Everything about Cherym’s new release ‘Taking Up Sports’ screams fun. Just in time for the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup starting later this month, it could just be catchy enough to become a women’s football anthem. 

Lead vocalist Hannah Deannie has a voice that belongs in the soundtrack of a Disney Channel original from the noughties. You can hear hints of fellow Irish trio B*Witched in the cheerful pop vocals but also their 90s pop punk and garage rock influences through the upbeat instrumentation. At one point they even begin chanting ‘Olé, Olé, Olé’, the football fans battle cry. 

Narratively it draws comparisons to Frank Ocean’s Forrest Gump, another song that explores queer love through the game of football. They play with the typical high school tropes of the loser crushing on the jock, as drummer Alannagh Doherty told Guitar.com in an interview: “we were all bullied growing up for being ‘the weird kid’, or ‘the emo kid’ or whatever”. 

The three met as teenagers in Derry and after some drama and switching out of members, they came together as a trio determined to increase female and non binary representation in their local music scene, not to just be a token “girl” band. The video for the song was filmed at Derry FC’s Brandywell stadium and seems like a love letter to both their hometown and cheesy teen films. 

Catch them on tour in the UK later this year, including at a personal favourite Matchstick Piehouse on the 20th October.