“I knew I wanted to push myself on this new album,” the musician shared in a statement about the record, out Oct. 17
Australian pop musician Ruel is falling head over heels for his second studio album, Kicking My Feet. The 22-year-old will release the record on Oct. 17 as the follow-up to his debut 4th Wall, which arrived in 2023. “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,” the musician shared in a statement.
One of the 200 that made the cut is “The Suburbs,” his latest single. The bluesy record intertwines warm harmonies with propulsive production. “I feel at home around you/Look what you’ve done to me,” Ruel sings. “I could see us in the suburbs/Take the exit off the freeway/Always drivin’ under 35/Kinda makes me wonder/If we could leave the world behind/And set up camp, live in the simple life.”
“The Suburbs” follows the more pop-forward single “I Can Die Now,” which arrived last month. “I love the juxtaposition between the title and the theme and energy of the song — once you listen to it, you’ll know what I mean,” he said at the time. This week, in an Instagram post, he shared, “The response to ‘I Can Die Now’ has been such a grounding reminder that my music always finds it’s way to the right people.”
Kicking My Feet is a fresh start for Ruel. “When I started writing again, after being on tour for the most part of 2023, I didn’t know if I was ready for album #2. I’d just signed with Giant Music, and I was still figuring out who I wanted to be as an artist,” he shared on Instagram. “But the process of writing this record- finding my closest collaborators, writing and rewriting over 200 songs, chasing ideas that felt more honest and real to me than ever… it pushed me to drop my guard and say what I actually mean. And that’s what this album is, a collection of songs where I share things I truly truly mean.”