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Music

Less Layers Mean More: How Ruth B's Minimalist Sound Went Viral

The singer's voice defies any type of generational trappings.

Ruth B might be the face of Generation Z but her voice defies any type of generational trappings. The 20-year-old singer from Edmonton got her start like many people her age: fooling around on social media. But unlike almost every other person her age, a simple Vine posting of her song “Lost Boy” led to the song becoming a viral hit. Soon after, it earned millions of streams, a record deal with Columbia, and a debut EP suitably called The Intro. As she sings in one of her songs, she’s golden.

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The key to Ruth B’s success is how she keeps her music simple. Whether it’s covering Drake and Lana Del Rey or performing original songs from The Intro, Ruth B modestly relies on just a piano to accompany her voice. The minimalism seems like a bold choice for such a newcomer, but Ruth’s silk-smooth voice is tender and natural. What you hear is what you get. A forthcoming full-length will be out “hopefully some time before this year is over.” “And one hundred percent of the time I’m in sweats while I’m making that,” Ruth told Noisey. So we asked her a few questions about the connection between music, clothing and comfort.

Noisey: What is the relationship between your style and your music?
Ruth B: I would say the relationship between my style and my music is that they’re both really honest and relatable to me. My music is very personal and I always try to keep it as unfiltered as possible. I guess I’m the same with my style. I try not to let any opinions influence me. I just wear what I want to wear.

Is comfort something you want to feel when you're making music?
Yeah, always. Absolutely. I make the best music when I’m in my natural element for sure. Most of the time I try to be relaxed and laid back, not even with just music. In everyday life I like to be comfortable and I think that has a huge impact on how I am for the rest of the day.

Something I really admire about your music is how it’s just a piano and your voice, which isn’t so common in pop music these days. What made you choose to keep it so minimal?
For me, I just really wanted my songs to be about the lyrics. I wanted to people to know that I’m a writer first, so I thought minimal production would put a lot more attention on to the words of the songs. And I also think being different is cool. I like the fact that that’s not as popular right now.

Were there any particular artists that inspired you to be so spacious and naked with your music?
I don’t know if it was artists that inspired me, but I do love Stevie Wonder and Carole King, people who do have a lot of piano in their music. I think their songs are very centred around the lyrics as well. So that may have played some sort of role in my decision.

What can we expect from the album?
There will be a lot of honest music, all written by myself. I think it will also be a little different just in the sense of the sound. People will see a much different side of me and hear me in a whole different light.

I see you’ll be touring for the first time ever this fall, opening up for Alessia Cara too, which seems like a great fit.
Yeah, we’ve met a few times briefly and she’s awesome. This will be my very first tour so I’m super excited, super nervous. It should be fun. I’m really looking forward to playing with a band. I’m gonna have some other musicians on stage with me for this time around. So I think I will just do a lot of learning from that. Cam Lindsay is a writer living in Toronto. Follow him on Twitter. This article has been made possible by Roots.