Ruel, “YOU AGAINST YOURSELF” | Track Review 🎵

British-Australian musician Ruel continues to build a compelling case as pop’s next big thing with his second single of 2022, “YOU AGAINST YOURSELF.”

Admittedly, I have been ‘fanboying’ 🎙 Ruel (Ruel van Dijk) for years.  Truly a wunderkind, his voice was incredibly mature and nuanced from an early age.  Honestly, you just don’t hear the tone and sheer talent that van Dijk serves up that often.  He’s been on a tear with releasing new singles since 2021, including gems 🎵 “GROWING UP IS _____” and 🎵 “LET THE GREEN GRASS GROW” (both appeared on my playlist, 🎧 13 Satisfying Songs That Exude Growth).  He’s got the ‘hot hand’ once more with the short but utterly sweet, up-tempo 🎵 “YOU AGAINST YOURSELF”.  Also – a product of growing up – he uses some ‘salty’ language, he-he.

Despite that f-bomb on the bridge, the messaging of “YOU AGAINST YOURSELF” is on-point. Ruel wants to help this person get past their issues but has trouble penetrating through the wall.  “I wanna help you, but it’s hard to get through all of your walls / I hope you know that I’m rootin’ for ya,” he sings in the first verse.  It’s much of the same issues in the second verse, where he asserts, “I wanna help you, but I can’t so I’m walkin’ away / I’m rootin’ for ya, still rootin’ for ya.” During the chorus, he seems to reference that help is available, but basically, “Selfish ways are suffocatin’ / I can’t save you now / Oh, why’s it always you against yourself?” As stated, the messaging and theme are on-point.  Also, even though I made out that f-bomb to be negative, it also fits van Dijk’s message/narrative: “You’re goin’ out almost every night / And you wonder why you feel fucked up / Said you wanna try a better lie / Until you realize nothing’s enough.” Woo!

Final Thoughts 💭 

My boy never fails to deliver! Okay, no, Ruel is no longer a boy – he’ll be 20 in late October 2022 – but this young man is growing up and maturing into a fantastic musician.  Hopefully, more people start to take notice of the sheer excellence he’s serving up.  After two 4-star singles with 🎵 “GROWING UP IS _____” and 🎵 “LET THE GREEN GRASS GROW”, he earns yet another 4-star with 🎵 “YOU AGAINST YOURSELF”.

🎙 Ruel • 🎵 “YOU AGAINST YOURSELF” • 🏷 RCA • 🗓 8.17.22

[📷: Brent Faulkner, The Musical Hype, OpenClipart-Vectors from Pixabay, RCA]