Long before she was writing songs for internationally recognised artists, Alex O’Shaughnessy was an eight-year-old from Lucan, Co. Dublin who became obsessed with music after listening to the CDs her dad played in the car.
“He was always playing Red Hot Chili Peppers, Echo & the Bunnymen, R.E.M. and Simon & Garfunkel,” she says.
“I remember wanting to learn those songs, so I joined a group guitar lesson with some friends when I was eight.”
She quickly fell in love with it. By 13, she had started drum lessons too, but it was learning that a few guitar chords could unlock the pop songs she heard on the radio that really changed things.
“I realised I could play actual songs, not just cool riffs” she says.
“I randomly learned Jason Derulo’s It Girl and loved singing along to it. That was when I became really interested in writing pop music.”
She started a band with friends in primary school that continued into secondary school. Alex played drums — “although I was very bad,” she laughs — and the group began writing songs together.
Although the band eventually ended, Alex continued writing.
“I didn’t really know anyone my age in Ireland who was posting videos of themselves singing” she says.
“Then I found Luz on Instagram” Alex messaged Luz in 2016. They were both 14 years old.
What started as an online friendship quickly turned into a creative partnership, with the pair writing songs together throughout their teenage years.
Their first attempts, Alex admits “were absolutely horrendous.”
“We were probably about 16, and looking back they were exactly what you’d expect from two teenagers trying to write songs.”
Years later, while Alex was studying English Literature at Trinity College Dublin, Luz moved into her family home. Most evenings were spent writing music together after lectures, with no expectations beyond enjoying the process.
One day, Alex heard Luz singing through the wall.
“I thought, ‘That’s not half bad’ “ she laughs.
“I walked into her room and she said she had been stuck trying to finish an idea. I gave a couple of suggestions and ended up staying for hours. We finished the song that night.”
That song was ‘I’m Lonely.’ Released by Luz in 2020, it unexpectedly passed one million Spotify streams within weeks.
“It was surreal,” Alex says.
“The first song we actually finished together ended up being the one that changed everything.”
As the song gained attention, established songwriters began reaching out to work with Luz. For Alex, it was the first time she realised songwriting could be a career.
“I genuinely didn’t know songwriting was a job” she says. “I thought people either became artists or they didn’t work in music.”
One of those writers was Amy Wadge, the Grammy Award-winning songwriter behind Ed Sheeran’s ‘Thinking Out Loud.’ After inviting Luz to Wales for a writing session, Wadge later organised a Zoom session with both Alex and Luz during the pandemic.
“I remember being so inspired by Amy. Seeing someone who had built a career purely through songwriting made everything suddenly feel possible.” Not long afterwards, Alex signed with the same manager as Wadge. “It felt like such a full-circle moment.”
Her manager Fran encouraged her to make the move to London. It wasn’t an easy start. Alex spent weekdays writing songs and building relationships, often without payment, while working weekends — and many early mornings before sessions — at the frozen food retailer COOK.
“You spend years investing in yourself before anyone really knows who you are” she says.
“I’d work a shift, go into a session, come home and do it all again.”
Over time, it began to pay off. Alongside songwriting, Alex taught herself music production and built a catalogue of songs with artists including James Arthur, Zoe Wees, mxmtoon, Haley Joelle and Bellah Mae.
The songs she has written with Luz have now accumulated more than 150 million streams worldwide.
Their work has also reached the hip-hop world, with Rod Wave sampling their song Permanent +1 on Just Sing and Toosii sampling Counting Houses.
Those songs have collectively surpassed 25 million streams. Her growing reputation eventually caught the attention of Amanda Hill (former Senior Vice President of A&R at Sony Music Publishing), whose previous signings include Ryan Tedder, Miley Cyrus and Johnny McDaid.
After becoming Chief Operating Officer of Runner Music — the Los Angeles publishing company founded by Tedder — Hill signed Alex to the company in 2024.
Today, Alex is one of only two women signed to Runner Music’s roster of songwriters and producers. Her recent credits include James Arthur’s ‘Water,’ which featured on his album Pisces, which debuted in the UK Top 5 Albums Chart upon release, as well as ‘Number One Boy’ from mxmtoon’s Liminal Space and ‘Ant Farm’ by Bebe Stockwell featuring Wesley Schultz (The Lumineers).
She is currently co-writing and co-producing Luz’s forthcoming debut EP while continuing to collaborate with artists across the UK and Europe. Looking back, Alex still finds it hard to believe how it all started.
“We never had some grand plan” she says.
“We just kept writing because we loved it. Looking back now, it’s incredible to think that one Instagram message and one finished song completely changed the course of my life.”
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