Daniel McCarthy is a young, prolific singer-songwriter from London UK whose artistic star is on the rise. Daniel’s music is catchy and pop-driven in form but also packs a powerful emotional punch both lyrically and thematically as he explores eternal relatable universal themes of anxiety, friendship and love. Daniel releases his new single “She Looked Like You” on 6th August 2021 across all the usual download and streaming platforms.
Daniel’s musical aspirations were formed at a very young age; attending choir at school whilst playing guitar and being classically trained on the piano. Inspired and already musically ambitious, Daniel decided to sell his childhood belongings on eBay to raise money to buy a mic and some basic home recording equipment! Using his dad’s old Mac he then set out to learn music production and started writing his own original pop songs. Impressively, he now produces all of his own material, influenced mainly by Billboard 100 hits.
Read the full Q&A with Daniel McCarthy below!
Q: Hey there Daniel , how are you?
A: I’m great, thanks, and really happy that you invited me for this chat.
Q: We are almost half way through 2021, how has this year been for you so far?
A: Well, it’s been a ‘full on’ kind of year! 2021 has been all about launching myself as an emerging artist and trying to establish an audience for my music. I wrote & recorded 10 songs at the back end of 2020 and I’ve so far released 4 of them as singles this year: ‘Stonewall’, ‘Valentine’, ‘Friend of a Friend’ and my latest song ‘She Looked Like You’.
Three of the songs (all but ‘Valentine’) required videos, which was really fun to make but at the same time quite exhausting. Luckily I have some talented film-making friends who’ve been helping me through it. The Covid lockdown made everything more stressful but at the same time uniquely allowed us access to filming venues (such as ‘The Diner’ restaurant in my latest video) that we otherwise wouldn’t have been able to secure. I’m also planning to release at least a couple of more songs by December, followed by my debut EP.
Q: How did you get into music?
A: I’ve always been into music as far as I can remember. My mother says she noticed that, from when I was about 4 years old, I used to sit and endlessly watch the final credits of movies… I’d be glued to the TV screen watching the credits go up the blacked-out screen (even though at that time I couldn’t even read anything yet)… just so I could hear the full music score of the film being played over & over again at the end. I would literally scream if she tried to turn off the DVD player. That’s when she guessed I might be kinda ‘musical’…ha!… and by my 5th birthday I was having my first piano lesson!
Q: How would you describe your work?
A: I tend to write mainly pop music, but sometimes I like to incorporate a hint of other genres to give different ‘flavours’ to my songs. My lyrics tend to be quite emotional, often about specific situations that I hope are relatable to other young people… mainly about anxiety, friendship and love. However I try to package them up in catchy melodies that hopefully will stick in everyone’s heads for a little while.
Q: What do you want people to take away from it?
A: My biggest desire is that my songs can, in some way, cut through to someone who has had or is having a similar experience. I’d like people to connect to them and to feel what I was feeling when I was writing them. I always try to incorporate an element of ‘hope’ in my songs, and sometimes a dash of humour! I personally love current, modern-sounding pop songs, which I hope is reflected in my songs too so people put them on their playlists to enjoy alongside their other fresh new favourites.
Q: What inspires you and who are your influences?
A: I guess I’m more inspired by certain songs that I find exceptionally well-written and produced, rather than being influenced by specific artists. For example my current playlist includes an unusual Spanish version of ‘My Way’ by Frank Sinatra, as well as some of the latest dance & pop hits in the Billboard 100.
Q: What advice would you give to your younger self?
A: Tough one ’cause I’m still quite young now, but then again I started super early! I don’t think my even younger self would listen to me, so my first advice to him would be to listen to me! And my second advice would be to practice the guitar a tad more often please dude!
Q: What’s next for you? What are you most excited for?
A: I have loads more songs left to share and I’m hoping to release my debut EP soon. My current single ‘She Looked Like You’ will be included in that EP and, I don’t want to brag, but there are a few other really cool tracks in there too! I’m also writing some more new songs for release in 2022 and am looking forward to collaborating with other upcoming artists that I admire.
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