Jessica Sweetman has shared that she nearly missed the chance to cast Emmett J. Scanlan in her latest music video because she was planning to leave early for a Nando’s.

The singer had just performed her new track Rise Up, released today (10.04.26), at the Irish Post Awards when she decided she might head home instead of staying out.

Speaking exclusively to BANG Showbiz, Jessica said: "So we're at the Irish Post Awards, I was performing the song Rise Up.

"And I performed it and it was really funny because I was there with my brother.?

"And there was an after party and I'd performed the song and I was like, 'Oh, I'm gonna go home now. I've done my kind of my work, my performed it.'

And I can be actually really shy. ?Like people don't realise it, but I can be really shy and I was like, 'There's so many people there, like thousands and I said, 'I'm just going to go now.'"

Her brother stepped in and encouraged her to stick around for the after party, a moment that ended up making all the difference.

She continued: "And my brother was like, 'Come on, let's stay and go out, go to the after party.' ?I'm like, 'I'm just going to go and get Nando's mate.'

He was like, 'no'."

Emmett, whose past roles include Fool Me Once and Hollyoaks, had already watched her performance and approached her to say he loved the track.

She added: "So I ended up staying, and we went to the bar afterwards, and when we end up bumping into Emmett, and he says, 'You know, it's on my bucket list to be in a music video.' And I was like, 'I've got one for you.'

"And he loved the song. He'd seen me performing. He goes, 'I love the song'. ?And then before we knew it, a few months, you know, fast forward, we were in Hastings."

Sharing his thoughts on the experience, Emmett said: “Jessica was so insanely collaborative and trusting throughout the whole process of making this video.

"I really felt invited into her story, her journey.

"The fact that the song is, in my opinion, a total beauty, was just an added bonus.

"I hope you love watching this video as much as we loved shooting it."