Jack Rua is definitely someone you should have on your radar right now.

His bold debut single Scarlet A, which offers the raunchy pop-goodness often missing from the Irish music scene, is unapologetically queer. The song, and it’s accompanying video, explore the taboos of desire and lust.

Having already racked up more than 10,000 streams on Spotify, it’s clear that Jack’s sultry sound is what the Irish music scene has been waiting for.

With his sophomore single Ego just released, we are buzzed to see what is to come from the Dublin-based singer-songwriter.

Speaking to GCN, Jack Rua talked about his new material, queer music and his hopes for the future.

“I would say my musical style is very much electronic dance-pop. Scarlet A was the first song I did and that was a bit more theatrical and glam. The rest of my stuff would be more dance-pop. I have another single coming out in May which is more house-pop. I have tried to balance the theatrical side of myself with the part that wants to be a pop singer.

“I was originally in a band called Jackel, which was a rock band, but it was still quite gay. Jackel was very ‘cabaret’. I was wearing white makeup with the red eye shadow. My new stuff is less of that and more glam-rock.

“I did four years of BIMM, and sometimes it felt like if you weren’t doing rock, you weren’t cool. I did four years there, and it took me about two years to ever do anything performance-wise because I felt really uncool in a way,” Jack explained.

What was the inspiration behind Scarlet A?

“Scarlet A kind of touches on themes of monogamy. I’m kind of saying that maybe humans aren’t meant to be totally monogamous. The song deals with being committed to someone vs. being attracted to someone else. And it’s also about not being able to tell the difference between reality and fantasy, about being seduced by someone who is attractive vs. just being distracted from someone that you love.”

Jack also touched on his next single, coming out in July, called Ego:

“I have another single coming out in May which is more folky-house-pop. I have tried to balance the theatrical side of myself with the part that wants to be a pop singer.

“Ego is about being in a relationship with someone but being able to love yourself as much as you love the other person.”

What do you think of the current Irish queer music scene?

“I think it’s hard to talk about a queer Irish music ‘scene’ because it’s very small.

“I lived in New York in 2017, and there was a massive queer arts scene there, and there isn’t so much of that here.

“It’s small here, but it’s growing. There seem to be a lot more expressions of queerness now.

“In terms of queer Irish artists, I’m really liking La Boom at the moment. I think they’re deadly.”

Who are your inspirations?

I’m really inspired by David Bowie. He’s one of my heroes. Prince would also be one of my heroes, and I love artists like John Grant, Kim Petras and, of course, GaGa.

What are your hopes for the future?

“In terms of long-term goals, I really would love to get more songs out there and get my name out there. Scarlet A is the first song I released and it’s really good to see it doing it well. I can’t wait to release more singles and get more gigs.

“I don’t want to just throw an album out without having actual listeners.

You can listen to Jack Rua on SoundCloud here. Keep up to date with future gigs on his Facebook page here.