Listen to the 14-year-old Australian singer who just made Elton John 'give up'

Aussie songwriter Ruel's single 'Don't Tell Me' was played on Rocket Man's Beats 1 show.
 By 
Shannon Connellan
 on 
Original image replaced with Mashable logo
Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Imagine you just did something, anything, heck, walked in a straight line, and Elton John was so impressed that he said, "I give up."

There's a 14-year-old singer in Australia brushing hefty amounts of dirt off his shoulder, after receiving that high praise and airplay from Rocket Man himself.

Aussie songwriter Ruel's single 'Don't Tell Me', featuring his mentor M-Phazes, was played by Sir Elton on his Beats 1 show Rocket Hour on Sept. 5, first spotted by news.com.au.


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On air, John praised the track, saying “It’s astonishing someone so young can write something so good. I give up.”

I give up.

“Amazing record," he went on. "Wow. All I can say about that is, we’ll be playing more of him, I hope.”

Here's Ruel's tune below. Have a listen and see if John is on the money:

Ruel's single was released July 14, but there's nothing like a living legend giving you a public thumbs up to boost your reach.

Sir Elton is no stranger to helping emerging Australian artists get a leg up — he's mentored and produced Aussie duo Pnau for years. Plus, he played breakthrough Australian artist Amy Shark on the same show this week.

We'll be keeping an eye on this youngster, especially when he casually smashes a Jack Garratt cover like this and makes us feel wildly unaccomplished:

We give up.

Topics Music

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Shannon Connellan
UK Editor

Shannon Connellan is Mashable's UK Editor based in London, formerly Mashable's Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives in the Creel House. A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about entertainment, tech, social good, science, culture, and Australian horror.

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