Ruti - I'll Be Your Friend
Ruti - I'll Be Your Friend - Image 2

Ruti – I’ll Be Your Friend

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Description

Ruti Olajugbagbe
Ruti at SXSW London, June 2025

Ruti at SXSW London, June 2025
Background information
Born 20 September 1999 (age 26)

Thurrock, England
Genres Pop Jazz Folk
Occupation Singer-songwriter
Instruments Vocals
Years active 2018–present
Labels Polydor (2018–2019)
PMR Records (2021 – Present )

Ruti Olajugbagbe, known professionally as Ruti, (born 20 September 1999) is an English singer-songwriter. After winning the seventh series of The Voice UK, they[a] released their debut EP Racing Cars in 2019.[1]

Career

2018: The Voice UK

In 2018, Olajugbagbe auditioned for The Voice UK, and joined Sir Tom Jones‘s team.[2] After winning the series, their winner’s single “Dreams“, a cover of The Cranberries song, reached number 1 on the UK iTunes Store, and debuted at number 14 on the UK Singles Chart.[3]

Performances

Performed Song Original artist Result
Blind Audition “Budapest“ George Ezra Joined team Tom by default
Battle Rounds “Dog Days Are Over” (against Saskia Eng) Florence and the Machine Won advanced to the knockouts
Knockout rounds “Dreams“ The Cranberries Saved by Coach
Semi-final “Waiting for a Star to Fall“ Boy Meets Girl Safe
Live final “If You’re Not the One“ Daniel Bedingfield Winner
“What a Wonderful World” (with Tom Jones) Louis Armstrong
“Dreams” The Cranberries

2019: Racing Cars

On 5 April 2019, Olajugbagbe released their debut extended play, Racing Cars, through Polydor.[4] They returned to the final of the eighth series of The Voice to perform the lead single, “Racing Cars”.[5] Following the release of the EP, Olajugbagbe announced that they had been dropped from Polydor.

2021: New Record Deal

In September 2021, Olajugbagbe said that they had signed a Publishing deal with Sony Music Publishing. Two months later in November 2021, Olajugbagbe also announced on their Instagram Page that they had signed a new record deal with PMR Records, part of the Universal Music Group.

Discography

Extended plays

List of extended plays, with selected details
Title Details
Racing Cars
All at Once
  • Released: 9 April 2021
  • Label: Ruti Sounds
  • Format: Digital download
MixTea_MilkTape!
  • Released: 9 June 2023
  • Label: PMR Records
  • Format: Digital download
Lungs
  • Released: 24 May 2024
  • Label: PMR Records
  • Format: Digital download

Singles

As solo artist

List of singles, with selected details and chart positions
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
UK
[3]		 SCO
[6]
“Dreams“ 2018 14 2 Non-album single
“Racing Cars” 2019 49 5 Racing Cars
“Closer to You” 2020 — — All at Once
“My Sunrise” 2021 — —
“Stand Tall”
(with DJ Zinc & DRS)		 — — Non-album singles
“Safe & Sound” 2022 — —
“So Much More” 2023 — — MixTea_MilkTape!
“Luh Luh Love” — —
“Nothing’s Easy” — —
“Bubblehouse Bounce (move as one)” 2024 — — Lungs
“Don’t Make a Sound” — —
“Lungs” — —
“—” denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released in that territory.
List of singles, with selected details and chart positions
Title Year Peak chart positions Album
UK
[3]
“Lovely Day”
(Billy Ocean & the Young Voices Choir featuring YolanDa Brown & Ruti)		 2021 — Non-album singles
“You Move Backwards”
(Bad Sounds featuring Ruti)		 —
“Train”
(Show Dem Camp featuring The Cavemen., Ruti and Nsikak David)		 2024 — No Love in Lagos
“—” denotes a recording that did not chart or was not released.

Notes

  1.  Ruti uses they/them pronouns.

References

  1.  “What happened to The Voice 2018 winner Ruti? Sir Tom Jones gives update”. Metro. 5 January 2019. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  2.  Scullard, Vickie (12 January 2019). “Who won The Voice UK in 2018?”. men. Retrieved 30 March 2019.
  3.  “Ruti | full Official Chart history”. Official Charts Company. Retrieved 6 May 2018.
  4.  @rutimusic (5 April 2019). “My new single ‘Racing Cars’ AND my EP is out nowww AND you can watch the video too!” (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  5.  Darvill, Josh (6 April 2019). “The Voice winner Ruti to perform new song in tonight’s live final”. TellyMix. Retrieved 18 January 2020.
  6.  “Scottish Singles Chart: 13/4/18”. Official Charts. Retrieved 8 April 2019.

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

RUTI ON I’LL BE YOUR FRIEND

PHOTOGRAPHY GRAY BRAME – CREATIVE DIRECTION + STYLING MAISIE JANE DANIELS – MAKEUP EMILIE LOUIZIDES – HAIR ASHLEIGH HODGES – STUDIO MASH CREATIVE STUDIO – WORDS TOBIAS FURLONG

The journey to success is never entirely straight forward, it is easier to describe as a long and winding affair that requires unbelievable determination. For the London-via-essex star Ruti, the release of “I’ll Be Your Friend” marks a clear turning point for the musician. The track represents the culmination of years of artistic exploration and self-discovery.  It feels like a moment of arrival – the result of a journey towards their most honest and authentic expression. Where previous releases often leaned into stripped-back, piano-led arrangements that foregrounded their distinctive, emotive voice, this new offering embraces a richer, more layered sonic world.
We chat about making artistic strides, learning to trust the creative process and a very pleasing sounding favourite “F” word.

Tobias Furlong: The release of “I’ll Be Your Friend” already feels like a huge artistic stride forward for you, I really enjoy how your vocal is so front and centre. 

Ruti: I’ve always known that my voice was quite powerful, and I’ve always felt like I can do different tones and channels. So this single is a lot more hard-hitting and a lot more powerful vocally. The single is so loud compared to my last EP Maybe I Got It Wrong, I think it is quite nice to punch people in the face with this single. 

 

There was a lot of consideration of other singles to start with, and I thought about bridging the gap volume wise of my previous projects, but eventually we just agreed it would be more fun to make a huge announcement with “I’ll Be Your Friend” 

 

TF: Was there a specific moment of joy where you realised the single was sounding exactly where you wanted it?

R: This was the first song I wrote for the upcoming project and it was recorded alongside the producer Will Bloomfield and Theo Hutchcraft from the duo Hurts. It was our first session all together, we started to play around and immediately we all got on really well. My spirits were really high and then we started jamming together and it came together really quickly. 

 

All of the melodies and all of the instruments were written on that one day, and that’s what you’ll hear on the record. 

Tobias Furlong: The release of “I’ll Be Your Friend” already feels like a huge artistic stride forward for you, I really enjoy how your vocal is so front and centre. 

Ruti: I’ve always known that my voice was quite powerful, and I’ve always felt like I can do different tones and channels. So this single is a lot more hard-hitting and a lot more powerful vocally. The single is so loud compared to my last EP Maybe I Got It Wrong, I think it is quite nice to punch people in the face with this single. 

 

There was a lot of consideration of other singles to start with, and I thought about bridging the gap volume wise of my previous projects, but eventually we just agreed it would be more fun to make a huge announcement with “I’ll Be Your Friend” 

 

TF: Was there a specific moment of joy where you realised the single was sounding exactly where you wanted it?

R: This was the first song I wrote for the upcoming project and it was recorded alongside the producer Will Bloomfield and Theo Hutchcraft from the duo Hurts. It was our first session all together, we started to play around and immediately we all got on really well. My spirits were really high and then we started jamming together and it came together really quickly. 

 

All of the melodies and all of the instruments were written on that one day, and that’s what you’ll hear on the record. 

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