Speaker 1: Welcome to Inside the Studio presented by I Heart Radio.
Speaker 1: I'm your host Joe Levy. Okay, So, the guest on
Speaker 1: this home edition of the show is Irish singer songwriter
Speaker 1: Dermot Kennedy and he is having a pretty good run
Speaker 1: right now. At the end of November, a song that
Speaker 1: he sings on, a dance track called Paradise by Medusa,
Speaker 1: went to number one on the Irish charts, which made
Speaker 1: him the first Irish artist to have a number one
Speaker 1: on the Irish charts in five years. And that is
Speaker 1: a triumph that he repeated back to back the very
Speaker 1: next week when his own song Giants went to the
Speaker 1: top of the chart. So I imagine that he did
Speaker 1: some celebrating, and I also imagined that it might have
Speaker 1: been low key since he spent most of lockdown at
Speaker 1: his parents house, which is surrounded by a forest and
Speaker 1: some fields. You know. We started the home edition of
Speaker 1: Inside the Studio to let you know how the pandemic
Speaker 1: has impacted the lives of artists, and Dermott told our
Speaker 1: quarantine correspondent, Jordan Runtalg that being back home for a
Speaker 1: long stretch has reconnected him to the kinds of feelings
Speaker 1: he had when he was just starting out, when he
Speaker 1: was seventeen or eighteen years old and writing a song
Speaker 1: was away he had of expressing himself. It was something
Speaker 1: he had to do. It wasn't work, of course, something
Speaker 1: a little less awesome that the pandemic has reconnected him
Speaker 1: to when he was seventeen or eighteen. That was a
Speaker 1: time when he could only get like one or two
Speaker 1: gigs a year. He also talked about his love of
Speaker 1: hip hop and Formula one racing and the Icelandic band
Speaker 1: Seeker Ross and what those very different things have in
Speaker 1: common anyway. As always, if you enjoy this episode, be
Speaker 1: sure to check out the I Heart Radio podcast that
Speaker 1: Jordan's hosts, which is called Rivals Music's Greatest Feuds and
Speaker 1: which is available wherever you get your podcasts. Hello everyone,
Speaker 1: my name is Jordan Runtug. But enough about my guest. Today.
Speaker 1: Got to start busting on the streets of Dublin, following
Speaker 1: in the footsteps of musically minded countrymen like Damian Rice
Speaker 1: and Glenn Hanson. Because life changed in when his song
Speaker 1: After Rain became a viral smash, racking up millions of
Speaker 1: plays on streaming platforms. Since then, he's put his classical
Speaker 1: training the Good Use with powerhouse tracks like Power Over
Speaker 1: Me and Outnumbered. His debut album, Without Fear made him
Speaker 1: the first irishman the top the UK album charts in
Speaker 1: twenty years. It also broke into the top twenty in
Speaker 1: the United States, where he's earned a fervent following for
Speaker 1: his soulful voice, deeply personal lyrics, and his hip hop
Speaker 1: influence take on folky singer songwriting. I'm so happy to
Speaker 1: welcome Dermot Kennedy. Of course, thank you. Well, that's so
Speaker 1: much to talk to you about. But first off, you
Speaker 1: just released an expanded version of your debut album, Without Fear,
Speaker 1: which includes your new single Giants, which is the song
Speaker 1: you said is about letting go of the past and
Speaker 1: being comfortable with change. Tell me more about what that
Speaker 1: song means to you. Yeah, I mean, it's an interesting thing,
Speaker 1: right because so often when I write songs, it's kind
Speaker 1: of it's a it's a very personal thing, and it
Speaker 1: kind of feels like it's for my life, about my life.
Speaker 1: It just feels like a very sort of internal thing.
Speaker 1: And and I've always looked at artists, say like artists
Speaker 1: like Hosier who writes songs about protests, and world issues
Speaker 1: and stuff. And I've seen that so many times, and
Speaker 1: I thought, like, I'll probably do that at some stage,
Speaker 1: but I certainly don't want to do it if it
Speaker 1: feels forced, right, So I never had and then that's
Speaker 1: not what this song is. But I just mean that
Speaker 1: message of letting go of the past and moving forward
Speaker 1: and stuff. It just felt in my mind. I was like,
Speaker 1: just throughout this time, I was like, this feels like
Speaker 1: a nice message to put out into the world at
Speaker 1: this time, right, Like, I don't want to do something
Speaker 1: that's overly optimistic, because this year just hasn't been great,
Speaker 1: Like it hasn't yeah, yeah, and and and so I
Speaker 1: don't want to seem oblivious to things. But then I
Speaker 1: also don't want to sort of compound people's has come
Speaker 1: out with the most morose thing. And so it felt
Speaker 1: like it struck a nice middle ground for me. I thought,
Speaker 1: I thought it had a hopeful message, but that it
Speaker 1: was aware of the difficulties, you know, and and so
Speaker 1: like I wrote this song a long time ago, and
Speaker 1: and that's what it meant to me at that time.
Speaker 1: So um, so it just felt like a nice time
Speaker 1: to sort of say that to the world. I really
Speaker 1: enjoyed how you described it on Instagram as as sort
Speaker 1: of a tribute to how nature has inspired you. And
Speaker 1: I imagine since the start of Lockdown, a lot of
Speaker 1: people have been going back to the things that have
Speaker 1: kept them grounded, like nature and family and things like that. Yeah. Absolutely, Yeah,
Speaker 1: Like I'm always I'm reluctant to sort of celebrate this
Speaker 1: here because like because it makes me sort of seem
Speaker 1: like I'm dismissive of all the difficulties for people. But
Speaker 1: like for me, there's been a lot of upsides there
Speaker 1: just has in a selfish way. It's like I haven't
Speaker 1: been at home for this long, in such a long time,
Speaker 1: like years, and and so it's been view to ful.
Speaker 1: I'm like I've seen my friends more regularly. It's like
Speaker 1: all the it feels as though, like all these friendships
Speaker 1: and relationships that have kind of just stretched out a
Speaker 1: little bit, I've been able to just like bring them
Speaker 1: back in and solidify them again. And I think that's
Speaker 1: the most important thing. And so yeah, it kind of
Speaker 1: feels like years ago when the industry was a bit different.
Speaker 1: It feels like that break that artists may be used
Speaker 1: to get between first and second albums, you know what
Speaker 1: I mean. And so I was talking about this the
Speaker 1: other day. It's like a lot of people get these
Speaker 1: get this sort of like stick about bringing out second
Speaker 1: albums that are disappointing, and it's like, yeah, but they're
Speaker 1: probably on a bus for two years, right and then
Speaker 1: and then you've got like a month or two months
Speaker 1: to put your whole second album together, and it's like,
Speaker 1: of course people fall short. Hey, they're probably exhausted, be
Speaker 1: they've got nothing to write about, you know, Like artists
Speaker 1: say that all the time. They're like, I've only been
Speaker 1: in hotel rooms. And so in a way, for me,
Speaker 1: I put my second album together. I feel like this
Speaker 1: is a nice time for me to just reconnect. And because,
Speaker 1: like they say, you spend your whole life making your
Speaker 1: first album, and like where I am now is in
Speaker 1: my parents house and and like the forest is up
Speaker 1: there and it's all feels that way, and it's like
Speaker 1: that stuff feeds my songs since I wrote my first song,
Speaker 1: and so it's cool for me to reconnect. It really
Speaker 1: really is, like it's important for me, I think, to
Speaker 1: write decent music. Being back at your your your family's house,
Speaker 1: does that almost put you does that almost put you
Speaker 1: back to where you were at the very beginning of
Speaker 1: your song writing, when you were writing songs in your
Speaker 1: bedroom just for you and not even thinking about Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: So my my drummer me Hall, he's from Dublin too,
Speaker 1: and we both agreed that that's exactly what it feels like.
Speaker 1: I feel like seventeen or eighteen again. And it feels
Speaker 1: because like the situation when I was eighteen and nineteen was,
Speaker 1: I was just as determined as I am now, but
Speaker 1: I couldn't get a gig like I would. I would
Speaker 1: play like two shows a year, you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: because like no one wanted to there was just nothing
Speaker 1: to do. And like I do like two shows a
Speaker 1: year in Dublin, that type of thing, Like it was
Speaker 1: just super I was just going through it. And I
Speaker 1: would write a song whenever it felt right. I would
Speaker 1: never ever ever sit down and just be like, all right, theremo,
Speaker 1: just time to write a song. Ever, like I would
Speaker 1: wait until I could not stay away from the song.
Speaker 1: And so it was this lovely, really organic, authentic thing
Speaker 1: and and so yeah, honestly, you're banging on. I think
Speaker 1: I think it does feel like before I had any
Speaker 1: sort of career. Yeah, and you still that way, do you?
Speaker 1: Only it's not something that you sit down every day
Speaker 1: and and have it almost like a daily practice. Are
Speaker 1: you still? Do you only right when you feel like
Speaker 1: you have something to say and you're inspired. No, it's
Speaker 1: a bit different. It is training now. I think it's training.
Speaker 1: I think I think I'd feel a little bit guilty
Speaker 1: if I was trying to be like a top tier songwriter,
Speaker 1: if I was, like, there is a lot of value
Speaker 1: I think in treating it like a sport, you know
Speaker 1: what I mean? There just is there no way. There's
Speaker 1: no way I could not write all the time and
Speaker 1: then get into the studio and expect it to be
Speaker 1: there for me to access, you know. I think, I
Speaker 1: think you've got to keep at it every day, and
Speaker 1: I think you sort of you just have to show up.
Speaker 1: I'm getting way more comfortable all the time with the
Speaker 1: fact that there's good days and bad days, and and
Speaker 1: like I used to get so hung up on the
Speaker 1: idea that if I had a bad day, I'd be
Speaker 1: like funk man, like this is that's a really bad song,
Speaker 1: and that that should never exist. But nowadays I'm just like, yeah,
Speaker 1: but it won't. It's all good, Like you tried something
Speaker 1: and no one will ever find out, and and you're
Speaker 1: not worse off for having tried it. You're probably better off.
Speaker 1: You learned something about yourself, you know. So like I'm
Speaker 1: just I'm getting more comfortable with it. The whole time
Speaker 1: I think it was heading away, you said, always leave
Speaker 1: something for the next day, because if you don't, then
Speaker 1: you'll never come back. It's too scary to have sort
Speaker 1: of nothing in reserve that you know, like a way
Speaker 1: to find the path the next day. Is that something
Speaker 1: for you where you sort of like always leave a
Speaker 1: little bit for the next day so you're not completely
Speaker 1: starting from from a blank page. That's interesting, Yeah, I like, Yeah,
Speaker 1: for me, in the past, i'd just i'd be in
Speaker 1: the studio and say, for example, if you're in the
Speaker 1: studio from whatever eleven am until seven pm, I will
Speaker 1: have like shut down so many cool creative paths by
Speaker 1: one pm, you know what I mean. Because someone might
Speaker 1: suggest a lyric and I'd be like, no, I can't
Speaker 1: be that because my life is like this and this
Speaker 1: didn't actually happen to me, and so I get so
Speaker 1: hung up on everything to the point that it was
Speaker 1: pretty counterproductive. And so nowadays, nowadays, I'm way better. And
Speaker 1: I used to be so jealous, Like if I was
Speaker 1: in the studio with other writers, I'd just be like, man, like,
Speaker 1: how do you do this? Every single day? Like how
Speaker 1: do you? Because for me, I try like I try
Speaker 1: hard to access the most honest, most powerful parts of
Speaker 1: my whole being and my soul and the good bits
Speaker 1: and the bad bits. And that's tiring, I think. And
Speaker 1: and so I've had days where we'd work on an
Speaker 1: idea and flesh it out and then it's done and
Speaker 1: say it's like six pm or whatever, and someone would
Speaker 1: be like, you want to just like try a new
Speaker 1: idea for the next two hours, as I fucking no
Speaker 1: like about what it's like to me. It's like, I'm
Speaker 1: like about what, Like, I've spent the last six hours
Speaker 1: trying to relate this idea to my life in some way.
Speaker 1: So but I am getting better at just going in
Speaker 1: and being like, let's just do it. Let's like knock
Speaker 1: a song out, not worry too much about the lyrics.
Speaker 1: I can always fix them down the line, not fix them,
Speaker 1: but just like make them mine and more so me,
Speaker 1: And and that can always be done in the future.
Speaker 1: So let's just write a song. Let's like try Dermott
Speaker 1: to get to the point where you love music. That's
Speaker 1: why you're here, that's the only reason you're here. Just
Speaker 1: enjoy yourself, like, don't think too much, do not think
Speaker 1: too much. And I'm getting better at that. But also
Speaker 1: I am I am very aware of the potential trap
Speaker 1: of like like slowly just like dulling what you do
Speaker 1: and and and it becoming like low common denominator thing
Speaker 1: because you're just like, oh, this doesn't make me feel
Speaker 1: any kind of way. But I had phone in the
Speaker 1: studio today, you know, I'm very conscious of not becoming
Speaker 1: that personal. I'm always curious to know with people who
Speaker 1: are are blessed with the ability to write music, what
Speaker 1: do you get from it. Is it a desire to
Speaker 1: connect with other people, or is it to sort out
Speaker 1: what's going on inside your emotions your feelings and processing
Speaker 1: that or is it a bit of both? And it's
Speaker 1: a lot of different things. I Like, when you said
Speaker 1: both of those things, I'm like, yeah, it's both of
Speaker 1: those things. But I wouldn't I wouldn't be like it's
Speaker 1: exactly that, you know, I think like I think it's
Speaker 1: when say, for example, like the piano I'm sitting out here.
Speaker 1: You can't see it, but it's a it's a big,
Speaker 1: lovely piano, and and like if you hit like whatever
Speaker 1: chord or like the fact that that through the strings
Speaker 1: and everything rings out and there's other notes in there
Speaker 1: that I didn't even play that you can kind of
Speaker 1: hear and stuff like just all like I remember when
Speaker 1: we were going on tour the first time we had
Speaker 1: to get an electric keyboard, and I was just like,
Speaker 1: oh man, Like I didn't realize that that was a thing,
Speaker 1: and but it is. It's just practical. But like what
Speaker 1: I'm saying is like when I'm sitting here at this
Speaker 1: piano and I and I dig and dig for a
Speaker 1: while and then I hit a lyric that I know
Speaker 1: is special honestly, Like that's what it's all about for me. Um,
Speaker 1: And I know your question is kind of like yeah,
Speaker 1: but like why does that feel so good? But I
Speaker 1: mean it's very very exciting to me when I do that.
Speaker 1: I'm like, oh man, I can do this. Like like
Speaker 1: I I there's a huge part of me just wants
Speaker 1: to wants to leave a legacy, and I want to
Speaker 1: be respected by other lyricists and stuff. So when I
Speaker 1: nailed something special, I'm like, oh cool, like any sort
Speaker 1: of It's like the second I hit a good lyric,
Speaker 1: I feel all my insecurities just like go away and
Speaker 1: like and I'm just like, oh cool, that was special.
Speaker 1: But why do I write music? It's it's it's for me.
Speaker 1: I don't know, in the least corny way possible. I'm
Speaker 1: just like, I just gotta do it, you know, I
Speaker 1: just have to. It's a very important part of who
Speaker 1: I am. I think sometimes I find myself feeling pent
Speaker 1: up in a little bit stressed, and I'll check in
Speaker 1: with myself and I'll be like, oh, you haven't played
Speaker 1: the piano and five days, you haven't written in a while, Like,
Speaker 1: don't underestimate how important that is to you. So honestly,
Speaker 1: like talking about like connecting to others and stuff, Yes,
Speaker 1: that's a really beautiful part of touring. But now that
Speaker 1: I don't have it currently, I'm like, I'm still good,
Speaker 1: like I I still feel good like I do this
Speaker 1: for other reasons too, And and it's been a nice
Speaker 1: sort of reassurance in this time to be like, Okay,
Speaker 1: touring has been taken away for the time being. And
Speaker 1: you can't get in the studio people, and you're not
Speaker 1: doing like promo all over the world. You're not jumping
Speaker 1: on planes. It's not that life right now. And so
Speaker 1: are you good? Like all the baggage, everything that isn't
Speaker 1: it at its core has been taken away from you.
Speaker 1: So how do you feel? And I'm still completely fulfilled
Speaker 1: and so I'm like, oh, sweet, I haven't lost my way,
Speaker 1: Like this is still the most important thing to me.
Speaker 1: So everything else is not superfluous, but everything else is
Speaker 1: is it's just part of it, you know. But the
Speaker 1: core has to say the same. It just has in
Speaker 1: your mind. Are you writing at all times? Because I
Speaker 1: know a lot of writer friends both you know, novelists
Speaker 1: and songwriters who you know they could be getting broken
Speaker 1: up with and in that moment, there's still a part
Speaker 1: of them that's thinking, oh, this is like this is
Speaker 1: going to make a great song or something. Do you
Speaker 1: find yourself ever doing that in in your life? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: for sure. Yeah. And it's and it's a nice comfort
Speaker 1: blanket too, because there be times where I'd be like,
Speaker 1: you're not especially through this time when you're like, oh,
Speaker 1: you're not being very disciplined. You're not like writing every day,
Speaker 1: And then in my head, I'm like, no, you're writing
Speaker 1: all the time. Like it's like I'm never not thinking
Speaker 1: about whatever demo I was working on last or lyrics
Speaker 1: that might show up, and blah blah blah. I guess, yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just never off. And and so it's nice, honestly
Speaker 1: when I feel a bit guilty about like, oh, I
Speaker 1: haven't sat down and written for like three hours a
Speaker 1: day for the last week or so, and it's like, no,
Speaker 1: you you're thinking about it constantly, you know. Yeah, So yeah,
Speaker 1: I don't turn it off. Yeah. There's definitely like life
Speaker 1: events and stuff where I'm like, this is a tune.
Speaker 1: You studied classical composition in college and you also busted
Speaker 1: for a long time in Grafton Street in Dublin without
Speaker 1: throwing any any teachers under the bus. Which of these
Speaker 1: was more of an educational and helpful experience for you
Speaker 1: or both in different ways. Yeah, it seems like sure, totally,
Speaker 1: certainly for what I do now. Yeah, I think I
Speaker 1: think if I went back and did that degree that
Speaker 1: I did, if I did that now, I'd be in
Speaker 1: a far better position to actually benefit from it. You know.
Speaker 1: I went when I was eighteen, like eighteen nine, twenty
Speaker 1: years old, and I was just constantly like, oh, this
Speaker 1: is so uncool. I just want to go and play,
Speaker 1: and I just want to go play in a dingy bar,
Speaker 1: and I just don't play my guitar, and and I
Speaker 1: was singing all this incredible classical music, and I was
Speaker 1: surrounded by musicians like the caliber of which I haven't
Speaker 1: come near since. But I just I could not appreciate it.
Speaker 1: I couldn't. I was too impatient. But I'm very glad
Speaker 1: I did it. For sure. It's a beautiful thing to
Speaker 1: have done. But the buskin was a proper education. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: the buskin was cool because like you could just be
Speaker 1: doing it and no one cares all day and you're
Speaker 1: just like, still did it, you know, and you're like,
Speaker 1: I still tried, and blah blah blah. Honestly, there's there's
Speaker 1: multiple ways in which bus can set me up. So
Speaker 1: it taught me how to project my voice, which is
Speaker 1: so important because I'm trying to compete with like a
Speaker 1: full street full of people. And also it taught me
Speaker 1: like a valuable lesson that was a little bit hard
Speaker 1: to take. But basically there was the first few times
Speaker 1: I went, I sat in a chair and I wore whatever,
Speaker 1: and my CDs were just blank CDs, like they didn't
Speaker 1: have an artworker anything. I probably have one here, but
Speaker 1: they they were just like you know, like when you
Speaker 1: buy them wherever target anything like that, like just blind
Speaker 1: CDs with my name on them and sharpie. And I
Speaker 1: had them out in front of me and I had
Speaker 1: a really crappy amp and I was just like, no, like,
Speaker 1: if I'm good enough, this will work out and and
Speaker 1: it will be this magical thing where people got around
Speaker 1: because they're hearing something special and and it just didn't
Speaker 1: work like that. I would make a bit of money
Speaker 1: and there was some nice experiences, but it never like
Speaker 1: worked worked. And then I bonded to this Australian guy
Speaker 1: who was like this busking expert and he just had
Speaker 1: this incredible setup and I was like, oh my god,
Speaker 1: this guy gets a crowd in like ten seconds and
Speaker 1: he has this huge crowd. And so I spoke to
Speaker 1: him and he told me, basically, you should treat your
Speaker 1: busking set up like a shop front. He was like,
Speaker 1: get a much better speaker, get a big sign. He
Speaker 1: was like, take up as much space as you possibly can.
Speaker 1: So I got this big, beautiful rog. I got my
Speaker 1: friend who's an artist to make this huge sign for me.
Speaker 1: I've got artwork on the CDs, and I started standing
Speaker 1: up instead of sitting down, and I like quadrupled what
Speaker 1: I was making. And I was just like, oh, it
Speaker 1: kind of hurt the artist in me because I was like,
Speaker 1: I thought if I just sat and played, people would
Speaker 1: be like into it, but now it just showed me
Speaker 1: like and then that lesson It is the exact same
Speaker 1: time and time again, you know, like I had a
Speaker 1: whole ten years of bringing out my own music, uploading
Speaker 1: to Spotify and all that stuff by myself, and it
Speaker 1: never ever worked out. And ultimately it did in the end,
Speaker 1: but like I see nowadays with a label and and
Speaker 1: and all that stuff and and just how songs get
Speaker 1: rolled out, and I'm like, Jesus thermat no wonder it
Speaker 1: didn't work out, Like you didn't know what you were doing.
Speaker 1: But it was interesting to me to see. It's like,
Speaker 1: of course it's always about the music, but I was like,
Speaker 1: you got to think about other stuff too. What were
Speaker 1: you playing back then when you weren't playing your own stuff?
Speaker 1: I was never playing my own stuff in the street.
Speaker 1: It was all yeah, it was all covers. If I
Speaker 1: played my own stuff, I would get discouraged because people
Speaker 1: didn't know it and so they wouldn't stop. And if
Speaker 1: I played all of Me by John Legend, I would
Speaker 1: have like five people. And I was like, Okay, well
Speaker 1: of course I'm gonna do this every day. That's that
Speaker 1: I struggled with that too, because I just didn't like it.
Speaker 1: I was like, I know, I can make certain choices
Speaker 1: here that will make me more money, and if I'm
Speaker 1: being callous about it, that is why I'm here. I'm
Speaker 1: trying to get into the studio. So I need to
Speaker 1: make X amount quicker to get into that studio. And
Speaker 1: that's I mean, like, there's so many things that correlate
Speaker 1: between Buskin and what I do now. I know for
Speaker 1: a fact there's certain things I could do now that
Speaker 1: would guarantee me more income and radio play and blah
Speaker 1: blah blah. And it's like I can't do it because
Speaker 1: I gotta hold on to who I am. But Buskin
Speaker 1: is the exact time you gotta you gotta make those choices,
Speaker 1: and and I kind of I I stepped away from
Speaker 1: the buskin a little bit because I saw things like
Speaker 1: my social media growing and all the comments and all
Speaker 1: my stuff. We're kind of like, oh, I can't wait
Speaker 1: to see what cover you do next, and can't wait
Speaker 1: to see the next cover, And I was just like,
Speaker 1: I'm not here to do covers, like I will do
Speaker 1: my own things someday and I'll have this big fan
Speaker 1: base of people who don't want to hear it, who
Speaker 1: just want to hear me do the latest, like edge
Speaker 1: hearing song. So I gotta be careful. Yeah, do you
Speaker 1: ever feel tempted to go, but especially now that you
Speaker 1: can't perform concerts, do you ever feel tempted to go
Speaker 1: out and bust somewhere in public and do sort of
Speaker 1: an open air kind of surprise. I love it if
Speaker 1: I definitely do it, if it if it wasn't like
Speaker 1: the current situation, and half the country would hate me
Speaker 1: for bringing a big crowd together now. But even even
Speaker 1: last week we did a thing for Irish TV real quick.
Speaker 1: We sang I sang this old Irish folk song in
Speaker 1: the middle of the street besides Grafton Street and it
Speaker 1: was fun, like a crowd gathered. And it's at a
Speaker 1: point now where I could hear people being like, oh,
Speaker 1: that's what's his face? And I was just I was like,
Speaker 1: it was just it's exciting. It's a cool thing. You know, Like,
Speaker 1: no matter how much your music grows, no matter how
Speaker 1: big the crowd's get, no matter how many people listen
Speaker 1: to your music, it's like you're still trying to get
Speaker 1: that like close connection. You really are. Swear to god,
Speaker 1: I watched the video. I watched a Wrap Radar interview
Speaker 1: with Drake and while back, and he said it was
Speaker 1: celebrating a year They're sorry, a decade of Drake just
Speaker 1: like owning everything, and he was like he was he
Speaker 1: said to like all up and coming artists. When you're
Speaker 1: at that point where people are like sharing your music
Speaker 1: and the interest is like growing, he was like, never
Speaker 1: forget that feeling, because he was like, you'll spend your
Speaker 1: whole career chasing it. So honestly, things like being in
Speaker 1: the street last week and just seeing people get excited
Speaker 1: and kind of gather around. I was like, this is cool,
Speaker 1: but like I'd take this just as much as I
Speaker 1: would take like five thousand people in the path room.
Speaker 1: For sure. You mentioned hip hop. I know that that's
Speaker 1: a huge influence on you, and I can hear it
Speaker 1: in your lyrics to im and even just for the
Speaker 1: verses in Giant, The hope and the hurt has lived
Speaker 1: inside of me, But there's gold in the dirt I
Speaker 1: never took the time to see. I mean, I can
Speaker 1: hear hip hop beat over that. You've said that you
Speaker 1: feel there's more sincerity in in in hip hop and
Speaker 1: better storytelling. I was wondering if you could expand on
Speaker 1: that a little bit. Why do you think that is? Yeah,
Speaker 1: not even necessarily like better storytelling. I just feel like
Speaker 1: when hip hop is good, it feels so potent to me,
Speaker 1: I think, rather than me being constantly being like, here's
Speaker 1: the music I love and here's the like. Of course
Speaker 1: I have my musical tastes absolutely, but like more than that,
Speaker 1: it's like trying to find a feeling. So like if
Speaker 1: you watch like a ten minute cigarette song, it's like
Speaker 1: it's still it's the exact same as seeing like Dave
Speaker 1: performed that song at the Brits. It's the exact same.
Speaker 1: It's it's just like or even the official video that
Speaker 1: they made for pop Smoke Song got it on me,
Speaker 1: Like some of the live footage from that, I'm just like,
Speaker 1: that's the exact same thing, and it's like, I know
Speaker 1: it's completely different. I know, I know, but it's just
Speaker 1: like to me, it's like somebody's character and somebody's passion
Speaker 1: and intensity that like that's why my favorite thing I
Speaker 1: think I've ever watched is is Senna, that documentary about
Speaker 1: Erkin Senna, the F one driver from Brazil, and it's
Speaker 1: just like that guy was just nuts about what he did.
Speaker 1: And there's one of my favorite examples is when he
Speaker 1: was doing the Monaco Grand Prix, which is like famously
Speaker 1: dangerous and and and scary, and he was way out
Speaker 1: ahead and the team come on the radio and they
Speaker 1: were like, your god, like we won this race. Chill out,
Speaker 1: like it's all good. And he pushed and pushed and
Speaker 1: pushed and push to pushed until he totaled the car
Speaker 1: because he was he was like racing himself. He didn't
Speaker 1: care about anybody, you know, like he was racing. He
Speaker 1: was trying to make the lead. Just baffling and not
Speaker 1: that it's about winning, but it's just like that sort
Speaker 1: of I don't know that like that that desire to
Speaker 1: be great at what you do. I think that crosses,
Speaker 1: genres one, and then just whatever sort of purity of
Speaker 1: character and passion of the soul that you see in
Speaker 1: Cigaret Ross to ray La Montagin to literally like say
Speaker 1: fifty cents first album. It's just like it's all same
Speaker 1: to me. When you see athletes do it, it's the
Speaker 1: same thing. So that's why, like, I don't know, I
Speaker 1: I find inspiration in so many different things because I
Speaker 1: don't care what it is. It's just it's just about
Speaker 1: like if that person is doing the thing, you know, Yeah,
Speaker 1: but in terms of like genres and and and and
Speaker 1: there's yeah, I just I think I don't know. I
Speaker 1: had this conversation with Dave recently in the studio, and
Speaker 1: I was talking about, like I feel like there's so
Speaker 1: many people in my world, like the acoustic singer song
Speaker 1: or the world, who are just kind of given it
Speaker 1: a bash, and it's like it's like emotional porn, right,
Speaker 1: Like it's it's that like you know what I mean,
Speaker 1: It's like a song in a sincere way. But I
Speaker 1: just I don't feel it's voyeur a kind of people's
Speaker 1: voyeurism totally. And then but I think it's so obvious
Speaker 1: and obviously you never want to name anybody as the
Speaker 1: bad example, but like if you take say, if you
Speaker 1: take say justin Vernon from bonni Vere, it's just like
Speaker 1: that's real. Like I feel that, like that is authentic.
Speaker 1: So that versus somebody else is just like they're different,
Speaker 1: like and and so I said that today and he
Speaker 1: was like yeah, but he was like, I feel like
Speaker 1: in hip hop, that is the genre now where people
Speaker 1: are giving it a goal. Like he was like, so
Speaker 1: many people are just like I'll try this, like I'll
Speaker 1: do this. So he we kind of came to the
Speaker 1: conclusion that it probably exists in all things, but just
Speaker 1: I guess I'm just very drawn to just that like
Speaker 1: potent thing. You know. I saw you were in New
Speaker 1: York recently, actually right in my neighborhood. I saw you
Speaker 1: at a picture Kellogg's Diner, which is right for me.
Speaker 1: How is how is the sessions going? It's great. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I mean, like I said to you earlier, it just
Speaker 1: I feel very free. I feel very loose creatively. I
Speaker 1: feel I feel like Scott Harris, who I work with
Speaker 1: quite a lot. I feel like our relationship is at
Speaker 1: a point now where I can actually be like, all right,
Speaker 1: what'll we do today, Like what will we I don't know.
Speaker 1: Like in the past, if someone was like, is there
Speaker 1: anything you're thinking about? Is there anything you want to
Speaker 1: write about? I'd be like, I'd say no, but like
Speaker 1: I have a bunch of stuff going on and and
Speaker 1: I would wait for the music to sort of take
Speaker 1: it out of me. But with Scott, I'm comfortable enough
Speaker 1: now to be like, all right, sweet, what do we
Speaker 1: do today? Like blah blah, not in a clinical way,
Speaker 1: but just I don't know, I just I feel really
Speaker 1: really comfortable with him, Like because to me write music
Speaker 1: like this is my favorite place in the world to be,
Speaker 1: Like my favorite thing is being by myself and and
Speaker 1: and and sitting at a piano doing nothing for like
Speaker 1: ten minutes and no one like sort of being like, okay,
Speaker 1: you know what I mean. Like, so, like I struggled
Speaker 1: for a long time with the fact that there might
Speaker 1: just be other people in the room, whereas now I
Speaker 1: feel very comfortable. I think it comes with being more
Speaker 1: established as an artist too. It's like I know I
Speaker 1: can hold my own and I know I have X
Speaker 1: amount of respect here, so I don't feel like this underdog.
Speaker 1: So so I guess it just it figures itself out
Speaker 1: over time. But yeah, no, New York was class. We
Speaker 1: got some good songs. We're just kind of ethering songs.
Speaker 1: I'm not trying to write like a hundred songs for
Speaker 1: twelve song records. You know. I struggle with that idea,
Speaker 1: to the idea of throwing stuff away. I'm kind of like,
Speaker 1: why would you put your heart into something if you're
Speaker 1: just gonna bin it? But not going really well, I'm
Speaker 1: not nash either, you know, like I've got time, I've
Speaker 1: got songs that didn't make the first record that might
Speaker 1: show up here. No, it's all good. I'm just trying.
Speaker 1: It's funny though, because you never know when you're dawn right,
Speaker 1: Like like you could be like, oh, yeah, sweet, those
Speaker 1: are twelve or ten or fourteen whatever great songs, and
Speaker 1: then you another one could show up and you could
Speaker 1: be like, well, what have I had ten of those?
Speaker 1: And like that would be really special, you know the
Speaker 1: way like when you think about say like Adele Records
Speaker 1: and stuff like that, you're just like, oh, every song
Speaker 1: is just that special song. It's like, well, what like
Speaker 1: we could take the time and just like wait until
Speaker 1: that moment, but then who knows? You never know. You
Speaker 1: may never get there. You may just feel the exact
Speaker 1: same way when you keep at it. Who knows. It's
Speaker 1: funny because it's all this stuff of like like I
Speaker 1: got asked so often like oh, say an album and
Speaker 1: blah blah, and it's like like my first album, Like
Speaker 1: this is the first time I made an album, you
Speaker 1: know what I mean, Like like I was figuring it
Speaker 1: out and so yeah, it's not this thing where where
Speaker 1: it's like this my first album. I I like, you
Speaker 1: put everything into it, and I take everything I've learned
Speaker 1: and all my experiences in life and in music, and
Speaker 1: you try and make it as best you can. But like, jeez,
Speaker 1: we're all just figuring it out right. Arts never finished,
Speaker 1: it's just abandoned something like that. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1: For sure. Where you're at in your career right now,
Speaker 1: you're you're raising the Monaco Grand Prix, You're very far ahead.
Speaker 1: Do you feel successful or are you at the place
Speaker 1: that you want to do arrive at? Or does the
Speaker 1: finish line keep moving for you? For sure? Yeah? Yeah,
Speaker 1: it does, it keeps moving. Yeah, of course I think. Yeah,
Speaker 1: I'm not I'm just not good at processing big victories,
Speaker 1: like even even last week, I was like the first
Speaker 1: Irish artist to get an actual number one in Ireland
Speaker 1: and a long time, and I was just kind of like, alright, cool,
Speaker 1: I'm a manager, was like, oh ha, it's funny how
Speaker 1: you just like couldn't care less. And I was like, no,
Speaker 1: I care more than anybody. Like I care more than anybody.
Speaker 1: But the second it hits that point where I did it,
Speaker 1: I'm like, cool, sweet, like what's next in the least
Speaker 1: sort of like corny motivational speaker way possible, I'm just
Speaker 1: like like I'm thinking about something else. Now. If I
Speaker 1: did that, that's lovely, but I'm not here to spend
Speaker 1: a day like celebrating myself and patting myself on the back.
Speaker 1: I'm just not into it. So like, yeah, like I
Speaker 1: do this because I need to do it and because
Speaker 1: it lives in me, but like by no means I'm
Speaker 1: by somebody who seeks attention at all, Like yeah, like
Speaker 1: I like to do the show and then hide, Like yeah,
Speaker 1: it's just I'm not one for kind of being like,
Speaker 1: oh I did this thing, and like let's celebrate this achievement.
Speaker 1: I was like no, Like you can't get cut up
Speaker 1: in it either, too, because last week with that number one,
Speaker 1: it was like, okay, cool, I'm number one, But like
Speaker 1: you've got to be carefully. You start chasing number one's
Speaker 1: music changes and you lose your way a little bit.
Speaker 1: I think on my last question, I don't wanna take
Speaker 1: up too much more of your time. I've been You're
Speaker 1: good asking this of everybody, and it's so fascinating to me.
Speaker 1: Everybody's different answers. If you could snap your fingers and
Speaker 1: have everything go back to two normal in terms of
Speaker 1: of COVID, whatever your definition of normal is, maybe this
Speaker 1: time in twenty nineteen, what would be the first thing
Speaker 1: that you would do? Places you go, people you'd hug, oh,
Speaker 1: places i'd be allowed go. I've probably come back here. Honestly,
Speaker 1: I just do what I'm doing right now. Yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: like yeah, I would not. You know what I'm most
Speaker 1: excited about is We've got these shows in summer one
Speaker 1: hopefully in Ireland, and it's like twenty people each night,
Speaker 1: and and I'm just like that, I don't know. Something's
Speaker 1: gonna come along someday and I'll be like, okay, cool, dar,
Speaker 1: what you're doing well now, like this is potentially actually successful.
Speaker 1: And I don't know. Things like that feel huge to me.
Speaker 1: But if if everything was normal right now, honestly, like
Speaker 1: boring answer, but I'd come back to this room. I'd
Speaker 1: actually just be here, like I spent enough time in
Speaker 1: the last three years whish and I was home anyway,
Speaker 1: not in a bad way, like I love Tore more
Speaker 1: than anybody, And when there's work to be done, I'll
Speaker 1: be there doing it. But like the house I'm in currently,
Speaker 1: like I'm I'm about to start a battle of trying
Speaker 1: to get planning permission next door, like I I want
Speaker 1: to live a simple life and just live here in
Speaker 1: this field and it'll be fine. So um, I would.
Speaker 1: I would be back here if I was allowed. You're
Speaker 1: a songwriter through and through man, Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah,
Speaker 1: trying to keep it that way. DeRemer Kennedy, thank you
Speaker 1: so much for your time today. It's been such a pleasure.
Speaker 1: Thanks man, No, of course, thank you. We hope you
Speaker 1: enjoyed this episode of Inside the Studio Home Edition, a
Speaker 1: production of I Heart Radio. For more episodes of Inside
Speaker 1: the Studio and other shows from I heart Radio, check
Speaker 1: out the I heart Radio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever
Speaker 1: you get your podcasts.