Perth producer and multi-instrumentalist Ethan French is in the middle of a breakout year.
Much of that momentum has come from An Idea A Day, a creative exercise he started in late 2025 that has since grown into an audience of more than 900,000 followers. The bite-sized musical sketches have even caught the attention of some major names, earning co-signs from the likes of Justin Timberlake, John Mayer, Jacob Collier, Anderson .Paak, Erykah Badu, and Robert Glasper.
Now, those ideas are increasingly making their way beyond the social feed. Following the release of “Sight of Me – Day 10” in June, French recently shared his new focus single “Reckless and Arranged – Day 56 (Extended)”, after the original sketch amassed millions of streams and inspired remixes from T-Pain and Kerri Chandler.
In October, he’ll release the 25-track Ideas of the Day – Vol. 1 before heading to Los Angeles to explore a new run of collaborations.
Rolling Stone AU/NZ caught up with French as part of our Up-And-Coming Australian Artists series to talk about his musical beginnings, the whirlwind past year, and what comes next.
Rolling Stone AU/NZ: How did music influence you in your early life?
Ethan French: My parents bought me a little Casio keyboard when I was quite small, I think around 4. It really allowed me to entertain myself and tinker for hours, I think I was always that kind of kid – I love to muck around and get a bit obsessive with things. The tinkering turned into working out songs by ear, and eventually into writing my own. Mum and Dad both played guitar, it was always a fun and warming presence in the house without being attached to anything too serious.
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Listening to recorded music is where the career ambitions really began though, I think. And by career ambitions I mean, ‘I think I might want to try to do music for a living’, I never had a whole lot of specifics in mind. I had an iPod Shuffle with a random selection of music from Dad’s iTunes, I remember some early Coldplay albums having a particularly strong effect on me.
What artists influenced you growing up?
Bon Iver, Jacob Collier, Coldplay, The Beatles, Ben Folds, Billy Joel, John Mayer, The Fray, Stevie Wonder, I could probably go on for a while but those are some good touchpoints! Bon Iver really opened my eyes (and ears, and brain) to production, sounds, textures and stuff. I loved the previous records just as much, but 22, a million blew my mind in that regard. Shoutout to his song “Perth” that I found accidentally when searching up where I live.
Jacob Collier on the other hand really gave me permission to explore harmony and musicality on my own terms, and introduced me to the whole ‘musician’s musician’ thing. All of them swim in the great songwriting ocean located in my brain which drip feeds my mouth and limbs tiny ideas.
What are some career highlights so far?
The last 10-ish months have been pretty wild, particularly with all the social media stuff. I started the Ideas of the Day series late last year and I wasn’t expecting to get this crazy. Cosigns or DMs from people like Justin Timberlake, Jacob Collier, Leon Thomas, John Mayer, Ty Dolla $ign, Robert Glasper, Tom Misch, Daniel Ceasar etc are INSANE to me. The whole thing has opened doors for me I never even knew existed. I’m heading to LA soon to work with some of these incredible creatives!
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What kind of personality traits and values do you believe it takes to succeed in the music industry?
For a long time I felt like the traits you needed weren’t the traits I have! I’m somewhat introverted, detail oriented, often insecure and quite uncomfortable performing in front of people at times. But now I think that’s mostly nonsense. A producer’s temperament will probably be a little different to an artist’s, probably – and there’s more than just one role to fill as a creative/in the music industry. But even amongst artists you see a ton of variation!
The only real thing you can point to, I think, is persistence. As corny as that sounds… you have to stick with it. It’s kind of a rat race at any given point, but most people that you feel like you’re competing with only really commit for a short while (not that you should think of it as competing…). I’d like to think that you have to care pretty deeply about the art itself for the whole thing to work out, but I guess that’s just a prerequisite for the persistence thing.
There’s other factors too, of course, it’s not like everyone has the financial or circumstantial privilege of being able to fully commit to a career that usually pays no dividends for the first few years. Some of the most amazing creatives in the world will probably never reach the audience that they’re deserving of. For me, I always felt that if I could create stuff and make a living from it, I’d be happy!
How would you describe your music to a potential fan?
I am eternally unable to do this accurately. I usually say that some of it is kind of R&B with jazz harmonic influence, and some of it is singer-songwritery/folky/indie/insert genre descriptor. It’s kind’ve all over the place, but people tell me there’s a through line that strings it all together!! A lot of my fans (I almost hesitate to say that word… but I guess it’s fine… supporters?) are musicians themselves.
What are your goals for 2026 and beyond? What can fans expect from you this year?
I’m releasing Ideas of the Day – Vol. 1 in October! It’s a collection of my favourite ideas from the last 10 months (and everyone else’s favourites, hopefully!) – some extended and some in their original form/a little polished – 25 tracks in total. I’m probably more proud of what I’ve written in the last 10 months than everything before that combined, it’s been a really fruitful period for me.
I’m headed to LA in October, so I’m looking to open up the collaborative side and get involved with some non-Ethan French projects towards the end of the year. Will be a nice change of pace coming out of the last few months!
I’ll see where the wind takes me after that – who knows! I’d like to keep the ideas coming, and they seem to be changing shape a little. Excited to see how I can develop the ideas of the day format thing, and a full debut album is definitely on the cards too.
Ethan French’s “Reckless and Arranged – Day 56 (Extended)” is out now.
