and Enya will start work on new music after the renovation is finished. As of 2023, it looks like there's no album this year, though it's RealSoonNow. The expected case is that Enya will release a new studio album in 2024.

Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin (anglicized as Enya Patricia Brennan; born 17 May 1961), best known mononymously as Enya, is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician known for her work in the genres of modern Celtic music.

Her ethereal, soothing sound contains elements of {{classical|music}}, {{folk|music}}, {{pop}}, and {{world music}}, but it has most frequently been categorized as {{new age}}. She has disagreed with this label, having felt uncomfortable being lumped in with the NewAgeRetroHippie crowd as a devout Christian, and once simply called the style of music she makes "Enya".

Enya started out in the early 1980s with small gigs here and there for commercials and movies, usually providing vocals. She also had a short stint alongside her siblings in Music/{{Clannad}}, but soon started seeking a solo career. In 1985, she released a soundtrack album for an obscure film called ''The Frog Prince'' that got her some recognition with BBC, who hired her to do the soundtrack to a 1986 documentary series titled ''The Celts''. The singer was featured throughout the series, performing the opening theme on screen during the opening credits and also appearing in two music videos created for the series. Highlights from the soundtrack were released in 1986 by BBC Records as her debut album, ''[[SelfTitledAlbum Enya]]'', which made the UK charts.

In 1988, she was propelled to worldwide fame with the unexpected success of her album ''Watermark'', which contained the international top-ten hit "Orinoco Flow"[[note]]also released as "Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)"[[/note]] and is now considered a landmark of new age music (Enya's hang-ups on genre association notwithstanding). Her popularity stayed the same throughout the 1990s, with a few of her next albums continuing the critical and commercial success.

Towards the end of the '90s, Enya settled down for a bit to get some rest from the music scene. She made a triumphant return come the TurnOfTheMillennium with her fifth album, '' A Day Without Rain'', alongside her performance on "May It Be" in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing'' as well as the major hit success of her song "Only Time". The latter song became closely identified with the 9/11 attacks after US media repeatedly 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.

Enya's latest album was released in 2015 (she is a self-admitted slow worker, and as such it is not uncommon for several years to elapse between albums). Her most recent music-related news was released on a [=YouTube=] "watch party" held in November 2021 for the 30th anniversary of her third album ''Shepherd Moons''. In an introductory written message, long-time business/recording partner Nicky Ryan announced that he and Enya used downtime from the UsefulNotes/COVID19Pandemic to renovate their studio, and Enya will start work on new music after the renovation is finished.

Enya has worked almost exclusively in collaboration with the husband-and wife team Nicky and Roma Ryan (production and lyrics, respectively) throughout her career. Officially, "Enya" is said to be the partnership between these three individuals.

!!!Studio albums:

* DoubleSpeak: Many of her songs often include poetic euphemisms for death. "So I Could Find My Way" has "on another shore", , "Smaointe" has "in a deep peace", "I May Not Awaken" has a TitleDrop, as does "Someone Said Goodbye", and on several occasions she uses "time keeps us apart" to indicate that someone has died.

* GriefSong: "So I Could Find My Way".

** "It's in the Rain" also has a NonAppearingTitle.
* OlderThanTheyLook: Enya is 62 years old as of May 2023 yet could still pass as 30-something.

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

->''"Let me sail, let me sail, let the Orinoco Flow\\

Let me reach, let me beach, far beyond the Yellow Sea."''
-->-- "'''Orinoco Flow'''"

* DoesNotLikeShoes: The music videos for "Only Time" (the spring section) and "Wild Child" both include a shot of Enya's feet as she walks, revealing that she's not wearing shoes.

Enya (born Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin[[note]]anglicized as "Enya Patricia Brennan"[[/note]] on May 17, 1961) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician known for her work in the genres of modern Celtic music.

** In the B-side piece "Morning Glory" from ''Watermark'', different motifs from this piece reappear in in the chorus of two singles from later albums, "Amarantine" and "Wild Child". Also sharing resemblance is the song "Journey of the Angels".

* DoubleSpeak: Her sadder songs often include poetic euphemisms for death. "So I Could Find My Way" has "on another shore", "Only Time" has "night keeps all your heart", "Smaointe" has "in a deep peace", "I May Not Awaken" has a TitleDrop, and on several occasions she uses "time keeps us apart" to indicate that someone has died.

** The video for debut single "I Want Tomorrow" (originally broadcast during an episode of ''The Celts'') is... ''odd''. For one thing, Enya is shown blowing stuff up using magic powers. Even more disturbing ... there's an electric guitar solo![[note]]Enya didn't bring the evil stringed instrument back into her work in any major way until 2008's ''And Winter Came'' which included a full-out guitar solo on one track, which proved controversial with fans. Enya displayed some selective amnesia, claiming the 2008 recording was the first time the instrument appeared on one of her records.[[/note]]
** The original BBC Records release of the 1986 album ''Enya'' has a front-cover photo of Enya in a short 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".

* LoveHurts: Implied in a few of her lonelier, sadder pieces, although even then she seems to take Tennyson's position on the matter; the "loved and lost" quote. ''Amarantine'', one of Enya's album titles, while also meaning 'everlasting', could also be interpreted by the Amaranthus caudatus flower "Love lies bleeding", which seems to express the 'love hurts' idea.

* OlderThanTheyLook: Enya is 61 years old as of May 2022 yet still looks like a 30-something.

Her ethereal, soothing sound contains elements of {{classical|music}}, {{folk|music}}, {{pop}}, and {{world music}}, but it has most frequently been categorized as {{new age}}. (She has disagreed with this label, having felt uncomfortable being lumped in with the NewAgeRetroHippie crowd as a devout Christian, and once simply called the style of music she makes "Enya".)

Her ethereal, soothing sound contains elements of {{classical|Music}}, world, pop and folk music, but it has primarily been categorized as {{new age}}. (She has disagreed with this label, having felt uncomfortable being lumped in with the NewAgeRetroHippie crowd as a devout Christian, and once simply called the style of music she makes "Enya".)

->''Let me sail, let me sail, let the Orinoco Flow\\

Let me reach, let me beach, far beyond the Yellow Sea.''
-->-- "Orinoco Flow"

Enya started out in the early 1980s with small gigs here and there for commercials and movies, usually providing vocals. She also had a short stint with her siblings in Music/{{Clannad}}, but soon started seeking a solo career. In 1985, she released a soundtrack album for an obscure film called ''The Frog Prince'' that got her some recognition with BBC, who hired her to do the soundtrack to a 1986 documentary series titled ''The Celts''. The singer was featured throughout the series, performing the opening theme on screen during the opening credits and also appearing in two music videos created for the series. Highlights from the soundtrack were released in 1986 by BBC Records as her debut album, ''[[SelfTitledAlbum Enya]]'', which made the UK charts.

* IdiosyncraticAlbumTheming: The title tracks of all her albums were instrumentals (or at least, had only wordless vocals) until ''Amarantine'' broke the chain.

** Thanks to Enya being inspired by the artwork of Maxfield Parrish, a number of his images appear either on album covers or in music videos. The cover of ''Memory of Trees'' is a direct {{Homage}} to ''The Young King of the Black Isles'', a scene of young girls hanging lanterns in a snowy forest in the "On My Way Home" video references the work ''Lantern Bearers'' (as well as John Singer Sargent's ''Carnation, Lily, Lily, Rose''), and the music video for "Caribbean Blue" imitates or outright reproduces ''Dream Days, Chocolate Factory''; ''Man in the Moon''; and ''Garden of Allah''.

Her ethereal, soothing sound contains elements of {{classical|Music}}, world, pop and folk music, but it has primarily been categorized as {{new age}}. (She has disagreed with this label, having felt uncomfortable being lumped in with the NewAgeRetroHippie crowd as a devout Christian, and simply called the style of music she makes "Enya").

In 1988, she was propelled to worldwide fame with the unexpected success of her album ''Watermark'', which contained the international top-ten hit "Orinoco Flow"[[note]]also released as "Orinoco Flow (Sail Away)"[[/note]] and is now considered a landmark of new age music (Enya's hang-ups on genre association notwithstanding). Her popularity stayed the same throughout the 1990s, with a few of her next albums continuing the critical and commercial success. Towards the end of the 1990s, she settled down for a bit to get some rest from the music scene.

Enya made a triumphant return in the 2000s with her fifth album, '' A Day Without Rain'', alongside her performance on "May It Be" in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing'' as well as the major hit success of her song "Only Time". The latter song became closely identified with the 9/11 attacks after US media repeatedly 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.

* RuleOfThree: Enya seems to be fairly fond of the musical variation on this trope, where the last line of a song is repeated three times when it reaches the end but with an inversion of the typical example: the second iteration has a variation (quite often only one note), and the last is the same as the first to bring that sense of closure so yearned for and reassuring to the ear. Examples: "Flora's Secret" and "Pilgrim" from ''A Day Without Rain''; "Dreams Are More Precious" from ''And Winter Came''; and "Pale Grass Blue" and the title track from ''Dark Sky Island''.

* RearrangeTheSong: There are various melodic similarities that occur within Enya's music;

** The original BBC Records release of the 1986 album ''Enya'' has a front-cover photo of Enya in a short 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").

Enya (born May 17, 1961) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician known for her work in the genres of modern Celtic music.

Born Eithne Ní Bhraonáin[[note]]"Enya" is an approximate phonetic spelling in English of her first name[[/note]] in Gweedore (''Gaoth Dobhair''), County Donegal, she started out in the early 1980s, with small gigs here and there for commercials and movies, usually providing vocals. She also had a short stint with her siblings in Music/{{Clannad}}, but soon started seeking a solo career.

In 1985, she released a soundtrack album for an obscure film called ''The Frog Prince'' that got her some recognition with BBC, who hired her to do the soundtrack to a 1986 documentary series titled ''The Celts''. The singer was featured throughout the series, performing the opening theme on screen during the opening credits and also appearing in two music videos created for the series. Highlights from the soundtrack were released in 1986 by BBC Records as her debut album, ''[[SelfTitledAlbum Enya]]'', which made the UK charts.

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.

Music/TheFugees also sampled one of her songs ("Boadicea" from her first album), without permission. Enya originally wanted to sue, but changed her mind when she found out they weren't a GangstaRap group, and both parties settled out of court. She has had a sort-of friendship with the Hip-Hop scene since.

She has worked almost exclusively in collaboration with the husband-and wife team Nicky and Roma Ryan (production and lyrics, respectively) throughout her career. Officially, "Enya" is said to be the partnership between these three individuals.

->''Let me sail, let me sail, let the Orinoco Flow,\\
Let me reach, let me beach, on the shores of Tripoli,\\
Let me sail, let me sail, let me crash upon your shore,\\

-->"Orinoco Flow"

Enya (born May 17, 1961) is an Irish NewAge/Neo-Classical/whatever-genre-people-feel-like-labeling-her singer. (She herself calls her genre "Enya", the musical equivalent of a BadassBoast.)

Born Eithne Ní Bhraonáin[[note]]"Enya" is an approximate phonetic spelling in English of her first name[[/note]] in Gweedore (''Gaoth Dobhair''), County Donegal, she started out in the early 1980s, with small gigs here and there for commercials and movies, usually providing vocals. She also had a short stint with her siblings in Music/{{Clannad}}, but soon started seeking a solo career. In 1985, she released a soundtrack album for an obscure film called ''The Frog Prince'' that got her some recognition with BBC, who hired her to do the soundtrack to a 1986 documentary series titled ''The Celts''. The photogenic singer was featured throughout the series, performing the opening theme on screen during the opening credits and also appearing in two music videos created for the series; highlights from the soundtrack were released initially by BBC Records as a SelfTitledAlbum that make the UK charts.

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 Enya refused to let herself be labeled with the NewAge scene. As a devout Christian, she doesn't want to be lumped in with the NewAgeRetroHippie crowd.

Her popularity stayed the same throughout the 1990s, with a few of her albums continuing the decent sales and critical praise. Towards the end of the 1990s she settled down for a bit to get some rest from the music scene.

She made a triumphant return in the 2000s with a new album, and featured as a vocalist for "May It Be" in ''Film/TheLordOfTheRingsTheFellowshipOfTheRing''. 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.

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 several 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.

Her eight studio albums so far are:

And the compilation albums:

* TheJoyOfX: "Book of Days" is named for the various books of Literature/TheBible.

** "It's in the Rain" also has a NonAppearingTitle, which is perhaps why it often gets referred to as [[RefrainFromAssuming "Listen to the Rain".]]

* RefrainFromAssuming:
** "Orinoco Flow" is sometimes mistakenly (and even unmistakenly) given the title "Sail Away". (It's the song's official subtitle.) Creator/DavidFincher actually admits to making this mistake in the commentary for ''Film/TheGirlWithTheDragonTattoo''.
** A large proportion of fan-made music videos for "It's in the Rain" refer to it as "Listen to the Rain".
** Sometimes "Echoes In Rain" appears to be Enya's "Halleluja" song, probably because of the refrain "Alleluia, alle-alle alleluia, alleluia, alle-lu-u-uia".
** 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 Website/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 Wiki/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.

* HomesicknessHymn: The B-side "I May Not Awaken" takes this UpToEleven. "So far from home" is a recurring line, and the narrator's crushing homesickness and frustration at having gotten lost prove to be the main reasons why she [[spoiler:falls over the DespairEventHorizon and [[DrivenToSuicide possibly kills herself]].]]

Her albums include:

* PimpedOutDress: The cover art of almost every one of her albums depicts her wearing this sort of dress; notable examples are ''The Memory of Trees'', ''Amarantine'', ''And Winter Came'', and ''The Celts''. She also wears similarly gorgeous, sumptuous dresses in her music videos, such as "Book of Days", "Caribbean Blue", "Amarantine", "The Celts", "[[GracefulLadiesLikePurple Only If]]", and "On My Way Home" (the latter also being an example of PrettyInMink). Even her more simple dresses are still stunning and elegant, but with her ethereal beauty she could make almost anything look beautiful.

* RearrangeTheSong: "River" sounds like a stylistic rearrangement of "Storms in Africa", due to their melodic similarities.

** In a piece called "Morning Glory" from ''Watermark'', different motifs from this piece reappear in in the chorus of two singles from later albums, "Amarantine" and "Wild Child".

** The videos for "Amarantine" and "It's in the Rain" are ''gorgeous''.

* SeasonalMontage: During the video for "Only Time", appropriately enough.