Ruel has been releasing silky smooth pop bangers for almost a decade now, but he fell into stardom almost by accident. The London-born, Sydney-raised musician first picked up a guitar when he was eight and started sharing DIY covers on YouTube a few years later. He'd rack up a few hundred views if he were lucky. "It was just fun. I had no reason to think it would ever turn into a job," he says today, midway through his latest US headline tour.

He was obsessed with Amy Winehouse and James Morrison ("His album 'Undiscovered' shaped who I was and 'Better Man' is one of the most insane ballads ever released") and was a self-confessed pop kid who loved Bruno Mars and Ed Sheeran. He also drew a lot of inspiration from the old soul, jazz, and hip-hop records his dad would play around the house. Whenever someone asked the young Ruel what he wanted to be, he'd reply with either singer or basketball player. "I held both up to the same standard, but even with the smallest amount of self-awareness, you know it's never really going to happen… until it does. "

See, everything changed when Ruel's dad, a well-connected advertising executive, proudly showed one of his covers to DJ and music manager Nate Flagrant. He put Ruel in touch with producer M‑Phazes, who's previously worked with Eminem, Zara Larsson and Madonna. "It just snowballed into a career from there," says Ruel. Their first collaboration, the pulsating 00s dance banger 'Golden Years', was released when Ruel was just 14, while the string of R&B-infused hits that followed saw the young singer compared to Justin Bieber and Shawn Mendes.