Ruel’s New Album ‘Kicking My Feet & Screaming’ Out Now
The album is a companion piece to last year’s Kicking My Feet.
Image Maria Alveraz
Ruel’s third studio album Kicking My Feet & Screaming is out now via Recess Records/Virgin Music.
A sequel to last year’s Kicking My Feet, the album contains 10 tracks featuring an all-star cast of collaborators, including Julian Bunetta, John Ryan, Kenny Beats, M-Phazes, Dan Wilson and Leroy Clampit.
“I knew pretty early on that I was going to have a hard time choosing the final track selection for Kicking My Feet,” Ruel explains. “As the songs stacked up, I started seeing two different, almost Polar opposite emotional attitudes being projected. With too many tracks to fit on one record, we split the songs into a two-part album: Part 1 - Kicking My Feet and Part 2 – Kicking My Feet & Screaming. This let me theme each release with a different emotional POV.”
“Part 1 is full of the celebration of Love; the hyper-charged feelings, the butterflies, when you’re walking on air. Then in contrast, part 2 bares a much starker reality of Love; how it can make you fall flat on your face, break your heart, leave you in pieces. Basically, a less openly discussed narration of what love can do to you.”
The album includes the singles ‘Hate Myself’, ‘Don’t Say That’ and ‘Debbie Don’t Cry’, along with lead track ‘Faking Smiles’, a vibrant pop number about heartbreak.
Ruel shares on the track: “The song has definitely lived a lot of lives. It started off as just a simple guitar ballad but after we sped it up by about 30bpm it evolved into a sort of retro The Cure throwback, paying homage to the sounds of the 80s. The lyrics we wrote for this also make it one of my favourites on the album.”
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Kicking My Feet & Screaming arrives after a hugely successful 2025 that saw Ruel not only release his acclaimed sophomore album Kicking My Feet, but also take out First Prize at the 2025 Vanda & Young Global Songwriting Competition for ‘The Suburbs’, a track taken from Kicking My Feet.
The Sydneysider also performed at Lollapalooza in Chile, Argentina and Brazil, enjoyed an epic two-month North American headline tour and played a special headline show at Sydney Opera House Forecourt.
Kicking My Feet & Screaming showcases Ruel’s evolution as an artist and is sure to be one of the albums of 2026.
Kicking My Feet & Screaming is out now via Recess Records/Virgin Music. Listen here.
