Watch Irish singer-songwriter Dermot Kennedy play his smash hit single Power Over Me live on The Ellen Show.

With over 300 million plays on Spotify and celebrity fans such as Taylor Swift, Kennedy is a genuine contender to usurp Hozier’s position as Ireland’s most popular singer-songwriter.

Perhaps it was the algorithm, Kennedy isn’t quite sure, but somehow Taylor Swift discovered his music on Spotify and added one of his songs to her personal playlist

 “I don’t know how that works,” exclaims Kennedy at the mention of Swift. “It’s cool; there was tonnes of other music I’m into in there – Volcano Choir, Bon Ivor. It got that song a tonne of plays.”

Kennedy informs us that as of yesterday his songs have been streamed over 100 million times. “It’s nuts. I’m very thankful – it means I can go and do a tour in America.” However, Kennedy is wary of getting too caught up in the numbers. “You don’t want to put too much importance on it. You shouldn’t let it affect you.”

He explains that the song Taylor Swift playlisted was the one with the least plays at the time. “If you were to take that to heart you’d be like, ‘alright that’s not a great song then’, but she posts it and it gets a million streams and people are into it”

To find out more about Dermot Kennedy’s journey read our 2018 in-depth interview with Kennedy in-full here.

Kennedy plays 4 sold-out nights in the Olympia Theatre this May, but tickets are still available for his Mumford and Sons support slot in Malahide Castle this summer.

If you want to discover more about Dermot Kennedy then read our special Plec Picks feature from 2018.