On 13 September 2012, McFadden announced the release of his fourth studio album, The Irish Connection, featuring covers of his favourite Irish songs as well as duets with Ronan Keating and Sinéad O'Connor. The album was recorded in both Sydney and Dublin. This album features none of McFadden's past five single releases which do not appear in an album format to date.
On 18 September 2012 Ronan Keating announced that McFadden would be joining him on his 2013 UK Fires Tour. He toured with Keith Duffy, formerly of Boyzone, as a supergroup named Boyzlife in 2016, 2017 and 2018.