Ruel has finally released his new single, ‘GROWING UP IS ____’, his second single of the year.

The British-Australian pop star first teased his new song last week, dropping a 15-second teaser for it via YouTube shorts. It was described in a press release as being an “ode to the messy, complicated, yet ultimately exhilarating rites of passage we all traverse while growing up.”

And wondering about that intriguing title? Ruel informed his fans to get creative via Shorts and complete the lyric, “Growing up is ____”. “The idea of the underline at the end of the title was to try to explain that everyone has a different experience growing up,” Ruel explained about the single’s title. “Everyone has ups and downs, but because it’s never just one thing, I couldn’t just give it one word and wanted to leave it open for interpretation.”

Now the song has been officially released, with the singer sharing his excitement about it on social media. “‘GROWING UP IS _____’ is yours now. so insanely psyched to be putting out new music again! im gonna be reading and responding to a bunch of the comments later tonight so lmk what u think,” he wrote on Instagram.

The song is accompanied by a music video directed by Grey Ghost and produced by Jessica Galea, and filmed at Filmworx in Melbourne. With his band standing on hazy orange platforms, Ruel – whose full name is Ruel Vincent van Dijk – performs emotively in the darkness in front of them. “Growing up is weird / Fall in love / For a year,” he sings in the moody slice of pop.

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‘GROWING UP IS _____’ follows Ruel’s first solo release of 2021, ‘Too Many Feelings’. The standalone single arrived back in February, and was the follow-up to his third EP, 2020’s Bright Lights, Red Eyes. That EP contained the well-received singles ‘Say It Over’, ‘As Long As You Care’, and ‘Distance’.

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Check out ‘GROWING UP IS _____’ by Ruel:

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