Ren Eryn Gill[1][2] (born Ren Erin Gill, 29 March 1990),[3] known professionally as Ren,[4] is a Welsh[5] songwriter, musician, rapper,[6] producer,[7] and director.[8] He was a member of the indie hip-hop band Trick The Fox[6] and the British busking band The Big Push.[9]
In 2022, Ren released "Hi Ren", a viral video that charted Worldwide in YouTube’s trending music video chart. It garnered 6.8 million views in two months and received an honourable mention for best European music video at the Prague music video awards, as well as a nomination for best music video at Camerimage 2023.[8] It can be found on many platforms such as Spotify, Apple Music and YouTube.
The next six songs Ren released, "Sick Boi", "Bittersweet Symphony (The Verve Retake)", "Illest of Our Time", "Animal Flow", and "Suicide" also appeared in the United Kingdom's Trending Music Video Chart on YouTube.[10] He was invited to play at Glastonbury 2023 and other major UK summer music festivals.[5]
Ren has released two albums, Freckled Angels (2016) and Sick Boi (2023). Sick Boi reached the number one spot on the UK charts on October 20, 2023. In the US, it debuted at No. 137 on the Billboard 200.[11] Ren debuted at No. 4 on Billboard's Emerging Artists chart[11] and No. 54 on the Billboard 100 Artists chart.[12]
Money Game part 3, from the Sick Boi Album, won Best Music Video, Best Director, and Best Concept at London Music Video Awards in December 2023.[13] It was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Narrative at the LMVAs 2024 competition.[14] It won Best Music Video, Best Director Music Video, and an Honourable Mention for Best Cinematography at the 2024 International Music Video Awards, and [15] won Best Music Video in 2024 at the ÉCU The European Independent Film Festival.[16] It was also chosen for the British Arrows Y24 Shortlist in the categories of Music Video Director and Music Video Producer.[17] Ren wrote composed, arranged, and performed the song, while Ren Gill and Samuel Perry-Falvey directed the video.[13][16]
Life and career
Ren was born on 29 March 1990, in Bangor, Gwynedd, Wales, and was raised in Dwyran,[18] on the island of Anglesey.[5] He taught himself to play guitar by slowing down tracks by Jimi Hendrix and John Frusciante.[19]: 20:11 He dreamed of being a producer[20] and later a musician. When he was 12, Ren sold homemade beats made with Reason on CD.[5][21]: 01:33 At 13, he began performing live with an AFI song rendition.[19]: 11:02
Ren moved to Bath to study music performance at Bath Spa University.[22] While there, he started a band called Trick The Fox.[21]: 01:45 Ren was discovered by Eric Appapoulay while busking.[19]: 34:23 In 2010 he signed a recording contract with Sony Records.[22] Ren went to London with Eric[19]: 35:00 and started working on his debut album with Charlie Fowler at Sanctuary studio in South London. They wrote tracks, toured, recorded, posted tracks and videos on the band’s Facebook and YouTube accounts, and Tom Frampton joined the band.[23][24]
Ren became too sick to finish the album[25] and moved home to Wales.[19]: 2:30 He was bedridden for up to 23 hrs a day.[22] In 2013 Ren moved to Brighton.[26] While in his bedroom, Ren wrote songs and recorded music.[27] On 2 January 2016, Ren's debut solo album Freckled Angels was released. The self-released album contained 16 tracks, including around half of the tracks recorded for the Trick The Fox album. Eric Appapoulay gave Ren permission to use them.[28][19]: 38:08 Ren dedicated the album and the title track to one of his best friends, Joe Hughes, who died by suicide in 2010.[29][5] A restaurant in Menai Bridge, Anglesey is named after this album.[30] On 15 February 2016, Ren released his first official single, "Jessica".[31]
Ren was featured in the 2017 movie Unrest, and his song "Patience" was part of the soundtrack.[32] He was a spokesperson for Lyme disease UK at the time.[33] Ren continued to record and release music and music videos over the next several years, both solo and in collaboration with other UK-based independent artists, mostly on his personal YouTube channel.
On 15 December, 2022, he self-released a music video for his song "Hi Ren", which became a viral hit, receiving 6.8 million YouTube views in two months.[5] The video for "Hi Ren" received an honourable mention in the best European music video category at the Prague music video awards in April 2023[34] and in October 2023 it was nominated for the Camerimage 2023 Best Music video award. Ren was listed as the director and Samuel Perry-Falvey the cinematographer.[35][8] In February 2023, Ren released a "retake" of the Verve song "Bitter Sweet Symphony". Verve bassist Simon Jones voiced his appreciation and presented Ren with a guitar as a gift.[5]
Ren has spent many years dealing with health issues.[5] In the video to "Hi Ren", he mentions dealing with autoimmunity, illness, and psychosis. He was misdiagnosed with depression and bipolar disorder and later was diagnosed with Lyme disease in Belgium.[29][5][36] In 2016,[37] he received an experimental stem cell treatment.[25][38] In an effort to help raise money for this treatment, Ren created the Freckled Angels album.[39] After the treatment, he regained some of his health back,[25][38] but didn't have the same energy level as the average person.[40] He was left with ongoing autoimmune issues,[41] brain damage, and PTSD.[5] Despite this he "started busking on the streets of Brighton".[25][38]
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 front men.[42][43] Their 2021 UK Tour sold out.[42] The Big Push played their last gig and broke up in 2022 due in part to Ren's health issues.[6]
Ren was named as one of Atwood Magazine's 2023 Artists to Watch,[44] Société Magazine listed him as one of the "Top Artists To Look Out For In Sussex",[45] and the music critic Gareth Branwyn called his music "intense," and "refreshingly unique"[46] and his rapping as "impressive".[47]
In May 2023, Ren was interviewed by Justin Hawkins of The Darkness on Hawkins's YouTube channel.[19]: 0.00:00 Since becoming sick, Ren has said that his life's work has been closely related to looking for better ways to deal with mental health issues.[48] Since January 2023, he has been in Canada receiving specialised medical treatment for his illness.[49][50] In June 2023, Ren presented a cheque for £21,000 to the RNLI crew on Beaumaris, Anglesey.[18] He had used his status as a musician to get his fans to raise the money, in recognition of the RNLI great work in saving peoples lives and the effort they put in trying to find his friend Joe Hughes, who jumped from the Menai Suspension Bridge in 2010.[51]
Ren often uses his public persona to raise awareness of mental health issues.[52]
In a Q&A video that premiered on YouTube on 28 September 2023, Ren spoke about, among other things, his middle name. When asked this question, he answered "My middle name is Eryn. Like Eryn, E–R–Y–N. Eryn."[2]
His second album Sick Boi was released on 13 October 2023.[53] The style has been described as kaleidoscopic hip-hop.[54] 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.[54][7] His openness and honesty about his struggles with his mental and physical health is what has drawn people worldwide to his music.[55]
Over the course of the year prior to the album's release, many tracks from the album 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.[56] Upon release, the Sick Boi album 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?.[57] Sick Boi went on to secure number one by almost 6,000 units,[58] surpassing artists like Drake and Troye Sivan on his way to the top.[54] 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.”[59]
In the US, Ren debuted at No. 4 on the Emerging Artists chart[11] and No. 54 on the Billboard 100 Artists chart.[12] 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."[11]
Ren was unable to perform to promote his album due to his ongoing treatment in Calgary[60][61] and attributed the level of its success to his friends and his fan base's promotion of it.[62][54]
On 1 November 2023, Rolling Stone UK announced that Ren was one of five acts that had made "their own formidable stamp on British music throughout the year", and were nominees for the Breakthrough Award at the Rolling Stone UK Awards 2023.[63]
Money Game part 3, from the Sick Boi Album, was London Music Video Awards (LMVA) choice for Music Video Of The Month in December 2023.[13] It won Best Music Video, Best Director, and Best Concept, and was nominated for Best Cinematography and Best Narrative at the LMVAs 2024 competition.[14] It won Best Music Video, Best Director Music Video, and an Honourable Mention for Best Cinematography at the 2024 International Music Video Awards, and [15] won Best Music Video in 2024 at the ÉCU The European Independent Film Festival[16] It was also chosen for the British Arrows Y24 Shortlist in the categories of Music Video Director and Music Video Producer.[17] Money Game part 3 was written, composed, arranged, and performed by Ren and the video was directed by Ren Gill and Samuel Perry-Falvey.[13][16] The video was produced by Connor Hunnisett, Samuel Perry-Falvey & Amy Ellery.[17]
Ren appeared centre stage[64] at the 2024 Secret Garden Party with a two-part, two-hour show called “Asylum”. Produced and created by Ren Gill & Secret Garden Party, his first solo show in five years[65][66] included collaborations with Chinchilla, Eden Nash and Romain Axisa, theatrical performances, and live strings. Just like the Sick Boi album, it showcased the asylum Ren experienced as he looked for answers from the healthcare system as to why he was ill. Also showcased was the asylum (safe haven) that others have found because of Ren and his music.[64][66]
