Australian pop phenomenon Ruel announces the release of his highly anticipated sophomore album, Kicking My Feet, arriving October 17 via Giant Music. Available for pre-order HERE. Alongside this announcement, he shares a brand-new single, “The Suburbs” – a dreamy, emotionally rich bop with some of the industry’s top names involved in its making.
Ruel took over Apple Music Radio yesterday from their brand-new Los Angeles studio, debuting “The Suburbs” alongside two unreleased tracks and officially announcing Kicking My Feet.
“The Suburbs” is written by Ruel with collaborators Fran Hall (Charli XCX, Kelly Clarkson), M-Phazes (Demi Lovato, Madonna), Chelsea Lena (Sabrina Carpenter, Joji) and Elias Danielsen. The song is an ode to intimacy and imagining a simpler life with the one you love. With lyrics like “I can see us in the Suburbs, Never thought I’d be that person, but with you it sounds like paradise” Ruel taps into a soft vulnerability that builds on the expansive pop vision he introduced with his previous single, “I Can Die Now.”
It’s been pretty daunting to offer up this level of honesty in my songwriting but seeing the way it’s already connected so personally with fans has calmed my ‘pre-album’ nerves in a huge way – Ruel
Released just a month ago, “I Can Die Now” set the stage for Kicking My Feet in a big way. Premiering in New York’s Times Square on MTV, the track hit over a million streams in just days, and earned immediate commendation from media outlets around the world. The A+ reviews came in thick and fast, including praise for ICDN as:
…capturing “an all-encompassing love” while hinting at the sonic direction of Ruel’s forthcoming album, noting its “propulsive bass line” and “thudding percussion – Rolling Stone
Kicking My Feet marks the start of a new era for Ruel; one that feels creatively liberated, emotionally nuanced, and sonically bolder than ever. After relocating from Sydney to Los Angeles and signing with Giant Music, Ruel immersed himself in a new creative ecosystem and began building the album from the ground up.
I knew I wanted to push myself on this new album, but it wasn’t until I had to finalise the track list that I realised I’d actually made over 200 songs for Kicking My Feet – Ruel
He worked closely with some of the industry’s most celebrated and genre-shaping producers, including Julian Bunetta (Sabrina Carpenter, One Direction), Joel Little (Taylor Swift, Gracie Abrams), Kenny Beats (Dominic Fike, Ed Sheeran), Dan Wilson (Adele, Taylor Swift, Chris Stapleton), and longtime collaborator M-Phazes (Eminem, Kehlani, Ruel’s debut album). Together, they crafted a record that is sonically adventurous and deeply personal, blending pop, alt and R&B, into a cohesive, modern sound. The result is a genre-blurring, emotionally relatable album that reflects Ruel’s evolution as both a person and an artist.
