CMAT only pitched filming a music video with celebrity chef Jamie Oliver to avoid making one at all.
The 30-year-old Irish singer-songwriter told her management team she would only record visuals for her tune The Jamie Oliver Petrol Station – in which she sings about “hating” the star – if he appeared in the video, because she was “being lazy” and didn’t want to record footage to go alongside the song.
However, CMAT – whose real name is Ciara Mary-Alice Thompson – was left stunned when Jamie agreed to be part of the music video.
She told NME: “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.
“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, ‘F***’.”
While CMAT voices frustration about Jamie in the song, she was hugely impressed with his work ethic when filming the music video.
In the footage, Jamie swaps a busy shift in the kitchen for a go at playing drums for the singer.
She added: “But then he was so nice.
“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.”
CMAT’s music video success comes after she triumphed at the recent Ivor Novello Awards, winning Best Album for her third studio album Euro-Country.
It was CMAT’s first awards success in England, and she is well aware “how difficult it actually is, because of how much you’re up against”.
CMAT beat off competition from Olivia Dean, Wolf Alice, Lily Allen, and Jim Legxacy to take home the gong.
But the star confessed she had “just assumed” she would lose to Lily Allen and her West End Girl record.
Earlier this year, CMAT lost out to Rosalia in the International Artist of the Year category at the BRIT Awards.
She received a nod in the same category in 2024, but SZA took home the gong.
