Australian pop star Ruel will be at the House of Blues on Feb. 10.

Erica Snyder

Ruel, the mononymous Australian pop singer with enviable hair bounce and the boyish charm found only in movies, has been cutting his teeth in the music industry for the last 10 years. The singer had a meteoric rise as a teenager, catching the praise of Sir Elton John, touring the world and becoming the youngest person to win breakthrough artist at the Australian equivalent of the Grammys in 2018. 

Then, the world shut down, Ruel left Los Angeles to return Down Under, got reprieve from teenage stardom as “a proper kid… and little rat bag.” Now, with more fuel in his tank, he’s embarking on an international tour kicking off in Texas. 

“That was really special,” Ruel tells us when reflecting on the pandemic’s slow creep towards Australia, before shutdowns became widespread and had global economic impacts. “I savored that time.”

After a 2023 tour with a sold-out show in Dallas, he’s taken a couple of years to cool off, working mostly on his sophomore studio album, Kicking My Feet. The companion tour will bring the 23-year-old artist back to the House of Blues in Dallas on Feb. 10. 

“I just try to spread the love as much as possible,” he says. “It’s been just over two years since I last toured America, properly on a bus and hitting every city. I’m excited to get back and see everyone again. I’m just very grateful for the fans I have and the fact that I can still do tours and put up music.”

Ruel boasts a fairly large global following, with 1.5 million followers and 3 million Spotify listeners, but the singer is content to live a mostly normal life, all things considered. 

“Every now and then, people will come up and say hi and ask for a photo,” he said. “But I’m definitely not at a stage where I can’t go to a grocery store, and I’m grateful for that.”

For the moment, the international star is spending time in Sydney, soaking up the Australian summer and its picturesque nature before embarking on a wintery road trip across the United States. The time down under, as far from Los Angeles as you can geographically get, is good for the singer, who enjoys the polar opposite cultures between his two homes. 

“My hunger gets bigger in LA, I guess, just to work and to be a part of it,” he says. “Being obviously a much smaller fish… you’re surrounded by a lot of people that are creating success. It’s a very, very different energy and vibe to Australia… [I enjoy] going to America and feeling that energy and getting into the rat race a little bit.”

The fast-paced success in his youth doesn’t stall the singer’s engine; after all, it’s just not really a numbers game for him. 

“I don’t really have goals or five-year plans. I just don’t think about it. I never have,” he says. “My five-year plan is just to hope that I can still be doing what I’m doing in five years. That’s it. That’s all I need. I don’t need any more, and I don’t want any less.” 

With writing credits on each song on his album, Ruel enjoys curating the concert experience for his fans, promising a little “theatre.” 

“I love using stage props and making set design that feels unique and different,” he says. “Audience involvement, all that stuff is really fun to me. I play along with that.”

But overall, the singer is mostly excited to take it one day at a time, and play the game without letting the game play him. 

“If everything fell apart, I think I’d find my way somewhere in the industry… I definitely don’t mind not being on the stage or being on the screen or being the center of attention, but it definitely doesn’t mean that I’m going to stop.”