Ruel

**Ruel Vincent van Dijk** (born 29 October 2002), known mononymously as **Ruel**, is a British-Australian singer and songwriter from Sydney, best known for his singles "Don't Tell Me", "Younger", "As Long As You Care" and "Painkiller". At the ARIA Music Awards of 2018, he won the award for Breakthrough Artist for his single "Dazed & Confused"

## Early Life

Ruel Vincent van Dijk was born on 29 October 2002, in Isleworth, London, to English mother, Kate Vincent, and Dutch-born and New Zealand-raised father, Ralph van Dijk. His father is the founder of Australian radio agency, *Eardrum*. His family moved to Sydney, Australia in 2006.

## Musical Career

### 2015–2017: Early years

In 2015, van Dijk's father sent a demo of him singing James Bay's "Let It Go" to Grammy Award-winning producer M-Phazes.

In April 2017, van Dijk released his debut single "Golden Years" with M-Phazes. In June, van Dijk made his live radio debut performing Jack Garratt's "Weathered" on Triple J's Like a Version. At 14, he was the youngest-ever featured performer on the segment. The video gathered half a million video views in less than 48 hours.

In July 2017, van Dijk released "Don't Tell Me", which peaked at number 86 on the ARIA Singles Chart. Later in September, Elton John played "Don't Tell Me" on BBC Radio 1, giving Ruel high praise. The track was also featured in CelebMix's 21 songs by under-21s in 2018.

In November, van Dijk joined Khalid on his American Teen Tour of Australia and New Zealand. Later that month, van Dijk signed with RCA Records internationally. In December, Tom Thum released a cover of Rag'n'Bone Man's "Human" featuring van Dijk on vocals.

### 2018–2020: *Ready* and *Free Time* EPs

On 24 March 2018, van Dijk played at Pop Spring Festival, Tokyo, where he did his first meet and greet. On 4 April, van Dijk performed at the Opening Ceremony of the 2018 Commonwealth Games. On 19 April, a music video for the single "Don't Tell Me" was released.

On 2 June, van Dijk announced the release of his debut extended play *Ready* on 15 June, as well as a headline tour in June and July. In October, van Dijk performed to a sell-out crowd in Sydney, and received the news that his single "Younger" had recently been certified gold by ARIA. On 11 of October, van Dijk was nominated for the Breakthrough Artist award for the ARIA Awards, which he later won, making him the youngest ever to do so.

On 10 January 2019, van Dijk confirmed that he would appear on Hilltop Hoods' new album *The Great Expanse*, on the track "Fire & Grace". The album was then released on 22 February. On 1 May, he released the lead single from his *Free Time* EP, "Painkiller", alongside an accompanying music video. On 9 August, van Dijk released the single "Face to Face" alongside a music video that was shot whilst on tour in France. On 13 September, Ruel released his second EP, *Free Time*. In November 2019, van Dijk was an opening act for two shows of Shawn Mendes' self-titled tour.

On 31 January 2020, van Dijk collaborated with Cosmo's Midnight on the track "Down for You". The music video for this song premiered on the 18th of March.

### 2020: *Bright Lights, Red Eyes*

On 4 September 2020, van Dijk posted a video on Instagram with the caption "alayc", hinting at new music. On 10 September 2020, a new single "As Long As You Care" was premiered on Triple J, before releasing later that day, alongside an accompanying music video. van Dijk additionally announced his third EP, *Bright Lights, Red Eyes*, which was released on 23 October 2020.

## References

1. ↑ "Ruel Biography" *All Music.*
2. ↑ "A Ruel twist of fate and a schoolboy soul singer is on his way" *The Sydney Morning Herald.*
3. ↑ "LinkedIn" *LinkedIn.*
4. ↑ "Quiet rooms and coping mechanisms: how Ruel is handling his rise to fame" *The Sydney Morning Herald.*
5. ↑ "EXCLUSIVE: Go Behind The Scenes With Ruel & M-Phazes On Their New Track, 'Don't Tell Me'" *The Music.*
6. ↑ "Ruel releases debut single Golden Years" *Herald Sun.*
7. ↑ "Ruel" *Live Nation NZ.*
8. ↑ "Ruel (artists)" *Universal Music Publishing Group.*
9. ↑ "Elton John Continues To Praise Sydney Artist Ruel: 'You Have The Most Amazing Voice'" *The Music.*
10. ↑ "CelebMix's 21 Songs by Under-21s" *CelebMix.com.*
11. ↑ "ive been invited to support Khalid on his australia/nz tour! so grateful for this opportunity!" *Twitter*
12. ↑ "Ruel Signs With RCA Records" *RCA Records*
13. ↑ "Human (featuring Ruel)" *iTunes Australia.*
14. ↑ "im going to be playing at POPSPRING FESTIVAL in japan nxt month!!! tickets r now on sale so ill see u guys sooooon" *Twitter.*
15. ↑ "Gold Coast dazzles on the world stage as Commonwealth Games are officially opened" *news.com.au.*
16. ↑ "Ruel - Don't Tell Me (Official Video)" *YouTube.*
17. ↑ "Ruel reveals official video for 'Dazed & Confused' first ever solo headline shows this June and July, pre-order Ruel's debut EP Ready, set for release June 15" *Amnplify.*
18. ↑ "ARIA Charts - Accreditations - 2019 Singles" *ARIA.*
19. ↑ "NOMINEES" *ARIA Awards.*
20. ↑ "Ruel: The youngest solo artist ever to win an ARIA" *Icon.*
21. ↑ "Hilltop Hoods just dropped the tracklist for their feature-packed new album" *ABC (Triple J).*
22. ↑ "SOTD: Ruel sets the tone for next EP with 'Painkiller'" *The Music Network.*
23. ↑ "Ruel drops new single + video for 'Face To Face'" *Coup De Main Magazine.*
24. ↑ "Australian pop sensation Ruel gets real about music industry mental health crisis on new Free Time EP" *Billboard.*
25. ↑ "Shawn Mendes Adds Dan + Shay, Ruel as Australia & New Zealand Tour Openers" *Billboard.*
26. ↑ "Cosmo's Midnight and Ruel share 'Down For You' music video" *NME.*
27. ↑ "Ruel drops smooth new single "As Long As You Care"" *NME Australia.*
28. ↑ "First Spin: Ruel announces new EP and drops 'As Long As You Care'" *Triple J.*

## External links

* RUEL (Official Website)
* Facebook
* Instagram
* Twitter
* YouTube
* TikTok