After hearing about Ruel from my friends and listening to some of his other songs myself, I was thrilled to listen to his newest EP Free Time, and as usual, he didn’t disappoint.

Earlier this year, Ruel released his hit song, “Painkiller,” which attracted a lot of people to listen to more of his music. Later into the year, he announced the release of his new EP Free Time, which featured “Painkiller” as one of the tracks.

Free Time is a series of seven songs that took me on a twenty-five-minute journey through meaningful lyrics. The EP starts off with soft music playing in the song “Don’t Cry,” and then it dives into the saccharine sweet tune of the song. The repetition and harmonies start off this beautiful EP in an unimaginable way. 

As the EP progresses, the tone that “Don’t Cry” sets stays somewhat the same, but each song has a different twist to it or a different message. This EP ranges from love songs to songs about personal struggles, and the lyrics portray a vital variety of emotions perfectly. 

About halfway through the EP, the song “Hard Sometimes” talks about how life gets exhausting and keeping yourself happy for others isn’t always easy. This song is a comfortably slow melody that anyone going through tough times could relate to, and Ruel flawlessly defines the emotions that are felt when you don’t quite feel like yourself. 

The repetitiveness in each song impeccably weaves together one song with the next, leaving me yearning to listen to more with each enticing lyric. One after another, the different songs tell short stories within four minutes that gave me little snippets of what seemed like Ruel’s life or exclusive experiences he’s had. 

With each song, I felt as if I’d experienced these things myself. In the song “Unsaid,” it sounds as if he’s singing to someone or like it was written in a letter. These letter-like lyrics brought out the more emotional side of this EP, and that made it powerful as people could connect with the music.

In almost every song, Ruel’s weighted words left me nodding my head or tapping my foot. It’s not the type of music to full-blown dance to, but the beat does make you want to move along with it. 

The EP ends with the song that is named after the title, “Free Time.” It describes the emptiness that too much free time can leave you with. It tells the story of a breakup and how it left him with too much free time and loneliness piled up inside. Towards the end of the song, the beat picks up as the lyrics repeat until it slows down once more, and it ends with what sounds like a voicemail.

The lyrics of each are easily relatable and they make sense. If anyone were to listen to Ruel’s music for the first time, they would effortlessly be able to understand the meaning behind every purposeful song. The music and verses complement each other magnificently, making the recipe for a beautiful EP.

Ruel’s voice and the emotion he expresses in this EP are flawlessly pulled together to create a brilliant combination of songs that anyone would love to listen to.