A year after 2025’s Kicking My Feet, Ruel Vincent van Dijk adds a companion album featuring many of the same collaborators—including M-Phazes, Dan Wilson, and Kenny Beats. The 10 new songs follow in the same footsteps, too, letting van Dijk’s sensitivity and creativity shine through the soft, atmospheric production. Now based in LA, the one-time Sydneysider is keen to explore the nuances and challenges of romance. “Loving you, baby/Makes me really, really hate myself,” he sings over distorted beats and funky guitar licks on opener “Hate Myself.” Buoyed by soft-rock breeziness, “Faking Smiles” is similarly about suffering quietly on the inside. Van Dijk has matured considerably as a songwriter since his 2023 debut, 4TH WALL, as proven by the emotional centerpiece “Don’t Say That.” Though it’s silky and snappy on the surface, it’s also a pleading ballad about desperately trying to mend fences in a waning relationship.