CMAT Reacts After Her Label Secured Jamie Oliver For New Video

CMAT has admitted that she never seriously planned to team up with Jamie Oliver for a music video, joking that the idea originally came from her trying to avoid doing more work.

The Irish singer songwriter spoke with NME on the red carpet at the 2026 Ivor Novellos last Thursday, May 21, where she picked up the award for Best Album thanks to her critically acclaimed third album, ‘EURO-COUNTRY’.

The win marked CMAT’s first ever Ivor Novello award after previously earning a nomination in 2024 for her second album ‘Crazymad, For Me’. It also became her first award win in the UK after several nominations at both the BRITs and the Mercury Prize.

Speaking backstage with NME, CMAT shared how grateful she felt to finally “win something in England for the first time ever”, while joking that she had been “robbed” every other time she was nominated.

She explained that the victory felt especially meaningful because she understood “how difficult it actually is, because of how much you’re up against”, adding that she “just assumed I was losing to Lily Allen” and her album ‘West End Girl’.

The ‘Take A Sexy Picture Of Me’ artist also reflected on working alongside Jamie Oliver for the music video to her playful track ‘Jamie Oliver Petrol Station’.

The song appeared on ‘EURO-COUNTRY’ and featured humorous lyrics poking fun at the celebrity chef. In the video, the pair teamed up for a retro inspired performance that leaned heavily into a 1960s aesthetic, while Oliver stepped away from the kitchen to sit behind a drum kit.

Talking about how the collaboration actually happened, CMAT admitted she never expected Oliver to agree and only suggested the idea as a joke to avoid filming a video altogether.

“When the time came around [to do the visuals], I said I would only do the music video if Jamie Oliver would be in it,” she explained. “Basically, I didn’t want to make a video because I was being lazy and I’d been doing too many shows… And then my label said, ‘We have him’, and I was like, ‘Fuck’.”

“But then he was so nice,” she continued. “He was so sound, and he worked really hard. He studied the track to get the drums right and stuff. He’s an angel. I love him.”

During her acceptance speech at the Ivors, CMAT also delivered a passionate political message, condemning fascism and criticizing Nigel Farage along with “anybody who decides to make life more difficult for people who are just trying to live”.

She spoke about how the album explored her “very complicated relationship” with Ireland, while adding that she believes songwriting should “reflect the times through your own personal view, so that everybody can have something to connect to and something to learn from”.

CMAT later called former Irish prime minister Bertie Ahern a “c***” and “really fucking racist” while on stage, before ending her speech by addressing British politics directly: “Fuck Reform, fuck Nigel Farage. I have no time, sympathy or empathy for anybody that decides to make life more difficult for people who are just trying to live.”

NME awarded ‘Euro-Country’ a glowing five star review, praising the album for its “courage and the consistency to land high on the fast-approaching end-of-year lists, and to make CMAT the icon she’s been giving all this time.”

Since releasing the album last year, CMAT has gone on to play some of the biggest shows of her career so far, made headlines by bringing Harry Hill on stage during a London performance, and is now preparing for festival appearances this summer including TRNSMT, Mad Cool and Bilbao BBK Live.

Other winners at the 2026 Ivor Novellos included Sam Fender, who received Songwriter Of The Year, Fraser T Smith and Kae Tempest for Best Contemporary Song, and Jacob Alon, who secured awards for both Best Song Musically and Lyrically and Rising Star.

Rosalía was named International Songwriter Of The Year, Radiohead’s Thom Yorke received the Academy Fellowship award from surprise guest Harry Styles, and George Michael was also posthumously honoured with the Academy Fellowship.