Third time’s the charm, the saying goes. “The Tide” is the third song we are reviewing on Indieterria and I think I finally found my favourite track recorded by Ruena. I mean, I absolutely adore “Paraffin” and “Just Because It Breaths”, but “The Tide” is something different. It lives rent free in my head, I’m walking around on my holidays singing it under my nose and even tried to convince my parents that she is the next best thing in British music since Queen or Marillion. They might not be fully convinced but I’m working on turning them into full fledged Ruena fans. And I’m convinced that the track will not only win over my old folks, but many new listeners as well.
Official bio: Ruena might be new as a solo artist, but she is far from green. Through previous bands and her work as a session bassist, Ruena has performed all across the UK and Europe and played major festivals such as Glastonbury, Download and Rock for People. Playing live is where she truly comes alive. Known for her dynamic engaging performances, she cannot wait to start performing as herself. “Though it feels weird to consider myself a ‘new’ artist when I’ve been in music for so long, I believe there is a right time for everything, and for me that time is now. All my experience to this point has been like a Rocky montage preparing me for this – and I couldn’t be more ready. So let’s go.” With her cathartic 5 track EP to be released this autumn with singles dropping regularly leading up to it, she is ready to hit the ground running. Writing all the lyrics, melodies and instrumentals herself, producer Luke Targett brought them kicking and screaming to life.
Despite its radio friendliness, “The Tide” is a serious song, dealing with themes of self acceptance, self respect and body dysmorphia. This is a track that will make you sing along, dance until you collapse at the gig, but it will also make you stop and think. According to estimates, body dysmorphia affects between 1% to 3% of the UK population, or about 3 million people. Globally, this number increased to 150 millions – nearly one person out of 50 people is affected by the illness. Mortality rates for body dysmorphia are catastrophic. Nearly 80% of those affected try to commit suicide at least once, up to 51% are successful on second or third attempt. I want everybody to understand how deadly this condition is: those suffering from BDD are 45 times more likely to die before they turn 30 than the general population. Body dysmorphia has a higher death rate than all the cancers in the world, COVID-19 and Ebola combined. Ruena is not joking, calling this song a “war cry” where her own body is a battlefield.
The struggle does not stop for one second. There are better and worse moments of course, but intrusive thoughts, that Ruena compares to creepy little creatures, are always lurking in the back of her mind. She does not shy from admitting that “The Tide” is autobiographical. Her body dysmorphia resulted in severe eating disorders she had to fight throughout her life. The most heartbreaking part of the track is when she sings: “I’d probably love her if she wasn’t me, I know I’d tell her daily, she has everything she needs And yet I turn away”. Ruena knows that physically, there is nothing wrong with the way she looks. If they were two different people, they would probably be best friends. But her illness is not allowing her to accept herself as she is. She sees herself through the lens of the sickness that is twisted, corrupted and distorted. It’s hard for me to even imagine what she must be going through, but maybe house of mirrors would be a good analogy? You look at yourself in the mirror and you see your own reflections changed by curves or concave in the glass. Each mirror gives a different effect: some reflections will be humorous like exaggerating the size of your head, or lengthening your limbs and some would be frightening. The condition is much harder however, as the distortions do not apply to anybody else but themselves.
Musically, “The Tide” is a softer version of Bambie Thug meets Lady Gaga. I would classify it as some sort of nu metal ballad with elements of cold wave, gothic rock, alternative pop and symphonic metal. Ruena’s voice is quite delicate, gentle, almost ethereal, and very melodic. The repetitions in choruses stand in contrast to the verses: they are more aggressive, harmonized and powerful, especially when she shouts “hates breads hate” and “fire, fire, fire”. The track is three minutes and 14 seconds long – a tiny complaint, I wish it was a bit longer, the beginning could be extended to a longer intro, but other than that, the track is just perfect. “The Tide” was produced by Luke Targett (Wren, Lottie J, Mauvey).
I have to say that Ruena works incredibly hard. She not only writes lyrics and music, she also directs her own videos, edits them, designs costumes and even is responsible for post production and special effects. She takes her own pictures as well – maybe again, this is another manifestation of the disorder that she feels the need to tightly control her scenic image. In any case, the results are absolutely spellbinding. She has a fantastic eye for composition and a very unique artistic vision that seems to be influenced by gothic, horror and retro future cyberpunk.
The video to “The Tide” shows Ruena on a remote beach, being stalked by a huge, spider-like black monstrosity, something straight out of the 1990’s MTV The Oddities animations such as Æon Flux or The Maxx. She is also surrounded by 4 dancers (Jaz Hangs, Tobias Envy, Mia Farrar and Emmy) who represent the distorted perception of Ruena’s self. Dressed in similar costumes, the dancers are incredibly well choreographed – their movements are fluid but also desperate, chaotic and unpredictable. The music video was filmed by Tyler Palmer with additional photography by Tom Marsh.
Despite the dark topic, “The Tide” is a song of hope. Ruena is not giving up, she keeps going, keeps living, keeps moving forward. She says that the illness is not invincible, she advises all those who fight the same battle, to starve it, disarm the disorder by any way they can and just keep on surviving. There is no greater victory than living through another day, another month, another year. It may be hard, it may seem hopeless, but it is not. The fight to be her and to be alive with your family and friends is what truly matters.
So if you are reading my words, and you struggle just like Ruena – just remember to fire, fire fire at the black creature. One day it will disappear.
You can follow Ruena on socials:
https://www.instagram.com/itsruena
https://www.tiktok.com/@itsruena
https://www.youtube.com/@ruena
https://soundcloud.com/ruena-music
https://open.spotify.com/artist/3Btaoma2Brz3niCfr4gRJQ
“The Tide” is out on all streaming platforms since 24th of October.
Rita Dabrowicz
Indieterria 