A Quick Chat With The Script’s Danny O’Donoghue

As The Script gears up for their concert in Manila next year, frontman Danny O’Donoghue sits down for a quick chat with Vogue Philippines.

I’m not sure how many times I’ve listened to “The Man Who Can’t Be Moved,” but it feels like it’s always in the background, with Filipinos consistently listening to the single over the past two decades. At karaoke, when you turn on the radio, or attend a local gig, there’s a chance that this song is playing. Just like the character in the song, Filipinos can’t be moved from listening to The Script; the single constantly charts on Billboard Philippines Hot 100.

And we won’t be moving on anytime soon, with the band returning to Manila next year for their “Man in the Arena” tour. Last May, frontman Danny O’Donoghue visited the Philippines to promote the upcoming concert, and Vogue Philippines got the chance to sit down with the singer-songwriter for a few minutes.

This interview has been edited for clarity and brevity.

Vogue Philippines: You’ve been touring in the Philippines about six times, with nine shows so far. What keeps you coming back, and how would you describe the energy of your Filipino fans?

Danny O’Donoghue: Oh, I love the Filipino fans, you know, for every reason why, like, well, the reason why we keep coming back is that we get so much energy. The shows are amazing, from top to bottom, no matter where we stay, whether it’s a hotel or the people are incredible. People are so nice here, so kind, so giving, which is hard to find in this crazy world where we live today, you know. 

When I think about the day you’ve had so far, you know, we heard you were up since like 6:30 A.M. It reminds me of the time you mentioned that you grew up in a place where you had to fight for everything you had. I feel like, after two decades, you still carry that same energy with you.

Yeah, but you have to. You have to carry it because life is one big fight, you know. There’s not a time when you fight, you win, and then that’s it, you win everything and take it home. It’s always a fight, no matter what happens; life comes your way. So you gotta, you know, two fists straight in the ring.

Photographed by Kieran Punay, courtesy of Billboard Philippines

Yeah, I was just gonna ask, where does that kind of drive come from? After two decades of hard work and accomplishments, it’s so easy to rest on your laurels.

I’m kind of scared. It’s kind of, it’s a fear as well, you know, it’s the fear of stopping, what if it all goes away, or what if I, what if I’m not able to do it anymore, you know, what if like, I don’t know, I think it comes from a fear place, but also I’ve just got so much I want to say and do. And nine times out of ten, all of these interviews that we do are because I just want to write songs. So to continue on doing writing songs and make it a profession, I have to do all of this. So what I don’t mind doing is if the byproduct of that is I get to write all, I get to write my life, and people listen to it. Perfect.

And you’ve written a lot of songs over the past two decades, so I’m curious, you know, as a musician, like is there anything else that you’d like to explore, and how are you approaching your music now?

I’d like to explore visuals alongside music because I feel that, obviously, as a medium, music was on its own for a while, but I think now music matched with visuals—not just your video, but a constant dialogue with visuals, music, and visuals—because everything’s online now. There always has to be an image or a visual to go along with your music. I feel like that’s where I probably feel like I’m heading next. We shot a lot of different videos and content for this new album, like little micro-dramas for the song, so that people get hooked in. But yeah, I think that’s kind of where I’d like to go with that.

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