Notre Dame students write new hype song for football fans

 

There's a new song pumping up the crowd inside Notre Dame Stadium this season. The Fighting Irish of Notre Dame Y'all was written and performed by two students of very different backgrounds and they are proving we all have a little of that fighting spirit within us.

Seniors Jay Rivera-Herrans and Teagan Earley were approached by the Notre Dame Development Department to create a song for a new generation of Irish fans, connecting them with the history of the university.

"We did some research and I found out there is a lot of historical content that I didn't know about it and it was really interesting and inspiring, just how they take this term that was supposed to be demeaning and like a slur and they turned into a badge of honor," Jay said.

Jay grew up in Puerto Rico while Teagan is an Irish-Catholic from Illinois.

"I really love the kind of universal message of it. Like, we're all the Fighting Irish. There's no one way that that should look," Teagan said.

Both Teagan and Jay are theater majors and they feel most comfortable on stage, especially together.

"I know she's always down to sing and I'm always writing something, so it's very great to have somebody who's very supportive of the work and to do what she can to help out," Jay said.

"It's so amazing to see someone who just feels and lives music just so thoroughly as Jay does, so getting to work with that is an unbelievable and exciting thing. So naturally, when he calls me and asks 'Hey can you sing this note?' that means I get a new song in a couple days, so yeah," Teagan said.

Once the research began within days, the Fighting Irish of Notre Dame, Y'all was coming to life.

"I love having that sort of tropical beat and having rap and pop in there, too. I feel like they're very accessible, in a good way and I just wanted it to be a very fun and upbeat song," Jay said.

The song was recorded this summer and was released to the world on September 13.

That same day, Jay and Teagan performed it live at the Notre Dame pep rally.

Now you can hear it inside Notre Dame Stadium on game day.

"It was really, really cool seeing the video they put together, too. Fighting Irish Media does an amazing job with everything that they do. So, the fact that they wanted to use it was already awesome but then they made this fantastic kind of hype video to go with it and that was like the coolest thing," Teagan said. "Having heard my voice and Jay's voice in a song we worked so hard on in the Notre Dame football stadium is like a surreal dream for me."

The song is available on every major streaming service from Apple Music to Spotify.

"Oh yeah, it's everywhere! It's crazy. It's on places I didn't even know existed," Jay said.

The song is resonating with fans of all backgrounds.

"What's cool about the song is it's more about that we all have uphill battles and we all have our own struggles and that's what makes us the Fighting Irish. In one way or the other, we can all relate to the underdog," Jay said.