Ren Gill


Ren Eryn Gill, known professionally as Ren, is a Welsh singer-songwriter, musician, rapper, producer, actor, and director. Formerly a member of Trick the Fox and the Big Push, Ren has independently released two albums, Freckled Angels and Sick Boi. His second major album, Sick Boi, reached the number one spot on the UK charts on 20 October 2023, beating out Rick Astley's new release in a battle for number one and surpassing both Drake and Troye Sivan. In the US, the album debuted at No. 137 on Billboard 200. Ren also debuted at No. 4 on Billboards Emerging Artists chart and No. 54 on the Billboard 100 Artists chart.
Ren's breakthrough came when he released "Hi Ren" in 2022. It went viral, receiving 6.8 million views on YouTube within two months of its release and charted worldwide in YouTube's trending music video chart. The song received an honourable mention for best European music video at the Prague Music Video Awards and was nominated for best music video at Camerimage 2023.
As part of Ren's second studio album, Sick Boi, the single, "Money Game, Pt. 3", won numerous awards, including Best Music Video, Best Director, Best Concept, and received an Honourable Mention for Best Cinematography. The single was also chosen for the British Arrows Y24 Shortlist in the categories of Music Video Director and Music Video Producer.
Ren has been suffering with Lyme disease and its side effects since 2009. He was misdiagnosed with depression, chronic fatigue syndrome, and bipolar disorder for years. At the end of 2015, he was properly diagnosed. The following year, he received an experimental treatment that included stem cell transplants. He has autoimmune issues, brain damage, PTSD, and fatigues easily. He continues to try experimental treatments to improve his health. Many of his songs reflect the ordeal regarding his health; and it has motivated his activism for mental health.

Early life and influences

Ren was born on 29 March 1990, in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales. When he was four his family moved to the island of Anglesey. They settled in the small town of Dwyran where Ren grew up.
Ren fell in love with music when he was 10 after his father gave him his first guitar. He taught himself to play by slowing down tracks by Jimi Hendrix and John Frusciante. He was influenced by many of the musicians his parents listened to. Artists like Shy FX, Mickey Finn & Aphrodite, early Eminem, Kurt Cobain, and Bob Marley. He dreamed of being a producer and later a musician. When he was 12, Ren sold homemade beats made with Reason on CD. At 13, he began performing live with an AFI song rendition. He started writing songs, mainly about his mates. When he was 15 or 16 he wrote "Street Lights," which is on his first album. He started busking at 17 and became addicted to it.

Career

2008–2012: Early career

Ren was studying music at Bath Spa University when he began busking and created a band called Trick the Fox with classmate Charlie Fowler. Eric Appapoulay, a music producer, heard Ren performing one of his own songs while busking. He was impressed and arranged for Ren to sign a recording contract with his label, a sub-label of Sony Records in 2010.
On 28 December 2010, Ren lost one of his best friends, Joe Hughes to suicide. The two had been friends since childhood, having met when Ren was 8. Joe's death deeply affected Ren and has influenced him to open up and write songs that talk about mental and emotional health. and chronic health conditions.
In 2011, Ren wrote the song "Freckled Angels" as a tribute to Joe. The song was included on Ren's debut album of the same name, which he dedicated to Joe. The songs "For Joe" and the last verse of the song “Suicide” are also tributes to him. There is also a Welsh restaurant in Menai Bridge called Freckled Angel that is dedicated to Joe.
Ren started working on his debut album with Charlie Fowler at Sanctuary studio in South London. They wrote and recorded tracks, posting a few of them and some videos on the band's Facebook and YouTube accounts. The group began touring, and drummer Tom Frampton joined in 2012. They started receiving airplay.
Halfway through recording the album, Ren became very sick. He started feeling dissociated, experienced physical pain, and at times he would throw up blood in the studio bathroom in between recording tracks for his album. He became so weak and tired that Ren was unable to hide what was happening. It affected his ability to perform. Ren went to his mother's home in Wales to rest and recuperate for three months, which turned into a year. Bedridden for up to 23 hours a day and too sick to work on the album, he was unable to continue his music career.

2013–2016: Isolation and ''Freckled Angels''

Ren left his mother's home in Wales and moved to Brighton in 2013. His health issues kept him homebound. Some days were better than others. When he had enough energy, Ren wrote songs and recorded his music in his bedroom. He tried to find out why he was so sick, but for years, he was misdiagnosed with depression, bipolar disorder, and chronic fatigue syndrome by multiple doctors and therapists. He developed stress induced psychosis. In October 2015, Ren met with a doctor who correctly diagnosed him with Lyme Disease
Ren finished his debut album, Freckled Angels, to try to raise money for treatment. The album contained 16 tracks, half of which were recorded for the Trick The Fox album. Eric Appapoulay permitted him to use them. The title track "Freckled Angels" was written about one of his best friends, Joe Hughes, who died by suicide in 2010. Ren dedicated it and the album to Joe and self-released the album on 28 December 2015, the five year anniversary of Joe's death.
He released his first official single, "Jessica", on 15 February 2016. Not long after, he went to the United States to undergo an experimental treatment for Lyme disease that included stem cell transplantation.

2017–2022: Return to performing

Ren's health improved after being treated with stem cells, but he tired easily, and had ongoing autoimmune issues, brain damage, and PTSD. Despite this, he "started busking on the streets of Brighton," both on his own and with other independent artists. Ren started releasing songs regularly and uploading videos to his YouTube channel. He attracted a group of dedicated fans through the art of storytelling and his ability to connect emotionally with his audience.
From 2018 onwards, videos of Ren and Sam Tompkins performing the songs Blind Eyed, Earned It, Man's World and Falling as street musicians also become successful.
As his fan base grew, many of his videos were viewed over a million times. Jenny's tale, part of a trilogy of videos, had 3.3 million views by April 2020, a little over a year after its release. He also released several EPs and began working on his second album.
In addition to his solo career, Ren was a member of The Big Push, a Brighton-based busking band. Glenn Chambers was the drummer, and Ren, Romain Axisa, Gorran Kendall were the frontmen. They self-released an EP, and their 2021 UK Tour sold out. The Big Push played their last gig and broke up in 2022 due in part to Ren's health issues.

"Hi Ren"

On 15 December 2022, Ren self-released the music video "Hi Ren". This was a breakthrough moment for him. "Hi Ren" is an expression of Ren's journey with mental health, autoimmunity, illness, psychosis, and the medical system. It brings a message of hope and positivity, and has helped people open up and talk about their own struggles, promoting open public discussions about mental health.
The video became a viral hit. In two months, it received 6.8 million views on YouTube, and charted worldwide on YouTube's trending music video chart, and reached No. 62 on the UK Video Streaming Chart. A clip of the video received over 12 million views on TikTok in January 2023. For many, this video was an introduction to Ren's unique writing style and his ability to combine multiple genres seamlessly in a song.
The video received an honourable mention in the Best European Music Video category at the Prague Music Video Awards in April 2023, and was nominated for the Camerimage 2023 Best Music Video award in October 2023. Ren was the director, and Samuel Perry-Falvey was the cinematographer.

Since 2023

In January 2023, Ren went to Canada to receive further treatment for Lyme disease. He had recorded multiple songs and several videos, including most of his upcoming album, before leaving.
The next six songs Ren released, "Sick Boi", "Bittersweet Symphony ", "Illest of Our Time", "Animal Flow", and "Suicide", also appeared in the United Kingdom's Trending Music Video Chart on YouTube. He was invited to play at Glastonbury 2023 and other major UK summer music festivals, but was unable to attend due to his health and ongoing treatment in Canada.

''Sick Boi''

Over the year before the release of his second album, Sick Boi, many tracks were released as singles to major streaming services, with accompanying videos published on Ren's YouTube channel. Two of the singles, "Suicide" and "Murderer", both placed in the Top 100 of the UK Singles Sales Chart during the week after their release.
The album was released on 13 October 2023. The style has been described as kaleidoscopic hip-hop. It chronicles Ren's health journey over the past decade. The lyrics in several of the songs describe how he felt and what he went through as he battled chronic illness. His openness and honesty about his struggles with his mental and physical health is what has drawn people worldwide to his music.
Upon release, Sick Boi was in a "heated battle for UK's no 1 album," with fewer than 400 chart units separating it and Rick Astley's new release Are We There Yet?. Sick Boi went on to secure number one by almost 6,000 units, surpassing artists like Drake and Troye Sivan on his way to the top. After Ren secured the number one spot Rick Astley congratulated Ren and went on to say "He’s been at this for a while. This is not something new to him, he’s been making music for a long time, so it’s a well deserved number one. Check out some of his videos on YouTube - amazing stuff." Huw Stephens included Sick Boi in his book Wales: 100 Records, calling it an "impressive record" and Ren's style of rapping "mesmerizing". "The book analyses the very best works by some of the most important artists to come out of Wales".
In the US, Ren debuted at No. 4 on the Emerging Artists chart and No. 54 on the Billboard 100 Artists chart. His album, Sick Boi, debuted "at No. 137 on the Billboard 200 with 9,000 equivalent album units earned in its opening week. It also starts at No. 2 on Heatseekers Albums, No. 11 on Top Current Album Sales, and No. 13 on Top Album Sales." He was unable to perform to promote his album due to his ongoing treatment in Calgary and attributed the level of its success to his friends and his fan base's promotion of it.