We were lucky to catch up with Kieran Stracey recently and have shared our conversation below.

Kieran, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I think any sort of job will always come with its ups and downs, but perhaps those ups and downs hold more weight in the arts due to the inevitable inconsistency of the industry. The inconsistency is usually what deters people from trying to pursue a career in the industry; this has previously really affected me too. However, once you convince yourself to stop seeking happiness in the ups, and simply enjoy the artistic creation, that’s when you find a happiness that you wouldn’t be able to find in a regular job.

Kieran, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

I’m a musician from a tiny village on the South-West coast of England. I grew up surrounded by music and began learning piano at the age of seven. Throughout my adolescence, I began to explore other instruments such as drums, guitar, vocals, as well as endeavouring into music production at the age of fifteen. Although I found myself attempting to take many different paths at school; ranging from sports to architecture, by eighteen I knew that it had to be music. Hence, I set off to University to study a BA Degree in music. Here, I significantly broadened my knowledge of music as a whole, as well as discovering where my passion lies within the art. I became engrossed in composition and arrangement; creating unusual pieces such as Jazz band arrangements of Beethoven and Mozart’s works. Coinciding with my second-year studies, I launched my TikTok page where I began to post drum covers. These soon started to gain attention, and before I knew it, I had a significant following. In June 2021, I graduated with a First-Class Degree and an award for the highest grade in my year. As of April 2023, I reached over 1m followers across social media. Now, using my musical composition and instrumental background, I am pursuing an artist journey of my own with plenty of new music coming this year!

Have you ever had to pivot?

After an incredible initial experience on social media, particularly TikTok, with numbers as high as 100k followers within 28 days, my engagement started to drop dramatically. As someone who became obsessive with analytics, seeing my follower count start to drop by up to 100 people a day began to really affect me. Although I attempted to keep producing content, by this point I had lost about 60k followers. Subsequently, I removed all social media applications from my phone and found a day job in an attempt to reset. After almost a year without social media, I crawled back on to the applications with a fresh mindset. Within 4 months, I doubled my following to over 1m.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

As a musician in particular, the most rewarding aspect is seeing people from all over the world engaging with your art; whether that be singing with you, dancing to your music, or simply just sharing it with their friends and family. It’s an indescribable feeling that I can never get enough of!

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kieranmusic
• Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@kieran_stracey

Image Credits
Harry Isherwood Isabel Plunkett