My Saturday with Lyra: The stage underwear is very important

I’ll get up and have two cups of Barry’s Tea. My go-to breakfast is two slices of rye bread toasted with mozzarella, tomato, garlic, and basil.

I’ll check in with my tour manager and photographer. I’ll get photos from the previous night’s performance so I’ll go through all those and approve them.

I’ll have a steam shower and sing my lungs out to the extent that my neighbours will be banging on the walls.

11.00

Myself and my mom will pack the bags for the stage show. I’ll have at least five pairs of stage tights because I’m always ripping them with my nails.

The stage underwear is very important, the boob tape, the hats, the gloves, the boots, the hair stuff, the outfit itself… I have to wear two pairs of socks under the boots at every show — it’s a thing that I have always done.

My mom is some woman for the packing, she folds underwear like no one else. 

She has packing cubes for everything I need — the lozenges and the hydration sachets by G&G, the underwear, the hair products, the eyelashes, the nails, every type of tape you can possibly think of, a sewing kit. It’s a military operation.

I’ll have one more cup of tea before I go because I can’t have tea after 12 because the milk and the singing don’t agree. 

Mom will make a packed lunch like a homemade tomato soup — everything tastes better when it comes from her. My dad will collect me. 

We call him Tour Dad and he gets stopped for photos at my shows. We have our tour playlist. We’ll belt that on and then it’s off up the road for hours to get to the venue. 

We’ll chat in the car or I’ll be on the phone discussing logistics — the props, lights, steps, dressing room…

My parents helped me to get where I am and have put a lot on the line for me so it’s lovely to be able to share this with them and for us to enjoy this journey together.

15.00

When we arrive, it’s load-in time. Then I’ll head to the stage and I’ll see where the backdrops are, make sure the steps are in place and everything’s at the right angle so my hair won’t be blown all over the place, which is not a good look for the audience.

I like to take my time making sure the stage is set up right — I’ll remove any tape marking that has been left by another performer. 

I want everything to be the best that it can be and having a manager like Caroline Downey is wonderful. I’ve never met someone with such an eye for detail. 

Liza Brennan, of Phoenix V, works with me on the costumes. I’ll send her ideas, she’ll get them sketched, we’ll tweak them, and she’ll get them made up. 

I then do fittings with Liza and her amazing seamstress Carmen to tweak the costumes. 

There are so many considerations — I need to be able to get in and out of them easily, I need somewhere to put my pack — and every day is a learning day. 

I love my makeup artist Sandra Gillen. She’s not just my makeup artist, we’ve become really good friends.

17.00

I’ll put my stage shoes on and I’ll go on stage to make sure I can walk around it, that the mic height is correct, that I can get down the steps.

20.00

I like to be ready by 8pm because inevitably something’s going to happen to delay me. I need time to make sure the pack is staying on, that the earphones are in, and that the outfit is just right.

21.00

In one of my recent shows I got really bad imposter syndrome on stage. 

It has only happened to me a handful of times but sometimes when I’m getting on stage, even if it’s my own show, I still feel like I’m the support act. 

I’m thinking, ‘Oh my God, everyone’s looking at me,’ and then I’m like, “Of course they are, it’s my show, snap out of it, girl.’ 

When I am singing live, I put everything into it. It is such a buzz up there to hear people singing my songs. I feel like I’ve won the All-Ireland.

22.30

When I come off stage, I need 15 minutes to myself because I’m so out of breath and absolutely sweating. 

Then I’ll have one — who am I kidding? — three slices of pepperoni pizza. I’ll wash my face or shower, put on cosy clothes, and then it’s back into the car with my dad. 

I try to go online and message people back as much as I can to thank them so much for showing up. Without them, I would be nothing, so I try to spend time doing that.

1.00

When I get home, I soak my feet in a basin of cold water, get into bed, and put on a meditation app. I never sleep after shows but it gives me time out.

• Safe Ireland launched its ‘Safe Home, Safe Pathways’ campaign encouraging the public to support their local domestic violence service. 
• www.safeireland.ie