Michèle Ducray

Born in Durban, South Africa, before growing up on a small olive farm in Ohoka, just outside Ōtautahi Christchurch, Michèle Ducray has always lived between different worlds. Now based in Sydney after relocating earlier this year, the cinematic dark-pop artist is entering a new chapter both personally and creatively. After spending the past few years travelling, soul-searching, and refining her artistic vision, Michèle returns with Like U Did B4, a shimmering yet melancholic single that explores love, loss, identity, and the longing for how things once felt. Having studied briefly at Ara Institute of Canterbury before pursuing music on her own terms, she has built a distinctive artistic world shaped by atmospheric pop production, striking visuals, and emotionally driven storytelling. Ahead of the single's release, I caught up with Michèle to discuss her move to Australia, the creative community she's found in Sydney, and the deeper meaning behind her latest release.

Did you go to university or do any sort of music training? 

Yeah, so I went to music school for a little bit. I didn't last too long there, so here we are. I went to Ara Music Arts for a little bit, studied a tiny bit of contemporary jazz, and then it started to get a little bit more theoretical, and then I was like “hold on, actually, I think that I'm more interested in the ‘natural landscape’ when it comes to music.” Like kind of hearing things or taking sounds as I perceive them. And although the theory and everything was so helpful, I felt like I didn't wanna be boxed in studying.

When did you realise that making music was something you wanted to do seriously? 

Sure. So I've actually been singing since I was a child in South Africa, like dancing on tables to Elton John, wearing Mickey Mouse sunglasses, and all that Disney jazz.

So I felt like I've always wanted to do something in the arts space, and I only seriously got into it about 2021. That was during COVID. And I was feeling a lot of isolation, and I felt like music was a really great escape for me. It always has been.

What are some of the artists who have influenced you the most with your own music? 

Ooh, I love this question. It's a range of artists. So I grew up listening to a lot of Ladysmith Black Mambazo, they’re a Zulu group from South Africa and I listened to a lot of Disney.

I'd say in terms of artists that have kind of helped shape where I want my sound to lie, recently I've been into a wide variety. Like my favourite artists ever would be Elvis and Prince. If we're going into soundscape, probably more modern, I would say Lana Del Rey and The Weeknd. I think they're pretty cool. They get into that airy atmosphere that I love, and I'm vibing Enigma right now as well. 

In your own words, what genre of music do you make? 

I'm sort of trying to discover myself a little bit. I would say I kind of jumped on the dark pop side of things, so cinematic dark pop. But then again, some of my music is a little bit upbeat and lively. I've been utilising some tools and thinking about where I kinda wanna go with my sound a lot, and I think a lot of creating a world opposed to just being, releasing another song. So in terms of that, I would say I was going into, like, a dream walker, sandman sort of world. Either way, I'd say my soundscape is a bit different, but I kind of want it to be in that alt pop, dream pop maybe with some dark pop undertones. 

If someone was discovering your music for the first time, what song should they start with? 

Oh, that's so good. I think my absolute favourite one, the one I vibe a lot to when I want to grunge out, is Throne of Mine. We filmed that one a while ago in Tokyo, and that was the funnest video I've ever felt. We went on the  Shibuya Crossing. And it was really awesome to film that with a really cool Kiwi team. And then the other one they could do if they wanted a little bit more heartbreak would be Ace of Spades.

What prompted the move from Christchurch to Sydney? 

I feel quite a kind of a longing, you know, for New Zealand. I miss it a lot in terms of feeling like identity and home. But the reason why I felt it was best for me to move was because there's so much opportunity here in Sydney.

I think that I could have gone to other parts of New Zealand, like Wellington or Auckland. But here [in Sydney] there is this amazing ability to network with the correct people, and to have connections with producers. My producer lives here, which is really convenient. I would probably prefer to live in Melbourne. But yeah, moving to Sydney was mostly just due to career opportunities. 

So you haven't been there very long, but do you feel like it's influencing the way you create music? 

Yeah, it has. Honestly, I haven't been here long, but I put out an ad the other day on Facebook trying to connect with other creatives. This is something cool that they do here in Sydney, is that there is just this community of creatives that will connect with each other and work together and build portfolios while not having much funding. It’s like, "Oh, hey, I like your vision. Let's connect. We can do it for, like, this huge discount," whereas other photographers would charge, like, $1,500 for a day shoot. I've connected with a really awesome team here who just kind of sees my vision and wants to work with me. So in that way, we're kind of shaping the identity and what's going on in my looks and everything. It's really cool to have an awesome creative team. One of the girls, the photographer, she’s from New York, and just, seeing the way that she thinks, she’s kind of a Gemini vibe. It's cool to be molded in that platform. 

What sort of differences have you noticed between the music communities in Aotearoa and Sydney?

New Zealand is really open in terms of musical communities. I have discovered some really cool places here, but I haven't had time or money, or ability yet to immerse myself more in those communities, but I think there's a lot going on here.

But it can be a little bit harder to connect. You kind of just have to, to dig a little bit deeper to find those spaces. That's something in New Zealand I think was a little bit more readily available. So, yeah. 

What can you tell me about your new song? Where did it start? 

My new song Like U Did B4, it started from a feeling I think many people have experienced but don't always talk about. So on the surface, it kind of just looks like someone saying "love me like you used to, love me the way you once did" but underneath it's more so about identity. So yeah, sometimes after a relationship changes you realise you're not only grieving the person, you're grieving the version of yourself that existed when you felt loved, seen, and chosen.

And that just kind of became the emotional foundation of the song, and then I just started repeating the melody. I just record on my voice notes, like if I'm driving, showering, in the most relaxed moments, and then kind of combine the two. Yeah, so that's kind of how it started. 

Was there a specific moment that really sparked the song?

Honestly, this was years ago, and I've only recorded it more recently. But I was feeling a certain way. I think I was going through something kind of toxic at the time. And it was just kind of not about the person necessarily, but just about wanting to feel that way before, like seen and chosen, and then it's just like, okay, this comes to me. It just kept coming and flowing. Sort of like Abba vibes came to my head, and then I kind of just rolled with it from there. 

So is Like U Did B4 part of a larger project, or is it more of a standalone single? 

For this one I kind of wanna reintroduce myself back in the market. I took like a one-to-two-year hiatus to do some traveling, soul searching, and I thought that this would be a little bit more generic in terms of maybe being a little bit more accessible and danceable.

It is kind of an overall part of a bigger project I was envisioning, maybe like a larger EP or album, but I'm kind of wanting to stick to singles just to see how they perform. But they're all part, this one including the next four songs I would release, are kind of part of an overall reason and story.

So this one is innocence, losing innocence, and then the next few songs are kind of becoming Joker-ified, I would say, and then redemption. 

What's your songwriting process like? How do you start a song? 

I usually just base off of a feeling. Sometimes it's just random. Thoughts come to me and then I just come up with a melody. Something that's super catchy to me, and then I kind of put lyrics to what I'm either feeling at the moment or amplifying what I have felt before. It can be random, I could just be driving, I could be out, I could be in the shower, I could just be sat in my room, I could be having a great time, and then just something catchy pops in my head.

I sing into my phone, and then I listen to it back later. If it's cool enough, if it stays with me long enough, then I think, "Okay, maybe this will catch to other people." And then I go to the keyboard, kind of work out the verse, bridge, etc., and then just kind of let the lyrics flow with that. 

Is your songwriting often inspired by emotions and things that have happened to you? 

Yeah, for sure. So there's definitely an underlying feeling of things that have happened. Sometimes I vastly stretch the truth. Like for example, there was a song I wrote called Manifesto, and it was about a sort of serial killer vibe, and the girl goes back and kills him. So obviously I'm not feeling that extreme. Then this new song that I'm recording now, it's called The Stalker Song, it's cool. It talks about an obsessive love. So I have been there, like I'm sure everybody has, where they can't stop ruminating or thinking about someone when the initial little flick starts. But this one just obviously goes beyond the scope of that and kind of goes a little bit creepy. So yeah I take feelings and I amplify. 

How important are visuals for you when you’re working on your storytelling and your artistic world? 

Yeah, I think it's, it's super, super, super important. One thing I love to talk about is, like, identity and different aspects of that. Every aspect of visuals that I come up with kind of want to explore what it means to be human.

So Like U Did B4, it's examining that through love and attachment. And other ones are, could be about bullying, and I just kind of like to mold in darker visuals or something cinematic and aesthetic, and that's how work with those. 

So you've played a couple different festivals. Is there one performance that stands out as a career highlight?

I think the best performance I've ever given probably at this stage was Wunderbar in Christchurch. I played a little sold-out show, really last minute, and for me that was a highlight because I had all these people, people I didn't know, all my friends, family there, and they just had a great time.

The best festival though, probably the most recent one, which was Rolling Meadows. I felt like I gave it my all. I had some really cool friends doing some backup dancing. The only problem was it was raining intensely that day, so yeah, we weren't able to get the crowd we wanted exactly, but it was a really cool moment and really vibey.

What do you do to prepare before you go up on stage for a gig or a festival? 

Yeah. Usually I just freak out. Then I just go through doubts and I'm like, "Okay, I don't wanna do it. I'm gonna quit last minute, just, like, leave." And but then I, like, play it through my head and I'm like, "That's not, you can't do that."

So it's just a moment of mass anxiety and recuperation. To prepare, I drink a lot of water, maybe say some affirmations and take some lozenges and then just, I have a really cool amount of people that support me and are around me, so they boost me up. That's all, what, how I prepare pretty much.

How does performing your songs live compare to performing them in the studio? 

I feel live is better because you can connect to your audience a lot more. Something that stood out to me was, here in Sydney, if you go to the slight inner west in the Newtown area, they have a really deep love for originals. So performing covers there didn’t get as much response. When I performed originals, people connected more. It was more applause. It's really cool performing live here when people can connect. In the studio it's just a bunch of different takes, so it's more chill, it's more relaxed so you can just keep going and maybe take the whole day. But I feel like live, there's something special about it because you can connect to people. 

What does a live performance for you look like? Do you have a DJ, do you do a dance routine? 

I think I need to get better at dancing, that’s something I haven't quite got yet! I just kind of do whatever comes to me.

At the moment, I've been using DJs. I feel like it's best because it kind of shows the bass effect of the backing tracks I want, but also because for me at the moment it's probably most time and cost-effective. I have recently started connecting with a guitarist here. So I think that bringing more live instrumentation is something I definitely want to do.

What are some of the biggest challenges that you've faced as an artist? 

The biggest challenge, 100%, number one, is cost of producing. I guess that's not an excuse - I could be not so lazy and learn how to do it myself, for sure. But I have a really good working relationship with some producers and I feel that just time-wise it's the most useful. And then costs for ads, costs for marketing, and then all the time and effort putting in as an independent artist, it's so exhausting. It's really, really hard. It's very consuming. So I'd say not having enough time in the day 'cause to spend on actually writing music and being connected to my music, because I have to pretty much the majority of the time do marketing or pushing.

Do you have a dream venue that you'd love to play or festival? 

Definitely. I just spoke to someone recently that said, "You need to manifest better." So I would manifest maybe Coachella or somewhere in Brazil, like Lollapalooza or Rock in Rio even.

What about a dream collaboration? 

Dream collaboration for me would probably be The Weeknd or Lana Del Rey. Or if we're going old school, from artists I love that are still alive, maybe Stevie Nicks. 

That'd be cool! So you've got your single coming out on Friday, do you have anything else that you wanna plug? 

So I'm currently working on the single after that, called The Stalker Song. So that's something I would love people to just stay on board if they like a little bit of the haunting, creepy aspects coming off of that movie Obsession. It wasn’t even inspired by the movie, it just sort of worked out going that way. But yeah, I want people to stay tuned for the full story. So Like U Did B4 is just the beginning. It's kind of “innocence coming to light” and then we're gonna get really dark, so I want people to stay around for the rest of that story. 

And I'm pretty active on social media now. I'm learning to get better at it. So yeah, having the support of people and having people be involved in this world is amazing. People can reach me out, DM me, tell me what I'm doing right, tell me what I'm doing wrong. I just wanna connect. That'd be awesome. 

You can follow Michèle on Instagram @micheleducray