JC’s happy to be called a professional sad boy

Derry singer-songwriter’s JC Stewart’s May tour is scheduled to call at the Dublin Academy on May 27. If it has to be rescheduled to later in the year, then he could find his gig upgraded from the 850-capacity venue just off the capital’s main thoroughfare.

That’s down to the reaction to the Magherafelt man’s latest single, Lying That You Love Me. The song has been streamed almost two million times on Spotify since its release in late February. It’s a melancholy number, in keeping with much of JC’s output. His younger sister even dubbed him

Professional Sad Boy, something that pleases the amiable 22-year-old.

‘I love it!’, he says.

‘I put up what she said on my Instagram and Twitter account. People told me, “that’s class; you’ve

got to keep it.” I know I write sad songs. The easiest way to connect with someone is to write something that is quite heart-breaking.’

It is something he has in common with his good friend Lewis

Capaldi. In the year since I spoke to the Scottish singer for the Irish Mail on Sunday, he has conquered charts all over the world. Luckily, for JC, or Callum as he is known to his family, he also co-wrote the song Hollywood with Capaldi, which features on the Glaswegian’s debut album, Divinely Uninspired to a Hellish Extent.

‘We were out at a party and ended up in a studio at 4am knocking out the song together,’ he says.

‘He’s such a great laugh and it’s been amazing and a wee bit weird to watch him become the most famous singer in Britain.’

Many are predicting that the

Ulster man will soon be vying for the top of the charts with Capaldi. Since the release of his first single Free just over three years ago, tracks such as Medicine, Parachute and Like I Did have consolidated that success and Lying That You Love Me has steepened that upward trajectory.

‘We were lucky we had a music video ready to go for Lying That You Love Me, with all that has gone on,’ he says.

‘When the next one comes out, we will have got to be creative. We obviously can’t get a film crew. I’ve got to do everything myself. I’m doing what I can and just going back to basics.’

His made his first efforts at songwriting at 15 years of age. He was sure he wasn’t cut out to follow his father into the retail business that also bears the name JC Stewart.

He went to college in Brighton, but not to the world-famous BIMM school which also has a college in Ireland, but to get a degree under his belt for safe-keeping.

‘I studied international relations and a bit of Arabic. I didn’t actually want to double down and study music so I ended up studying for that,’ he says.

‘I love politics and history and just thought, “Hey why don’t I do international relations?”

‘It didn’t go very well. “AsSalaam-Alaikum” is pretty much all I can say in Arabic. I was awful. I didn’t go to class very much.’

We associate his native county of Derry with bands such as The Undertones and a more rockbased scene, and JC found it quite hard to get in an ear in the Maiden City. He went first to Belfast and is now based in London.

‘I ended up playing in Belfast more than Derry,’ he says.

‘I knew all the Derry wans from Glasgowbury Festival because it took place not far from where I’m from (in nearby Draperstown). I knew Soak. Me and her played together. I was 15 she was 16. I knew the Wood Burning Savages very well. Pop music was kind of a weird thing to want to do though. People were like, “what are you doing?”. That’s why I went to London, people were more open to what I wanted to do. Although I love coming back to Northern Ireland, going to London was the turning point for me.’

He has a specific plan of what he wants to do when all this is over.

‘My favourite thing is to go to a concert and sing along with thousands of others to the words of a sad song; that to me is strangely uplifting. That’s what I want to do the minute this is over.’

JC Stewart – Lying That You Love Me is out now.

‘I’ve got to do everything myself, I’m doing what I can, just going back to basics’