- Words Notion Staff
Australian pop prodigy Ruel shares 10Trax to cry or boogie to: from The 1975 to Lorde and The Neighborhood to Remi Wolf.
Ruel can best be described as a high achiever. He debuted on the track “Golden Years” by producer M-PHAZE in 2017 at the age of just 14, and the pace of his career since has been furious. Ruel, whose full name is Ruel Van Dijk, has accrued achievements that would make an artist twice his age jealous, from praise by Elton John to selling out the Sydney Opera House to a whole five platinum records.
Having shot to the top in such a short space of time, Ruel has now taken the space and time to contemplate what his success means. It’s resulted in his bopping new track, “GROWING UP IS ___”, reflecting the hectic and often stressful nature of growing up and juggling multiple responsibilities in the social media age, especially as someone who fully in the public eye. The track is already at 10 million streams and counting on Spotify.
It’s safe to say Ruel is in a contemplative mood. The artist says, “I know I’m born to be a writer and a musician — that’s what I love and am supposed to do. But I’ve been trying to figure out what sort of person I want to be while doing that. So this song and the new songs coming are me awake at night looking at the ceiling thinking, ‘What is my purpose? Why am I here? What is the best way to live life?”
To celebrate his new track, we asked Ruel to pick 10Trax to either cry or boogie to. Dive in!
"Back3School" by Porches
"This track is definitely my favourite from Porches, such a great driving song. All the songs on this list give off vibes where you can cry to them, or have a good ol' boogie depending on your mood."
"The Dress" by Dijon
"This album Dijon put out is all I’ve been listening to the past few months, and this track has hit me the hardest. Such a great romantic slow dance track, I always smile the whole way through it."
"Street You Live On" by Remi Wolf
"Remi wolf is a force of nature, this closer to her album ‘juno’ is crazy. Production is flawless and vocals hit so damn hard."
"To Philly" by Del Water Gap
"Found out about this guy when I saw him at The Roxy in LA. I walked into the venue whilst he was playing a stripped back version of this track, I instantly got goose bumps."
"Fallen Star" by The Neighborhood
"Such a sick vocal performance from Jesse Rutherford on this track, great chill vibe, production is really great too."
"California" by Lorde
"This Lorde album really had some great moments, this song particularly I kept going back to!"
"Caroline Goodbye" by Colin Blumstone
"My mate Tobias referenced this song in a session a few months back and I’ve been listening to it ever since. Lyrics are beautiful and def is in that cry or boogie category."
"American Honey" by Current Joys
"This track is def more on the depressing side of the theme but it’s still a beautiful, lo-fi banger."
"Then Because She Goes" by The 1975
"This is def a bit of a hidden gem off the last 1975 record, super short song but the length doesn’t take anything away from it."
"Somebody Else" by The 1975
"Don’t really have to say anything about this track because I’m sure anyone who is reading this knows it, such a banger. Perfectly fits the theme in my opinion."