In the past two years, singer/songwriter Cian Ducrot has emerged as an acclaimed artist whose popularity is growing fast in the United Kingdom, Europe and the U.S. He’s had two hit singles (“I’ll Be Waiting” and “All For You”) and he recently released his excellent debut album, called Victory (on Interscope Records). Notably, he’s about to launch a major headlining tour in the U.S., playing in 20 cities including Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, San Francisco and Atlanta.

Ducrot is a soulful, powerful lead vocalist, and he’s an thoughtful songwriter who writes from the heart. His album, Victory, consists of 14 songs that explores in-depth his personal relationships, ranging from romantic to family and friends. His songs have appealing, memorable melodies and he sings them with passion and energy.

So far, Ducrot’s most popular song is “I’ll Be Waiting,” which became a hit in several European countries last year. This song has a big, emotional chorus, and is easy to sing along with. “I’ll Be Waiting” is on his Victory album, along with many new highlights.

A key new song is “Heaven,” which Ducrot wrote with hit writer/producer Steve Mac, (who has worked with Ed Sheeran, BTS and Sam Smith). “Heaven” is an uplifting, celebrative song that was inspired by Ducrot’s close friendship and bond with his brother, Eoin. Other highlights include the title cut, “Victory,” “Part of Me,” and the ballads “Hurt When You Hurt Me” and “Everyone Who Falls In Love (Has Someone Else They’re Thinking Of).” Also on his album, Ducrot pays tribute to family members with his songs “Mama” and “Step Dad.”

Ducrot, who is 26, grew up in Cork, Ireland, where he learned to play classical flute at a young age. He also learned to play guitar and piano, and developed his singing & songwriting.

It was a few years ago that Ducrot traveled to Los Angeles for a songwriting trip, and the trip went so well, that he decided to focus on being a singer/songwriter. In 2020, he independently released a mixtape called Started in College, and after he signed a label deal, released his EP, Make Believe, in 2021.

Then in 2022, Ducrot broke through with his hit single “All For You” (which included a duet version with hit UK artist, Ella Henderson) and then he followed it up with his bigger hit, “I’ll Be Waiting.”

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Here’s the video of Cian Ducrot’s hit, “I’ll Be Waiting.”

During the past two years, Ducrot has also built a massive following on TikTok and YouTube. He now has over four million followers on TikTok, and half a million subscribers on YouTube. Ducrot has created a wide variety of videos, from humorous videos on TikTok, to emotional videos on YouTube that feature choral groups singing along with him.

Cian Ducrot InterviewWe are pleased to do this new Q&A interview with Cian Ducrot. He tells how he got started in the music business, and how he wrote his hits “I’ll Be Waiting” and “All For You.” He also discusses his new songs “Heaven” and “Victory.”

DK: I read that you’re from Cork, Ireland, and you first studied classical flute. So how did you make the transition from flute player to being a singer/songwriter?

Cian Ducrot: I was pretty much always a singer songwriter at the same time as playing the flute. From a young age, I was writing songs, singing, busking and doing gigs. It was something that I really loved and felt most myself when doing it. And there came a point where I made the decision to focus on singing and songwriting and made the leap to do just that.

DK: Last year, you had two breakthrough hits with “All For You” and “I’ll Be Waiting.” Can you talk about writing these songs?

Ducrot: I wrote both these songs when I was on my social media break. It wasn’t that long—it was a three or four week break from social media—and in that time I wrote a lot of songs that changed my life, and the two were “All For You” and “I’ll Be Waiting.” It’s now become my process…that if I want to write some special stuff, I think about taking a break from everything else and focusing only on that.

DK: You’ve just released your debut album, which is called Victory. Can you talk about the making of your album, and choosing Victory as the title?

Here’s the video of Cian Ducrot’s song, “Heaven.”

Ducrot: The album was made in a concise amount of time. I wrote “All For You” and “I’ll Be Waiting,” and those went on to become some of my most successful songs, and so I only had a short period of time to write the rest of the album. Some of the songs on it are from a couple years ago, and the rest I wrote in the period of two to three months that I had off from tour.

“Victory” was one of the first songs I wrote specifically for the album, and it encapsulated the album’s themes as a whole. And so, it felt right to me to name the album after it….in terms of the victory of being able to release a debut album in the first place, now its a #1 debut album, and I wanted to inspire my fans to celebrate their own victories. And so, the title seemed really fitting.

DK: I like the three, personal songs on the album that you’ve written about your family: “Heaven,” “Step Dad” and “Mama.” Can you tell me about your family, and how you decided to pay tribute to them with these songs?

Ducrot: The album for me is super family based…a lot of it is inspired by my life with my family and my childhood. The songs are stories I’ve wanted to write and share for such a long time and when I knew I was making the album, it felt right to pay tribute to them.

I think the process of writing an album is amazing, ‘cause you don’t have to focus on just writing singles or songs that will be “successful on radio” or ones fans had to relate to… but rather really personal songs. My mother, brother and stepdad are really important people in my life, and we’ve been through so much together that I had to have to have a song for each of them on the album — it only felt right.

DK: Besides the songs we’ve discussed, what are your favorite songs on your album?

Ducrot: It’s a hard one to answer. “All For you” and “I’ll Be Waiting” are special ones since they’re connected to important moments in my life, and now my career. But “Blame It On You” is also one of my favorites; it really gets me in my feels. I almost feel lucky having made the album in that condensed amount of time, ‘cause I almost didn’t have the time to write something I didn’t like. I wrote it all, and liked it all and so it all went on the album.

Here’s the video of Cian Ducrot’s song, “Part Of Me.”

DK: You’ve had great success posting videos on TikTok and YouTube. Especially on your TikTok videos, it looks like you’re having fun. Can you talk about your videos, and how these have helped your career?

Ducrot: One of the hardest things about being an artist now is the amount of content you have to produce and the virality of it. Feels like it’s something you have to constantly be kicking ass at as well as writing good songs, ‘cause if you don’t then no one will hear your songs. It’s the way it is now… I always wanted to make videos that were fun, genuine and enjoyable for me to make. So I leaned into that and discovering my voice when it came to the videos, and its been incredible for me and my career.

DK: Thank you Cian for doing this interview. Is there anything that we haven’t discussed yet, that you’d like to mention for this article?

Ducrot: Hope everyone has a great life, and looking forward to seeing everyone on my upcoming U.S. tour.

Note: Ducrot’s U.S. fall tour dates can be found on his website, https://www.cianducrot.com/

Here’s the link to Cian Ducrot’s site: https://www.cianducrot.com/