LOS ANGELES, CA- When I arrived at The Roxy, I felt a little out of place. After all, the block long line waiting to get into the venue was all young women; many with their mothers. Now, I’ve been an apparent fish out of water at a bunch of shows over the course of my 3 decades of concert going, but I haven’t been surrounded by that much estrogen since I attended The Women’s March with my friends. But when the opportunity to catch a young singer at the start of his/her career, a 15 year old singer/songwriter who has already won international songwriting competitions for a song that has garnered over 15 millions streams, and counting, and has received a co-sign from the legendary Elton John of all people, I could easily brush off any discomfort rooted in my being a fish out of water.
This London born, Australia raised, young man has clearly stepped into teen heartthrob territory. Having recently released his debut EP Ready, Ruel is making waves, and the concert goers are riding it. The women at the front of the line confessed to me that they got their spots as early as noon, with a handful of them flying into Los Angeles just for the show because Ruel only had a limited number of scheduled concerts. But when you sing soulful, pop infused, R&B jams and you’re a tall, good looking kid, I guess it comes with the territory.
The anticipation for Ruel’s performance was palpable way before he even took the stage. Before the opener’s performance, fans spotted Ruel lurking about on the venue’s balcony. As soon as the wild cheering erupted, he dipped out of sight behind the balcony’s wall. Teasing the fans, he would raise just his hand over the wall to make it visible to the audience, which elicited even more fan-crazed cheering. That decibel level in the room was nothing compared to when he actually stepped on stage.
With only a limited amount of songs in his repertoire (he did fill out his performance with a couple of covers) his performance was expectedly short, but it gave me a very clear look into this young man’s potential. He sang his melodies with a confidence and swagger that made him appear older than he actually is. While he may not necessarily have a well of personal life lessons to pull from … let’s remember that he’s only 15 … he still sang with an honest sincerity that made his music sweetly believable. I got the impression that he’s still growing into his body, but I can imagine that once he stops growing, he’ll be able to really explore the stage with sharp, crisp dance moves choreographed to his tempos.
But for this performance, amidst his shrieking fans who obviously couldn’t get enough, the performance was all that they needed. It was a performance that put his fans on notice that there’s a new kid in town … and he’s “Ready” to win your heart.
Follow Ruel on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter.
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