Australian singer-songwriter Ruel is back in the country for his 4TH WALL WORLD TOUR live at the Samsung Hall in SM Aura. After an intimate Valentine’s show at the Venice Grand Canal last February, the 20 year-old rising star happily announced he was seeing his Filipino fans again through his Asian tour.

Fresh from his concert in Tokyo, Ruel roamed around the city before his show, sharing a snap on Instagram with the caption: “i’m here!! can’t wait to see you tonight manila.”

Ruel in Manila

Metro.Style attended the 4TH WALL TOUR live in Manila over the weekend. Here are some highlights from the show:

Rising Filipino star Young Cocoa opened the show performing his own songs including his single “Manila.”

Young Cocoa

In about an hour, the 4TH WALL show began. To promote his debut studio album, Ruel started the show with songs from his brand new record beginning with “GO ON WITHOUT ME,” “GROWING UP IS____,” and “YOU AGAINST YOURSELF.”

Ruel opening the show with songs from his debut album.

“I was only here like two months ago?! Who came to the show?,” Ruel asked the crowd who went to his Valentine’s show in Taguig last February. The fans responded by raising their hands, to which he happily answered back: “That’s pretty much everyone, that’s good!”

Ruel performs songs from his debut EP ‘Ready.’

The Manila crowd sings along to Ruel’s hits.

Having been in Manila a couple of times already, Ruel is nothing short of aware, familiar, and well acquianted with the city and it’s culture particularly the Metro’s traffic situation. A newly-released video for his single “SITTING IN TRAFFIC” was shot entirely in Manila.

He also surprised his fans by having KZ Tandingan perform a duet with him on stage.

Ruel and KZ Tandingan

Superstar selfie! Ruel shares his photo with KZ via his Instagram account after the show.

Ruel also delighted the fans by singing a snippet of Freestyle’s “Bakit Ngayon Ka Lang” before doing a cover of One Direction’s “Night Changes.”

He ended the show with more hits including “Painkiller” from his Free Time EP and “I DON’T WANNA BE LIKE YOU” from 4TH WALL.

Ruel's career began in 2015 after his father Ralph sent a demo of him covering “Let It Go” by James Bay to producer Mark Landon a.k.a. M-Phazes.

It’s worth noting that he has gained a startling attention from British pop icon Elton John. “And something else is brand-new from Australia, a 14 year-old boy, amazing, amazing track ‘Don’t Tell Me,’ this is the debut single from Ruel,” says Elton via BBC Radio 1. “This is astonishing that someone so young, and write something so good,” he continued before playing the rising star’s song.

Six years later, Ruel Vincent van Dijk is now conquering the world. He has introduced himself through his three extended plays (EP): Ready (2018), Free Time (2019), and Bright Lights, Red Eyes (2020), and has fans sing along to hits such as “Painkiller” and “GROWING UP IS____.”

Ruel’s debut release produced the hits “Younger” and “Dazed and Confused.” Photo: RCA Records

He won the Breakthrough Artist Award at ARIA (Australian Recording Industry Association) Music Awards in 2018 at the young age of 16, making him the youngest solo artist to win the prestigious award.

He released his first full-length album 4TH WALL this year which he described as very personal and “honestly feels like one of my limbs it’s such a big part of me.” The 4TH WALL World Tour commenced in Australia and Asia with visits in Manila, Cebu, and Davao. He has frequented the country since his debut release. The first time he set foot in the Metro was at Teatrino Greenhills in 2019 to promote Ready.

Ruel breaks records when he won the Breakthrough Artist award at the 2018 ARIA Music Awards. Photo: Joel Carrett/AAP

He has just dropped his brand-new music video for “SITTING IN TRAFFIC” which was entirely shot in Manila complete with Tagalog subtitle.

RUEL - 4TH WALL PHILIPPINE TOUR is brought by Wilbros Live. Follow @WilbrosLive for more exciting shows.