Between his wide-ranging talents and organically expanding following, Cian Ducrot has all of the pieces in place to make a striking breakthrough. The multi-instrumentalist has a gift for writing songs which bring empowerment from pained emotions. It’s a trait which is quickly connecting. His recent single, ‘Fucked Up All The Time’, has already hit a million streams, and he’s now surpassed 500,000 followers at TikTok.
Cian’s escalating profile continues to grow, which saw him recently included in MBW’s ‘Hottest Independent Artists In The World’ and today he shares his new single ‘anyone but her’. It finds Cian telling the true story of a young woman who moved to New York in an attempt to escape her troubled family life back home, but instead spirals downwards into addiction. The turning point comes when she overdoses at her local bar. Although she’s saved by the bar staff using the opioid recovery medication Narcan, she never fully recovers from the incident.
Ducrot was inspired to write the song after a fan shared her story. He wrote, produced and played all of the instruments that feature on the track. Focusing on vocal melodies supported by understated instrumentation allows the narrative to take centre-stage.
“When I heard the story it broke my heart and I couldn’t stop crying. I feel like the song wrote itself so quickly because the story was already there and it was so powerful and emotional. I felt like I had to share it because it was the most real thing I had heard in a long time”, explains Cian.
Raised in Cork and based in London, Cian had always demonstrated that he had both the talent and the graft to make a career in music a realistic goal. In his teen years he developed his songwriting talents as a way to express his life experiences, and, with the help of a friend, could often make £400 from busking in just a few hours.
His journey became more serious when he landed a full scholarship to London’s prestigious Royal Academy of Music. Yet he was more drawn to writing and teaching himself production than he was to simply studying. He discovered an influential mentor in Shawn Mendes’ pianist Eddy Ruyter. After spending many months writing between Los Angeles, London and Ireland, Cian made the tough decision to drop out of his studies to focus solely on his artist career.
It was a risk, and one which didn’t look like paying off. He was broke, alone and friends and family alike would tell him that it was the worst decision he could’ve made. Overwhelmed by the experience, he cathartically poured his situation into the song that would become ‘Fucked Up All The Time’. He posted a clip on social media and the instant reaction proved a hint of optimism for his future.
There’s also much more to come from Cian , with his pop-focused songwriting exploring revealing issues of love, loss, masculinity and frustration. The key, he says, is to write with brutal honesty. His stories then go out into the wider world, helping others to overcome their own challenges.