Ryan's anti-bullying video goes viral

The video for Ryan Dolan’s anti-bullying and anti-suicide themed song, ‘Start Again’, which was filmed on location in Athboy and Kells, has gone viral to a global audience and resulted in the young Tyrone singer being invited onto a prominent American TV show.
Ryan wrote the song, while his manager, Conor Mulhall from Navan, wrote the music with David Arkins from Athboy, who produced the track, and Mark Cahill from Navan worked on the arrangement. The Navan-based Spotlight Stage Schoool also provided cast members for the project.
Ryan, who represented Ireland in the Eurovision in 2013, had difficult teenage years in Strabane as he was scared to come out and tell his friends and family that he was gay. He was bullied at school because he was “different” and he often contemplated suicide.
He had a huge success a year ago with his Eurovision single ‘Only Love Survives’ which charted in over 32 countries globally, and made it into the top 10 single charts in Sweden, Finland, Ireland and Norway and top 40 in the UK and Australia. He has been very busy recording with top producers in Ireland and London as well as writing with songwriters from various countries including the UK, Sweden, Norway and America. Ryan has also been performing at festivals across Europe in countries such as Sweden, Denmark, Germany, Spain, Ukraine, Russia, Belguim and Holland.
While he was out to family and friends, he felt he was hiding something from fans, and wrote ‘Start Again’ to highlight some issues that are affecting young teenagers today in the hope that he can offer them some inspiration.  The single delivers the message that everybody should be who they want to be in life, be happy with themselves, and if you are not happy with your life, don’t end it – simply ‘Start Again’.
Locations for the video were the old convent school in Athboy, and residential areas in Kells, and lead actors are Ben Harte from Navan, and Oisin McHugh, both members of Spotlight. Ryan was accommodated at the Headfort Arms Hotel in Kells for the duration of the shoot, and production on the track was at Darkins Studios in Athboy. The director was Ovié Étseyate.
““The response of YouTube has been phenomenal,” says Conor Mulhall. “There were over 600,000 hits, and it entered the Irish Singer Songwriter Charts at number one, number nine in the UK, and number 10 in Australia, as well as number 14 in the US.”
Ryan has also been invited to appear on the US show hosted by Ellen DeGeneres, the comedian and actress who came out as a lesbian well into her career. The 28 year-old singer is currently recording a new album and is on the verge of signing an international record deal. He is currently planning a major Dublin concert for the end of May.
See the video for ‘Srat Again’ on