- Biography
If ricocheting from one global existential crisis to another leaves you despairing for humanity, one of pop’s brightest new stars might well be the answer, in the sense that they’re not entirely human. But also not not human. Meet RUDY — a producer, multi-instrumentalist and fully-fledged pop house polymath caught somewhere in the space between here and there, reality and fiction, the metaverse and the restoftheverse, the four walls of their bedroom and the planet’s busiest dance-floors.It’s a space that also happens to have some cracking tunes in it. RUDY’s already caused a stir with tracks like frenetic Fuse ODG hookup African Lady (Antenna) and Nina-Sky interpolating walloper Move Ya Body, and with sights set on 2022 and beyond RUDY’s is a name you’ll be hearing a lot more — even if the finer points of their background are harder to pin down.In a world of alternative pop-stars, RUDY is about as alternative as it gets. They’re purple, for a start. Big name clothing endorsement deals may prove elusive, considering RUDY spends most days entirely naked. And while RUDY might be the planet!s safest festivalbooking due to being genetically immune to all known airborne viruses, it!d also besomething of an understatement to say RUDY is a digital native, meaning that they only rarely make visits to the physical realm. Biographical details are scarce. Ask RUDY about the house they grew up in and they!ll tell you all about the bedroom that now doubles as astudio, but they!ll also point out that they never actually grew up, having always existed inprecisely the form they are now. Ask them for inspiring tales of triumph over adversity and all you!ll get is something about a freak encounter with a miniature schnauzer that leftRUDY with stitches.RUDY!s is a world where the more questions you ask, the less you end up knowing —they’re even remaining ambiguous about their age. They insist their date of birth is December 16 2020, which doesn!t really make sense because RUDY also claims theywere bought their first guitar for their 13th birthday, although in a funny sort of way that all does make sense because RUDY seems both old enough to know better and young enough not to care.“I always wanted to become a model,” RUDY reminisces. “The agencies always told me I didn’t have the right look. The usual sort of stuff people hear when they’re trying to break into modelling: ‘We’re looking for someone taller’, ‘you’re too lilac’, ‘we were really looking for someone without buttons for eyes.’ It’s hard not to become self-conscious when you hear that sort of thing, and I was in a dark place for a long time, by which I mean someone put me in a cardboard box for a month.”The way RUDY tells it, the one place they felt truly accepted was when they listened to music, finding themselves transported to another world where judgements fell away. Musical inspirations, however, are where RUDY comes alive, and becomes easier to pin down. “I admire Daft Punk for their humanity, Miquela for her authenticity, and Gorillaz for their three-dimensionality,” RUDY says. “It!s hard to put my finger on it, but there!ssomething about all those artists that resonates with me.”RUDY’s own musical journey began when the figure he strongly suspects to be his mother unveiled that purple Fender Stratocaster as a birthday present. Soon after, a chance viewing of Alicia Keys!#inspirational MTV Unplugged, combined with a fortuitous Uber poolride with Pete Tong!s plumber!s cousin, helped RUDY make up their mind that music wasthe future.”I knew right then and there that I wanted to sing and write songs,” RUDY remembers. “Ihad to look deep inside myself, which was fairly easy because some of my stitching had come loose.” They found some polyester filling. But they also found resolve, courage, and inspiration. Before long RUDY was putting together their own home studio: they hit Gumtree and found a small midi keyboard previously owned by the Ivor Novello-winning musician behind the iconic 90s Nokia ringtone, later adding a top-of-the-line Macintosh 128K. When RUDY chanced upon an old tape recorder in a bin, they knew their studio setup was complete.That’s when the work started — and as word got around, RUDY found there were kindred spirits keen to enter RUDY’s world. RUDY spent most of lockdown watching the rest of the world align with values they’d long held dear: electronic communication, the fierce avoidance of in-person meetings and so on. Collaborations with Fuse ODG and the like have all taken place over Zoom, and there’s plenty more to come during 2022 and beyond.Despite being a multi-talented entity in their own right, RUDY’s been collaborating particularly closely with Brit-nominated, Berlin-based rising producer Jonasu, whose platinum-selling 2020 single Black Magic became a streaming and airplay behemoth, and whose production credits include Martin Jensen and JC Stewart. The pair’s collaboration is close enough for them to be label-mates at 3Beat and so close, sometimes, that to the listener it’s hard to tell where RUDY ends and Jonasu begins. Either way — as on the pair’s collaborative remix of Jetta’s Honey — it’s a partnership that works.“Black Magic have always been my favourite chocolates and I was thrilled when someone made a song about them, so I couldn’t wait to start working with Jonasu,” RUDY says. “When I first met him I thought he was incredibly rude, but the more we worked together the more I realised he was also very talented, so I just tolerated his behaviour for the good of art.” For his part, Jonasu is remaining tight-lipped on his work with RUDY, stating that he is unable to speak on the record before the results of an independent police enquiry are published, his only comment on the collaboration being delivered via text message and consisting solely of the ‘exploding head’ emoji, twice. “I have a fragile heart,” RUDY responds. “Whatever people say, I’ll just stay in my bedroom and make music.”Outside the world of music, RUDY continues to be an avid consumer of popular culture. If anyone!s got a hookup at Studio Ghibli, RUDY would be happy to be put in contact with aview to taking on acting roles, and in the meantime they spend most of their time talking about Cartoon Network!s The Amazing World of Gumball, cult early-2000s web series Salad Fingers, and Tim Burton’s Corpse Bride, adding that their all-time favourite horrorfilm is Pinocchio.RUDY’s existence proves that while the truth might sometimes be stranger than fiction, it’s rarely half as much fun. Sometimes we find humanity in the strangest places, and they don’t come much stranger than the mind of RUDY.
