Cian Ducrot knows that talent isn’t enough to succeed in the music industry – you need determination, as well. Fortunately, he has both qualities in spades. The Irish musician was one of the biggest breakout stars of 2024, and his phenomenal ascent is only set to continue this year. His achievements to date – A No 1 album, two Top 20 singles, countless viral videos, star collaborations and a sold-out headline tour – are testament to his unique sound and relentless ambition. Victory, the name of his critically adored first record, is apt. Ducrot is here to win.
His eagerly anticipated second album, Little Dreaming, is a beautifully cohesive work that invites listeners to travel with him on a journey of self-discovery. Put together with a tight-knit group of trusted collaborators, it sees him showcase a dazzling Seventies and Eighties sound – influenced by greats such as Elton John, Michael Jackson and Queen – all the while baring his soul through heartfelt, authentic songwriting.
“This album has been a crazy journey, it was an absolutely amazing experience,” Ducrot says. “I set out to just be as creative and as free and as expressive as possible, and I think we’ve done that. It’s not an overstatement to say making the record has changed my life.”
Ducrot’s naturally candid nature has already endeared him to millions of fans, who have been moved by his triumph over adversity – from childhood trauma to an (at first) indifferent music industry. He lets his personality shine through on Little Dreaming, as the tongue-in-cheek intro “First Light” clarifies how to pronounce his name (“It’s Kee-yan, bitch!”) before bursting into full colour with a triumphant brass section and buzzing synths. “BMH” (“Break My Heart”) is a rousing anthem about his struggles to break free from the darkness of his past (“I’ve got the best of my mother, but the worst of my father in me.”)
Single “Who’s Making You Feel It”, meanwhile, is an Elton John-style ballad that serves as a kiss-off to an ex-partner who left to “find themself” only to end up in another relationship. The bright, spacious piano melody that opens the song brings to mind the timelessness of early Elton, but with a contemporary, radio-friendly twist when the flighty, punchy chorus soars to the stratosphere. Fans have come to love Cian for his emotionally-charged lyricism, but there’s a subtle evolution on that front too: where he would previously strike direct at the heart of the sentiment, now there’s a playfulness to his words which brings a fresh sense of character to his songwriting.
“The song is basically one big, ‘Tell me, is this new guy better than me?’” “It’s about how we all find ourselves stalking our exes even if we say we don’t. And when you inevitably notice them moving on, that feeling of jealousy and curiosity pops up and you just need to know, ‘Who is it? Who’s making you feel better than I did?’ Or, ‘I notice it looks like your life is amazing and you’re really making the most of it all, but also DO YOU MISS MEEEE?!’ It’s also a bit sarcastic in a way, asking this person if they got everything they dreamed of after leaving you and saying you ‘hope’ they did.
Much of the album was created with Ducrot’s friends, husband-and-wife team Anton and Isabella Sjöstrand, with Anton on production and Isabella assisting with songwriting. “There was this perfect dynamic with them, where they let me steer the ship but knew exactly how to complement my own songwriting,” he recalls. Other collaborators included Grammy-winning producer and songwriter Lostboy (Lewis Capaldi, Carlvin Harris, Kylie Minogue), Tristan Salvati (Angèle), Theo Hutchcraft of Hurts fame – “an amazing guy with a phenomenal knowledge of music,” Ducrot says – Irish singer-songwriter Bill Maybury, and Will Bloomfield (The Vaccines, Little Mix, MNEK).
It was essential for Ducrot to have a team he could trust, in order to make his best work. His earlier experiences as a signed artist were full of frustration and false promises: “It was pretty tough, because these people tell you they’re going to be in it for the long haul,” he says. “Then you do one EP and suddenly they’re ghosting you, and you realise something’s up.” Yet it was a wake-up call, he says: “I realised I was the only one who could really make things happen, and that lit a fire under me to figure out how to get this to work.”
He knuckled down, switching off from social media and spending weeks writing alone in his kitchen, until he had the heartbreaking ballad “All For You” – along with a remix starring Brit Award-winner Ella Henderson – and the follow-up single “I’ll Be Waiting”. Both tracks charted in the UK Top 20, while Ducrot found himself going viral as he set up a series of choir “flash mobs” who sang “I’ll Be Waiting” to delighted passersby. The shows got bigger, as did his supporters – he was booked as Ed Sheeran’s special guest for six dates in the UK and Europe, and the pair remain good friends.
“I was round Ed’s for dinner a while ago and played him some songs from my second album, and he was so encouraging,” Ducrot remembers with a smile. “It’s really exciting to get that kind of reaction because it’s music that I’m personally really proud of, and that’s what we’re all striving for, as artists.”
Victory was a brilliant demonstration of Ducrot’s early promise as a songwriter, but Little Dreaming is where he really comes into his own as a born stadium-filler. The title track “Little Dreaming” is a rainbow-hued celebration of what makes us special, regardless of how the world might try to judge us for it. It bounces along a bright keyboard riff, with Ducrot supported by joyous harmonies as he sings: “I’ve got glitter in my tears and mascara on my face/ I’ve got sequins all the way from my collar to my waist/ Got a wave of iridescence painted on my nails/ And I like it when you look, and you look a little pale…”
“I love how theatrical this one turned out, it feels reflective of my personality,” Ducrot says. “It’s about reconnecting with your inner child but also, as an adult, doing what you want, expressing yourself and not caring what anyone else thinks. Hopefully breaking down those boundaries of toxic masculinity in the process.”
Of course, Ducrot is a born romantic, and this album wouldn’t be complete without a few good love songs. The folk-leaning “Your Eyes” reflects on everything he has to be thankful for, and the reassurance he feels when gazing into his girlfriend’s eyes. It segues perfectly into “See It To Believe It”, an unabashed rock number that riffs (literally) on the operatic grandeur of Queen and Freddie Mercury. The two songs are yin and yang, with “See It To Believe It” the boisterous cousin of “Your Eyes” and its uplifting, gospel-influenced sound. “Hallelujah” shows his stunning voice at the height of its power, as he sings in a devotional, spine-tingling call.
He has plenty of love to spare for his friends on songs such as “Book Of Love” as he reaches out to the women in his life going through heartbreak. “Too often I’d witness these amazing people chasing somebody who ended up hurting them, or just wasn’t right for them,” he says. “I wanted to write something comforting, to let them know I’ll be there no matter what.” Single “Shalala” – over soaring vocals and thunderous percussion – speaks to the importance of community, as Ducrot finds things to feel hopeful about even amid the turmoil and chaos of the world we live in.
Tracks such as “Kiss and Tell” pay tribute to his Celtic heritage through stirring trad folk arrangements. On the latter, he evokes Sheeran, as he sings of his devotion with throat-tearing honesty. “God only knows” melds tender guitar strumming with his extraordinary voice, while “My Best Friend” is a devastating portrait of loss, on which Ducrot sings tremulously while his face is streaked with tears: “I’m not a fool, I knew that things would change/ But I never thought we’d have the darkness to blame.”
One of his personal favourites on the record, “What About Love”, asks a simple question: what do wealth, looks or success mean without love? “It was something that had been on my mind a lot, especially having dealt with these early stages of fame,” he explains. “I wanted to be honest about getting caught up in all these distractions, how we’re obsessed with what everybody else has”. The song “fell out of him” one day while he was sitting at the piano, he recalls, as he reflected on his journey so far. An incredible journey; one that’s still only just beginning.
