The meme was right, after all. That is the sound of a Viking sailing to destroy Rome. But it is also the sound of a mother calming a child, a student surviving finals, and a funeral sending a soul to the stars.
Orinoco Flow became a number-one hit in the UK and broke Enya in America. The album Watermark went on to sell 11 million copies. Overnight, the quiet woman from Donegal was competing with Michael Jackson and Madonna on the charts. Enya: The Invisible Superstar Who Defined a Genre
: An extensive profile by Anne Helen Petersen who visited the singer in Ireland to discuss her "Enyanomics"—the rare feat of selling 80 million albums without ever touring. Orinoco Flow became a number-one hit in the
Here is the most fascinating thing about Enya: She does not tour. She does not do interviews (save for one rare, curated session every five years). She lives in a castle in Dublin called "Manderley" (named after the estate in Rebecca ) with a collection of cats. The Keys to Enya's Kingdom (BuzzFeed/EnyaBlues) : An
The meme is funny because it is true. Enya’s music—layered, lush, and laced with reverb—has become the de facto soundtrack for fantasy, melancholy, and quiet triumph. But to dismiss the Irish singer born Eithne Pádraigín Ní Bhraonáin as merely "meme music" or "new age elevator noise" is to miss the point entirely.