‘America’s Got Talent’ star Stephanie Rainey tells of the song about loss of her baby nephew that always leaves audiences in tears

Watching it when it came on TV was a chance for her to experience it all over again.

“It was a surreal experience. You arrive in the studio – it’s more like a proper venue in LA – and when I went on stage it was exactly like you see it on the TV,” said Rainey, from Glanmire, Co Cork.

“There were the four Xs over your head, you’re stood on the X and you have the four judges in front of you.

“I didn’t settle, really, until I started singing. The first line of the song, I was really nervous. The second, I was telling myself to just calm down and relax. Then the third line I thought everything was going to be great.”

Rainey sang Please Don’t Go, a song first released in 2015 about the loss of her nephew Fionn to meningitis before his first birthday.

She said she tears up during the last verse of the song “nine times out of 10” when she performs it live.

“We did very small little tours at the start of the year before any of this happened,” she said. “I wanted to do tiny venues and just play the songs completely acoustically.

“Playing Please Don’t Go, I could hear people crying in the audience. You can feel it in the room that people are going through it themselves, it’s very powerful.”

People come and tell me their stories, why the song helped them, and I feel a massive sense of duty to them

The reach of the song has gone beyond the 36-year-old’s wildest expectations. It was huge on release nine years ago, but through TikTok and Instagram, has managed to catch a second wave of popularity to the tune of more than 40 million views since last September.

“It’s a special, important track that goes back to when we had no fans,” she said. “We used to go up and do singer-songwriter nights in Dublin in The Grand Social and they were tough nights. Drive up from Cork, play for free to a room full of people who are chatting.

“Every time we played Please Don’t Go, the room would go quiet, no matter the venue. It’s always had that feeling and it’s been amazing to watch it grow.”

The song resonating with so many people who have suffered a loss is “the biggest honour you could ever imagine”, Rainey said, and even with the surge in popularity post-America’s Got Talent, she still tries to answer every comment.

“People come and tell me their stor­ies, why it’s helped them, and I feel a massive sense of duty to them,” she said. “It’s such a privilege. Losing somebody is such a personal and intimate thing.”

Songs that have long been released having huge social media-fuelled resurgences is a relatively new phenomenon in the music industry, and Rainey said adjusting to a new way of doing things is tough.

Sometimes you feel a bit embarrassed if something’s getting no views. It’s a game of resilience and consistency

A presenter on Cork’s Red FM, she said she had a helping hand from someone who is no stranger to the TikTok game, her station colleague, influ­encer Miriam Mullins.

Rainey said: “Me and Miriam hit it off straight away and I told her, ‘I’m trying the TikTok thing’. She sat down with me and explained a few things like the algorithm. I don’t understand any of that stuff, so she helped me so much.

“We had a viewing party in Cork for the audition the other night, and I said to her if she hadn’t helped me, none of it would have happened. I would have just kept starting and stopping. Sometimes you feel a bit embarrassed if something’s getting no views. It’s a game of resilience and consistency.

“TikTok and Instagram have become amazing tools to get the music to people. America’s Got Talent was a way to convert it into something a bit more meaningful with people who may have found it already but put more of a definitive face to the name, a story to the name.”

Ahead of the audition going to broadcast, Rainey announced headline shows in Dublin’s Vicar Street on November 14 and Cork City Hall on December 18. Getting the opportunity to play to a big audience at home is “amazing”, she said.

“I’ve been stuck in one position for a long time and I think I probably was never going to get out of it unless I did something completely out of my comfort zone, and that’s what America’s Got Talent was.

“I was terrified. I can play in front of thousands of people, but this was exposing. I was scared of that, but I’m so glad I did it. Feel the fear and do it any­way. It was time to take a leap and just be brave. It’s paid off so far.”