2025 is off to a busy start for Irish folk-pop singer-songwriter Darren Kiely. Currently travelling the world on his ‘Never Been Here Before’ tour, the artist has also been releasing new music at a steady pace. Following on from January’s emotional release ‘Weight’, Kiely has today dropped two new tracks with the upbeat ‘Mulcair Road’ and mid-tempo ‘Old & Grey’. Continuing Kiely’s trademark of heartfelt songwriting, the former tackles revisiting a place from childhood whilst the latter deals with losing someone and the impact that has on one’s identity. Last month, Musik Mirage had the pleasure of speaking with Darren the morning after a fantastic performance at London’s iconic Electric Ballroom. You can find our full one on one conversation just below: 
Musik Mirage: How are you feeling after your headline show at Electric Ballroom last night?
Darren Kiely: It was such a lovely night. One of the best. It’s never really technical and performance-wise, it’s just that the vibe in the room felt brilliant. It’s a lovely feeling.
Musik Mirage: It seemed like the crowd were having a great time!
Darren: Sometimes you’re like, ‘I wonder what it’s going to be like’. And people sometimes scare you, you know? They’re like, ‘oh, you never know what it’s going to be like in a big city’. And anytime we’ve played in London, it’s felt like a home gig. It was class.
Musik Mirage: And how did the run of dates in Europe go? Any highlights?
Darren: Honestly, the whole thing… I would lean on more the side of ‘oh, I’m not sure how it’s going to go’ because I don’t want to put too much expectation on it and then it’ll kind of fall flat. But it was excellent. I mean, two weeks absolutely flew. I love my band and crew, so we’re all getting on great. And the crowds… You get out every night and you’re looking left and right and there’s just people everywhere. And it’s surreal, going all over Europe and being in Scandinavia and playing your own music. You’re just looking at faces and you’re like, ‘do you know who I am?’ or ‘do you know the music?’. It’s very surreal. It doesn’t sink in.
Musik Mirage: I can’t even imagine. I was looking at your tour dates, is there any city that you’re particularly excited to go to because you’re going to some pretty far-flung locations?
Darren: I mean, obviously the ones at home are always ones you look forward to. I think to go down to Australia and South Africa. I’ve never even been that far on a plane before! So I don’t even know about the cities themselves or what the shows are going to be like. I think that’s just mad. You know, we’re going to be in a plane for 16 hours or whatever. But honestly, I think that you never know. You never know playing a gig. You can’t just say, ‘oh, this space is going to be great’. You have an inkling maybe with some places, but we’ve definitely had some great surprises. So I kind of don’t know what to expect. I haven’t even been to some of the places in the UK. We’re playing Bristol tomorrow night, I’ve never even been and I think it could be great. 
Musik Mirage: Last month you released your new track ‘Weight’, could you tell us a bit about the inspiration behind it?
Darren: ‘Weight’ was a song I’ve wanted to write for a while. For me, it represents an escalation in your thoughts of feeling like you’re dragging everyone down around you. And that has been a theme, I think, in my life forever. Whether it’s been as dramatic and intense as I write about it in the song, or probably not as much now because I’m able to see the forest for the trees a little bit more. But I had never specifically talked about being a burden in some of my other songs. And I just wanted to express that. That’s how that song came about.
Musik Mirage: It’s a really beautiful song. Do you find it easy to express that level of vulnerability or is that something that you’ve had to build the courage to do over time?
Darren: I think the first few releases… I could write the songs and be vulnerable in the songs, but I was dreading the releases of them. From a vulnerability of what I was sharing and also a vulnerability of ‘I don’t know if it’s any good, if people are going to like it’. You’re afraid of no one listening… You’ve laid yourself out there and no one really cares for it, which is scary. I don’t think I’m afraid of being vulnerable in how I write. I think sometimes it’s being vulnerable enough to sit there to go to whatever depth you need to go to is the tricky thing for me. And I would say I want to get there, but there’s a part of me that protects me from going there sometimes. So it’s a weird one. I have to consciously be uncomfortable to find out exactly what it is I’m feeling around a certain topic. And writing helps me discover it. A lot of it’s under a layer that in my brain I’m not really able to express. Once I start writing, I’m hoping to uncover some of those things.
Musik Mirage: Would you have any advice for younger artists who might be struggling with finding that honesty in their work?
Darren: I’ve written with a few people now that I wouldn’t say are critical or analyze it line by line, but they really question what each line means and ‘why is that there?’ You can write a nice song that rhymes and says something… But to make it personal to yourself, I feel like you have to question ‘why is that line in there?’, ‘what’s it got to do with me?’ or ‘what’s it got to do with what I’m trying to say here?’ And I feel like once I started doing that, it’s really helped me connect with whatever I’m writing and whatever is inside of me. So that’s probably one thing on making the song feel like it’s exactly what you want to say and not what you feel like the song is making you say, if that makes sense.
Musik Mirage: You spoke last night about a belief in building momentum and never giving up. Can you talk a bit about why that means so much to you and why you want to share that message with people?
Darren: I can remember days where nothing was moving, whether it was energy in my body or things around me. I was like, ‘I don’t know how tomorrow is going to be any different than today’. And I think just by trying things… At that time it was music and writing and learning how to play cover songs. Just by initially trying something and chasing what was in my heart and what my passion was… I didn’t get out of that straight away, but it just got something moving and I feel passionate on that. I think if you can just try and do something, I think the right thing will happen eventually because you’re in motion. And it’s the hardest thing. I think when you’re stagnant and nothing’s going on… I think it’s the hardest place to be in because I feel like everybody has an energy… Right now the message of the shows is, hopefully getting people to just go for whatever it is they want to go for and not let anything hold them back. That’s something I’m really passionate about, especially right now.
Musik Mirage: Is there one moment or memory that you feel really kicked you into gear to pursue this, whether as a hobby or as a career?
Darren: I can remember trying to get some of the songs I’d written produced and recorded. I wanted to know what it would sound like because I would do voice notes starting off. And it got to a place where I was like, ‘I really love the sound of this’ and I would listen over and over again. That’s when I felt ‘I want to do this with another song’ & ‘I want to create this feeling over and over again’ but there’s been a lot of little moments. Even listening back to a voice note for the first time. I would never have felt emotion singing in a room by myself but then when I would listen back, I’d be like ‘oh, that’s making me really feel something’. All those moments that I’ve felt a magic to them, that kicked me into gear in terms of chasing the next piece of magic and that’s what it’s all been really. I know ‘magic’ is such a cliché word, but it genuinely feels like something out of this world and that’s what the chase is. Consistently I’m searching for that in music all the time since I first started playing it. 
Musik Mirage: I get what you mean, I know it sounds like a cliché but you do feel that magic. When I’m at live shows and you hear the crowd singing along there’s something really special there.
Darren: Yeah, it’s like you can’t even describe it and it’s a feeling. You know, I used to watch concerts on YouTube and go to them and there was nothing like it… And I’m into movies, sports, everything… But music was, I just think there’s something different about it. It cuts to a level that other things don’t for me. It’s special and I’m just really glad to have moments like last night. I’ve even got goosebumps thinking about it… Because our ears are in-ears and sometimes you can’t hear the crowd that well and then you take them out and you hear people shouting along to not even the well-known songs. That’s really special!
Musik Mirage: What’s been the biggest ‘pinch-me’ moment of your career so far?
Darren: I remember when I started off putting on my own music shows… I was living in New York at the time and I would tell my friends the shows were on, I would advertise them, but it would only be people I knew that were there. There was 13 people at the very first one and that trend continued on for a while. So I think every time I go on stage and there’s more than 13 people and it’s people I don’t know… That’s it. There’s always a moment every night where I’m going ‘how are all these people here?’ I haven’t been able to comprehend it really. That’s the consistent ‘pinch-me’ moment which… I don’t really want it to go away, you know? I feel like it would be miserable if I was up there going ‘why aren’t there more people here?’ or like ‘obviously people are here’, it feels fragile but in the best way. It’s kind of like when your time with something is finite and it just feels precious. Yeah, ‘pinch-me’ moment is definitely being in random places like London last night and there being all those people, it’s nuts.
Musik Mirage: Aside from the tour, is there anything fans can expect from you in 2025?
Darren: We’ve got a good bit of music recorded… We were playing some unreleased stuff last night. There will be a lot of music rolled out in 2025 and starting soon.
Musik Mirage: And to finish, is there a funniest show you’ve played? Where something really funny happened that you were cracking up about after?
Darren: Yeah, we played Electric Picnic Festival in Ireland last summer and something happened with the leads of the guitars. I thought mine was plugged in, but I had obviously plugged it out… So I played pretty much half a song without the guitar plugged in and Brian Mac, who is on banjo and mandolin, I was looking at him trying to sing the song but trying to tell him ‘I need you to plug in the guitar’. So eventually he comes up and plugs in the guitars we’re playing… I mean, there was so many people at it and I thought everything was playing live. I think that was the funniest. I nearly tripped off stage in Zurich and we got caught in the leads. So I haven’t fallen yet on stage. I think that’s coming though… I’m extremely clumsy so I think that’s in my future but I just about managed to stay upright in Zurich. Which was funny. 
Darren Kiely’s world tour is scheduled to continue this spring in the UK and even has show dates confirmed for some cities through North America starting in May so check your local listings for dates in your area. As mentioned earlier in the article, the singer has just released a bunch of new music so make sure to give it a listen as its available on all major streaming platforms now! Finally, to stay up to date on the Irish musician on social media, make sure to follow him @DarrenKielyMusic.
Interview & Photos By Harry Bridger (@harrywiththecamera)
