header image: María Alvarez
words: aggy kazlauskas
the aussie musician shares his new single alongside a highly-anticipated tour announcement
earlier today, aussie pop prodigy ruel returned with ‘hate myself’ – a daring new single from the second act of his sophomore album, kicking my feet.
slated for release on the 12th of june this year, the aptly-titled kicking my feet & screaming will follow up ruel’s 2025 project with ten new tracks, spearheaded by the latest offering, which also doubles down as the record’s opener, and its precursor, the yearning-laden lead single ‘don’t say that’.
with production courtesy of kenny beats, the mastermind behind earworms such as remi wolf’s ‘front tooth’ and alexander 23’s ‘ill’, ‘hate myself’ employs the american record producer’s signature blend of surging guitar riffs and punchy drumbeats… with a classic ruel twist; lyrically straightforward, the electrifying number quite literally leaves no room for ambiguity – a result of the track’s two-and-a-half-minute runtime.
with a streamlined path to the chorus – a captivating, hook-led reprise of love being infiltrated by internalised hate – the song firmly holds your attention from the moment that first chord hits.
“i wrote this one on the day I met Kenny and Jackson [morgan], and when you meet someone for the first time, you sort of try to focus on getting to know one another. After 5-6 hours in the studio, we had basically nothing but then Kenny threw a bit of a Hail Mary, the three of us mixed ideas around, and next thing we knew, we had the whole song in about 30 mins.” ruel revealed in a press release. “Since then, every session I’ve had with Kenny has flowed so well and the two of us wrote a good chunk of the album Part 2 together!”
‘hate myself’ arrives on the heels of a uk/eu tour announcement, with ruel set to play twenty shows in october. “so excited to finally bring my tour to u THIS OCTOBER!” he shared in a social media post. “Hitting all my fave spots, plus some places I’ve never been before. feels crazy to say that after all this time, there are still so many of you I haven’t met yet.”
if both ‘hate myself’ and ‘don’t say that’ are any indication of what the listeners can expect, this new project is about to do far more screaming than its otherwise pretty smitten predecessor. now that is what i call duality – and i, for one, can’t wait to hear what’s about to unfold.
ruel’s kicking & screaming uk/eu tour dates:
- 01.10 – dublin, uk
- 02.10 – glasgow, uk
- 03.10 – leeds, uk
- 06.10 – brighton, uk
- 07.10 – london, uk
- 10.10 – manchester, uk
- 12.10 – rotterdam, nl
- 13.10 – amsterdam, nl
- 14.10 – utrecht, nl
- 16.10 – brussels, be
- 17.10 – paris, fr
- 18.10 – cologne, de
- 20.10 – copenhagen, dk
- 21.10 – berlin, de
- 23.10 – warsaw, pl
- 24.10 – prague, cz
- 26.10 – milan, it
- 27.10 – zurich, ch
- 29.10 – barcelona, es
- 30.10 – madrid, es
