Knowing that Kodaline are coming to an end makes We Were Only Young hit differently. The band confirmed last October that they will disband following the release of their fifth and final studio album, due later this year via Fantasy Records, and this — their first single from that record — arrives carrying the full weight of that announcement without ever buckling under it.
It’s a piano ballad, written by frontman Steve Garrigan alongside producer and co-writer Mads Christensen, and it sits comfortably in the emotional space Kodaline have always inhabited best. That unmistakable tone is still here — the restraint, the warmth, the sense that every note has been placed with care. But there’s something slightly more open about We Were Only Young, a little more direct, that gives it a mainstream accessibility without losing any of the intimacy that has always made them special.
The chorus is where it all lands. “Every little word I said, you know I meant it, Every little touch you gave, you know I felt it. We were only young. Wе were only young. Heavy on my hеart, I wish it never ended. Even at the start, I didn’t understand that” — lines that are simple enough to feel universal and specific enough to feel personal, delivered with the kind of melodic pull that burrows in and refuses to leave. It’s enchanting in the truest sense of the word.
“It’s a bittersweet song about looking back on better times, knowing you can’t ever go back,” Garrigan says. “Like most songs I write, it comes from something real — that feeling of being part of something special, and only fully understanding it with time. In some ways, it reflects the journey we’ve been on together.” Given the context of a farewell album, that last line carries particular weight.
Formed in Dublin in 2005, Kodaline have spent two decades building a catalogue that has resonated far beyond Ireland — three number one albums at home, a devoted international fanbase, and a reputation for writing songs that meet people in their most vulnerable moments. We Were Only Young feels like a song that understands its place in that story, and in theirs.
A farewell album was always going to be an emotional undertaking. On the evidence of this, it’s going to be a beautiful one.
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