Irish Music Enthusiast Wins $20K on TikTok Show, Misses Radio Career

A Music Nerd’s Journey to Viral Fame

Lauren Kennedy, a woman from Athlone, made headlines after her unexpected appearance on the viral TikTok show Track Star. What started as a spontaneous decision turned into a remarkable success story, where she outperformed famous musicians and won the highest amount ever awarded on the show—$20,500. Instead of keeping the money for herself, she donated it all to charity.

The show features a simple format: host Jack Coyne plays songs to contestants on a New York City street, and they must correctly name the artist to win prize money. Each correct answer doubles the prize, but a wrong answer means losing everything.

For Lauren, the interview was themed around Irish bands, which she found to be an easy challenge. She effortlessly named artists like CMAT, Hozier, Hothouse Flowers, and Soda Blonde. Her knowledge of music was so impressive that even CMAT, one of the artists she mentioned, commented on her Instagram post, saying, "Thank you for your kind words Lauren and congrats on being a big fat f***in nerd."

Lauren praised CMAT, describing her as if "Dolly Parton was raised in Dunboyne and was chronically online." She said, "She's probably one of the funniest people in the world. And her comment was exactly what I expected from her as well."

Despite her deep knowledge of music, Lauren's professional career has been science-based. Originally from Athlone, she moved to New York six years ago on a graduate visa and worked in biomedical research at NYU. However, she recently quit her job to pursue her passion for the arts, enrolling in acting classes and starting a Master's Degree in Arts Management.

She explained, "It took me a long time but I'm finally coming around back around to what I actually want to do. I think living in New York kind of brought all that back out in me. Just being surrounded by so many cool things all the time. It's such an inspiring place that I was kinda like, 'What am I doing?'"

Starting her career again at this point in her life was not something she expected, but she feels it's the right time. "If I'm not gonna do it now, I'll never do it," she said.

Interestingly, her love for music almost led her to a career as a radio DJ. Before moving to New York, she worked at iRadio as a side gig, and her talent was noticed. She was offered training at the station but turned it down to move to New York. She described it as "probably one of the biggest regrets that I have."

"I knew I was so much more suited to that. So I would 100 per cent be open to doing something like that in the future. It's definitely a passion of mine. Sure, I love yapping, I love music. It's a great combination for radio!"

Lauren's music knowledge comes from her love of attending small gigs of unknown artists in NYC before they become famous. She also listens to music constantly while working in a lab and enjoys late-night music sessions with her cousins.

"My cousins were always great musicians, and I always loved every year at Christmas, it was always a Christmas night... I come from quite a big family, there are five kids, so all of the friends of the five children and my parents. Would all come to our house and play music and these sessions could go on till five o'clock in the morning on Christmas day."

Since moving to New York, she has found herself going to two or three gigs a week, which she says is easy and affordable. "Someone that you could probably save up for months to see back home, you can see in this tiny venue before they've really made it here."

Lauren has a good ear for up-and-coming Irish artists, currently listening to Florence Road, Ye Vagabonds, Niamh Regan, Eva Coyle, Lemoncello, and roe. She encourages fans to keep an eye out for the next big name among them.

After winning $20,500 on Track Star, Lauren chose to donate the entire amount to the Palestine Children's Relief Fund. She said, "I wouldn't be able to sleep at night if I kept that kind of money." Her generous act earned praise from fans, but it left her Irish dad with his head in his hands.

"None of my actual family were very happy with me [for donating the money]. I think they're happy for me, but they're also like, 'You are an idiot,' because they're like, you also have a Master's to pay for coming up."

However, Lauren felt the money was never hers to keep. "It's a sum of money that like, it wasn't mine. I made it in 10 minutes by playing a fun game. And I just think for what's going on right now, it just means more to me to be able to actually donate the kind of money that I would probably never be able to donate myself."