Duncan Laurence

career has gone global ever since. In fact, he made his American Network TV debut just minutes before we spoke. Last November, he released his debut LP small Town Boy. It's a great acclaim and now we're gonna see what he has coming next. I'm so happy to welcome Duncan Lawrence. Well, thank you for having me. Thanks. Yeah, I'm good. I just did the Today Show and we had the whole recordings and everything, and it's almost at the end of the day here, so yeah, and I'm fine. Me. How

are you? Oh? Wow, I'm great. Wait that you had a much more exciting day than me. How how everything go? Where are you right now? Are you in the actually? Yeah? So it's a big time difference here. So I had my whole day already done, and it's just it was such an amazing day to be able to record for a US TV for the first time. It was my first performance ever and I had a great time doing it. I'm so excited. Oh that's awesome out Congratulations, I mean

so many things congratulate you for. I mean just the success of Arcade. It's amazing. It must be strange for you in a way because the song wins Eurovision back in When did you realize it was blowing up all over again? That was crazy. It was actually a couple of months ago. I got this message from my manager and he was saying, I think you should have a look at what's happening on TikTok because ourcade is blowing up.

And a lot of Harry Potter fans were using the song to recreate scenes from the movies to kind of make Malfoy in Hermione, which are like sworn enemies and the movies fall in love with each other, and then they used loving You was Losing Game under that as a tech ran. So it was so fun to watch that. But ever to just spread so so far, like it reached other digital platforms and just like social media and it's yeah, it really has blown up. Can you tell me a little bit about where the song came from

for you, what inspired it? I wrote Arcade actually a couple of years ago, um, when I was studying at the Rock Academy, and I always wrote songs because I always tried to turn something negative into something positive by taking a negative story and turning it to a song. Because I was bullied when I was younger a lot, So I took all that negativity home and I locked myself up in my room and created songs out of that.

But on this particular day, a friend of the family passed away and she was madly in love with the love of her life, but they had split up a few years before, unfortunately, and she kept waiting for him to say goodbye. She kept staring at the door while she was passing away. So that was such a tragic story to me that I was like, if I can turn all that negativity from being bullied and everything into songs, that I can also turn this unanswered love into a song.

And years later I did, and I kind of combined my story as a small time boy going to a big city chasing my dreams with her story and that's how Arcade came to be. How does it feel for you knowing that that this song that came from such a personal private place for you and your family, friend and your childhood bedroom is now resonating with literally millions of people look across the globe. How does that feel?

What is that like for you? That's so crazy because I did your Vision the Your Vision Song contest with this song, so I kind of thought like, well, it's had his life and it's good and it's it's it's

served a great purpose, I mean, like we want. But now looking at Arcade and seeing where it's going and how it's growing every single day, it's just insane to watch, especially as this small town boy from this tiniest country, the Netherlands, it's just so to see that this is possible and that if you work hard and you keep dreaming and you keep focusing on what you do. And

with me, it was putting music first always. You you can go somewhere, You can go places, even if it's quarantine, you can still you know, music can travel without boundaries, and it's so cool and especially in these times, to be able to connect with people since we can tour or gig or go anywhere you mentioned quarantine. Have you been been feeling productive and staying productive during during lockdown? Have you've been writing a lot? Yes, I've been writing constantly.

I've lived together with my fiance and he's a songwriter too, so we write every single day. Like every time I come downstairs, I hear him playing the piano or the guitar, and then you know, hear him saying or it's the other way around. We we write constantly, and I actually finished my first album during lockdown. That's gonna be such a great way to bond I mean, to have that connection with somebody, to make music with them. What were you Were you friends before and then did you start

making music or did you start making music? We met each other in l A last year, right before lockdown, and then I took the last plane possible back from the Netherlands to l A when lockdown was introduced, and then I spent my days at his place in Los Angeles and that's how we were like, well, we're both songwriters, let's try to write a song. And it was amazing. Congratulations one of the one of the few good things that come up. I'm so so happy for you. But yeah, yeah, luckily. Yes.

You mentioned when you first started writing music, taking sort of the pain of school and adolescents that so many people unfortunately go through, and wanting to make something beautiful out of it. What were some people that that sort of pointed you in that direction? Did you have any any influences at that age, like people musicians you were listening to, or people in your life, to teachers or something like that. Definitely, Like I had a couple of

artists that I was like listening NonStop to. One of them was Nirvana. I'm always I've always been drawn to Kurt Cobain's story and just his mentality, this way of songwriting, and just it was so grunge, and I loved it. Amy Winehouse, which to me was kind of the grungy version of soul, kind of London grungy version of soul. I thought she was amazing and such a great artist, but such a tragic story too. I'm always I've always been drawn to tragic stories, but also snow Patrol YouTube.

My father used to listen to a lot of YouTube. My grandparents used to listen to a lot of Elvis Presley, so he's definitely one of my heroes. And yeah, the list goes on and on. Fleetwood mag I can talk to you about music for hours. I love USIC hearing your voice. It's so motive and passionate. Did you do any theater as a kid, like musical theater. I used to do theater, but I couldn't dance. I could act,

but I couldn't dance. Like I was like a little bit of a like a chubby Harry Potter, with like room between my teeth and like a lot of freckles, and the only thing that was missing was here. But yeah, it was. It was. You know, maybe that was the reason why I was bullied a lot too, because I kind of dressed a little weird and I kind of acted a little weird. I made music. I locked myself up in my room to write songs. So thinking back, I'm like, yeah, maybe you isolated yourself a lot. You

were just yourself exactly. That's what it was. And I'm really happy that I did actually, and that I sticked to what I knew and believed in. But at this certain age, I think because I locked myself up so much, my mom decided me to put me on like theater class, and I sucked at dancing and like all those things, but I liked acting, but above all, I loved music. What was it like for me? Witting your vision must have just been such a life changing experience that I

cannot even imagine. How did your life change of that? My life changed like completely, like one d degrees. It was just a turn, like it was so crazy because before that, I was a songwriter and I wrote songs for others, and I was just kind of, you know, collecting my my own songs, trying to create a sound, trying to create stories that I wanted to put out into the world, and Arcade has always been on my mind as the first single I wanted to put out.

But on a specific day, I got a call from my old voice coach because I did the voice when I was like seventeen, and she said, hey, you added this song Arcade to the draw box that we still share. Did you want me to listen to it? And I said, yeah, of course, that's why I put it in a drawbox. And she listened to it and she said, I think we should send this to your vision and I said, well, good look, because only famous people make it to your a vision like it would be a dream come true,

but I don't think I'll ever make it. And then she said, I think you'll make it. As she was right, and that's how it happened. Wow, that is incredible. What is it about that song that you feel makes it resonate with so many people? Is there? Can you articulate? Why? Is it just just one of those things one of

those magic things? That's always the most difficult question people ask me, because I always believe that, like the power of a song is because of the listeners, and it's because like the biggest part is because of the listeners the way they interpreted it. So I wish I could just, you know, watch the listeners heads, like have a look inside their hats to know what it is, because that would reveal a great secret I think in songwriting for me,

very helpful. But I hope it's just the story that is in there and the story that I'm trying to tell in respect to my friend who passed away, And I hope that that, you know, resonates through that song and that people get inspired and maybe feel like, hey, I'm going through the same things. And if that small boy, the small town boy is doing it and he's killing it and he's chasing his streams, then I can do it too, even though I have a heartbreak right now

or I'm going through this heart face of life. Um. I hope that's what they connect to and that's why, you know, maybe this personal story that is in there becomes something universal. Your album called small Town Boy, there's so many great songs on. One of my favorites, a sort of sort of the inverse of Arcade in a lot of ways, Sleeping on the Phone, which is, yeah, a song that rings true for anyone who's ever been

in a long distance relationship. Can you can tell me a little more about that, Yeah, Sleeping on the Phone is my favorite too. I love that trick and it's it's because that was actually the first trick I wrote with Jordans, my fiance. That was the like what I just told you, like when we were in l A and I traveled with the last plane to the US

right before a lockdown hit. We wrote this song because we knew I was going to travel back to the Netherlands because I had to do the an alternative show for your Vision, So it was kind of it wasn't your vision twenty twenty, but they did this alternative life show and we knew we got we're going to miss

each other. So we wrote this song together kind of as a reminder to each other that we've we've always got each other's back and we're always there for each other no matter the time difference or what time it is. Let's just talk until we're sleeping on the phone. And it really helped, I think both of us through through that quarantine lockdown time without each other, and it's beautiful.

That's really incredible. I can't mean, I'm somebody who who loves music with with all their heart, but it's never been able to actually write a song. So whenever I talk to people about how they write, to me, it sounds like it just sounds like sorcery. I don't really understand it when when when you in Jordan are writing together, I mean, do you feel that you get to know

each other on a deeper level? I mean that there ever times when you've had like a disagreement earlier and somehow you end up working it out through the songwriting session. You know, I don't recall that, but I do think, yeah, yeah, we definitely get to know each other more and more, especially, you know, because we're so open to each other and when it comes to write songs, because you have to be if you want to write an honest story and in the shape of a song, you have to be

open and tell everything. So yeah, we talked about everything, even previous relationships and you know, things that hurt us, sort of things that made us happy, or just those small daily things that we're both kind of looking forward to write songs. It's basically we got to know each other. I think the best through writing songs with each other. That was so wonderful. What is next for you? I know you just released your album in the fall. What are you working on now? I'm working on a lot

of new music in the studio NonStop. I'm so happy we can do that, that we're able to just work and go to the studio and record things and write new music. So yeah, that's what we're constantly doing. I'm constantly moving back and forth from our house to the studio and to our house to the studio and just you know, writing a lot of new songs and recording in a lot of new things which are actually coming out this year. Even so it's all coming very soon.

That's so great. You can be back in the studio now too. I know that, Yeah, home studio situation isn't always the same thing from what I hear. I know, like it's been wonderful to have some time at home, of course, and everyone kind of thought that at the beginning, But I think now everyone is kind of at that point where we're like, Okay, all is this going to take? Because I really just want to have my normal life back.

But it's all for a good reason, of course. But yeah, being able just to be in a room with instruments and just somewhere else than these four white walls is amazing. What did you Obviously, the last year has been tough for everyone for so many different reasons. What what did you do? Is just to stay grounded when you wanted to just sort of escape and feel good for a little bit. Did you do yoga? Did you run? Did

you watch a bunch of things on Netflix? What did you like to do to kind of just just zone out for a little while. I actually started producing myself, so I produced Sleeping on the Phone for example, myself during lockdown, and I always kind of looked over the shoulders of other producers kind of you know, looked what they were doing, and I knew kind of how to do things, but I had to learn a lot before I could actually produce my own whole track myself. But

I did. I did it, and I'm so happy with it. So I spend a lot of time in quarantine learning how to make sounds, produce sounds, you know, get the right e Q, everything, all the little producer details. And I started picking up the guitar again, and I started going to the like there's a gym here that just

trains outside, which is amazing because that's allowed again. So I'm just focusing on my mind my body, because there were times in Lockdown where I was like so anxious about what was going to happen and what what was going to happen with the world and how we were going to get through this and stuff. It's just, yeah, it's been it's been a hard time, but I'm glad that it kind of looks like there's this light at the end of it all and things are getting better.

I'm sure, Oh yeah, absolutely. I mean that it sounds like you've had an incredibly productive time. I mean, most people I know, it's like, all right, I taught myself to make banana bread. That's it. You you learn how to that's amazing. So I wish I would have learned how to make banana bread because my cooking skills are horrible, Like I cannot even bake a bake an act like it's it's horrible. I mean, banana bread is about the only thing that I actually can make now, So no,

don't worry, You're not alone. I screwed it up, like I screwed it up a bunch of times where the banana bread was like kick style, like it was crunchy and so hard that you can't even like take a bite off this. So no, I would never, never, never tried to bait that again. Gosh, that's that's so exciting. It's such a great year ahead of you. I gotta ask I'm sure you get ask us all the time. Any dream collaborators, people you you really want to work with.

I have a lot of dream collaborators, but one person that's always been on the top of my list is Noah Cirus. I hope one day we can write something together because I love love her. Miley sirius to I've

been a big fan ever since I was Young. What I love about Noah Starrs is that she has such a singer songwrite if vibe over her, but still is so poppy and really combines those three worlds almost of pop, country and singer songwriter music, and it's just so magical the way she does that and the way she looks and everything about her is just so magical. So I would be honored to one day work together with her,

if if one day that is possible. Other collapse are like Troy Syvan, same like, same feeling I have for Noah, same for him. He's incredible. Yeah, So who know who else? Ellie X, Sam Smith. The list goes on and on. It's manifest put it out there, Visualize Smith, Noah's ires Alley Accident, the whole list. Look And it's been so great talking you, my my, my last question, and it's been the question that I've been asking everybody I've been speaking to the last year, and hopefully don't have to

ask it much longer. If you could snap your fingers and have everything go back to normal, whatever your definition of normal is, call it, call it what would be the first thing that you would do? Places you travel, people, you hug, things, you go go out to a restaurant and eat. Yeah, I think I would have this huge barbecue in the backyard with my whole family and friends and just everyone has to hug each other before they

come in. Everyone has to like kiss each other three times on the cheeks, because we do that here in Holland. Week he took three times and just like you know, share love, touch each other like whenever you want, stay close to each other, eat nice food, to have nice music, drinks. Very European if you asked me to do. But it's like, yeah,

that would be my back to normal dream. And another dream would be just to travel again and to be able to perform again, but also to be able to visit l A America to meet my my family that, you know, just everything. I want it all. I want everything to be normal again. Let's manifest that to I think it's I think it's on its way. I think so too. Thank you so much for taking the time of day. It's been been such Thank you, Thank you so much. We hope you enjoyed this episode of Inside

the Studio, a production of I Heart Radio. For more episodes of Inside the Studio or other Fantastic shows, check out the I heart Radio app, Apple podcast, or wherever you listen to your favorite podcast. YE