Ruth Royall’s latest enchanter, ‘New Ride,’ continues to light up the drum & bass scene. Ruth has had a wonderfully variegated musical career, beginning at the age of 14 by voicing the X Factor computer game, releasing a jazz album in the legendary Abbey Road Studios, and advancing to smash hit drum & bass royalty.
Ruth has secured her spot within the music industry’s electronic scene after 24 months of constant releases, consistent worldwide radio play, over 10 million DSP streams, and two nominations for the best singer at the Drum and Bass Awards. Working with all of the major Drum and Bass labels, including Hospital, Shogun, and Metalheadz, as well as huge collaborations and exciting projects with Mollie Collins, Grafix, Pola & Bryson, Ekko & Sidetrack, and Paper Dragon, her profile continues to rise, with even more high-profile collaborations in the works and exciting releases on the horizon.
This artist is reaching new audiences as a DJ and Host, with recent guest mixes on Kiss FM, a Shogun Audio stream supporting DJ Marky and Technicmatic, and her regular radio show on SWU.fm, complementing her ability as a producer, composer, and vocalist.
Ruth Royall is back on the scene with an atmospheric new single ‘New Ride,’ showcasing her unmistakable skill with uplifting melodies, powerful vocals, and captivating electronica. ‘New Ride,’ a raucous success with the ideal hint of down to earth pop, blends the DJ’s trademark soul-infused singing style with massive drum & bass breakdowns.
Broke Magazine chats with Ruth below about her music career, the electronic music scene and what she has in store for us in the future.
Talk to us through how your music career started to where you are now?
I started out in music at the age of 14 as an R&B/Jazz singer. I used to sing on the session circuit as a backing vocalist and also worked as a vocalist for TV. I still do a lot of session work and writing for TV, video games and adverts. When I was quite young I signed to a jazz label, I recorded my first EP in Abbey Road Studios and we toured our show around Europe with a four-piece band.
I’d always been into dance music and I was keen to cross over the two genres. Soul/Gospel vocals have always sat so naturally with electronic beats and I was keen to experiment. Coming from the UK I was already well into DnB, we used to follow the sound systems round to the free parties when we were kids and I remember getting hooked on the sound back then.
In 2018 I was asked to join to Fred V & Grafix live tour, it was a game-changer. I met my manager there who was tour managing us at the time and started working closely with Grafix on his first solo EP. Since then I’ve been releasing collabs and features constantly. Some of my favourites have been Remedies with Mollie Collins, Paper Birds with Ekko & Sidetrack, and of course all my stuff with Grafix. I’ve since started producing and have got my first solo releases out this year, which has been really exciting. It’s allowed me to mesh the soul/gospel feel with hard-hitting bass music which is what gets me excited. I’m also DJing now, my live show consists of my DJ set with live vocals over the top. I’ve got some great shows coming up this year and, amazingly, I’m now gigging and releasing as a solo artist after so many years of either being a featured artist or a backup singer. I feel like I can let my creativity loose.
The electronic music scene has seen you flourish, what about that genre of music that attracts you?
There is something about electronic music that is so genuine. It’s emotive and heartfelt but it’s not at all weak. It gives you all the emotion whilst the bass hits you right in the stomach. Ravers are some of the best people on the planet, if you want to feel good, hug a stranger at a rave when the DJ drops your favourite tune. It’s crazy wholesome.
And where do you pull most of your musical inspiration from, other artists? art? film? etc?
Stories mainly. I love to create a mood with my music and I like to do so by storytelling, musically as well as lyrically. I write about myself a bit but I also like to write about stuff I see, sometimes films but mainly stuff I observe around me. I feel like people have this collective consciousness and music is the thing that connects us. When I write about things I see around me, grief, fear, love, excitement, people always connect to those songs in quite a profound way.
You have had 24 months of steady releases, consistent international radio play, over 10 million DSP streams and 2 nominations for the best vocalist at the Drum and Bass Awards – what have been some of your favourite bits?
Yea pretty nuts! I think one of my favourite things I’ve done recently was to put together a mix for Radio 1, I love the team at Radio 1, they have been super supportive of my journey. It was a great opportunity to showcase my mixing style and also lay down some live vocals that they’d never had a DJ do before on the show.
It’s said you are known for your velvet vocals and ruthless work ethic – can you elaborate on this a little?
Haha, yea I can be a bit of a workaholic. I didn’t grow up with a lot of money so I guess this pushes me to work hard. I know how lucky I am to work in this profession and to be able to make all my money from it. I have done it for a long time and that’s never lost on me. My family has always supported me in my ambition and never once told me I should ‘get a real job’. They always believed I’d be able to live well from my music, even though it was a risk.
As for the velvet vocals, well that’s very lush and I’m always really touched when people say nice things about my voice.
Your most recent track ‘New Ride’ has uplifting melodies, rousing vocals, and enchanting electronica, explain the creative process behind the single?
New Ride was originally an instrumental sent to me by Phonetic. I loved it when I heard and knew I wanted to work on it. It was quite a while ago when he sent it but it just kept coming back to me so we decided to release it. The song is about new beginnings and taking a risk in life so I wanted to inject as much energy into the track as possible.
How do you want the single to make people feel?
I wanted the track to make people want to bounce! It’s such a positive song I wanted people to feel full of energy and turn it up!
Are you planning the perform the new track live? What 2022 shows have you got booked?
Yes, I’ve performed it live a few times now and it’s always gone down super well. I opened for Metrik a few weeks ago at Steel Yard and it went off! I’ve got loads of shows coming up this summer – Love Saves The Day, Hospitality On the Beach, and Tokyo world to name a few!
In an ideal world (where we get to decide our future) where would you put yourself in 5 years?
I would love to take my show to some of the big festival stages such as Rampage, Rhythm & Vines and Tomorrowland. I’d love to do some more shows abroad, I always love connecting with my fans across the water and it would be great to meet them in person. It would be amazing to chart as well, drum and bass are in a really good place at the moment and it’s starting to creep into the charts more and more!