For a while there, singer-songwriter Dean Lewis could have been lost to the gaming world. In 2005, he represented Australia playing Halo 2 at the World Cyber Games in Singapore–and finished fifth. But after developing an obsession with Oasis, he secreted himself in his room with his acoustic guitar. Born in Sydney in 1987, Lewis first took up the instrument at his father's urging at age 12, but only started to take it seriously in his late teens. “I spent all these years in my bedroom not thinking I was good enough,” Lewis told Apple Music. “It took a lot of people to say, ‘Oh, you’re good enough to do it.’” One of those people was Savage Garden’s former manager, whom Lewis, an Apple Music Up Next honouree, met at a boat party via a mutual friend. Upon hearing Lewis’ music, she helped land him a publishing deal. Hundreds of songs later—some of which went to artists such as Australian singer Taylor Henderson—Lewis released his debut single, “Waves,” in 2016. Imbued with James Blunt’s vocal vulnerability and Chris Martin’s knack for turning the everyday into a sweeping, affecting, relatable tune, “Waves” is a rumination on life becoming less exciting as you age. And it showcased his ability to land a killer blow in one line: “I watched my wild youth disappear in front of my eyes.” “That really personal style of writing is something I got from Bruce Springsteen,” he said. It’s on full display on his debut album, 2019’s A Place We Knew–the follow-up to his 2017 EP Same Kind of Different. Songs such as “7 Minutes” and “Be Alright” combine personal heartbreak with melodic, contemporary soft rock. “Ninety percent of the things I sing about are things that have happened to me,” he offers. “That’s how the songs connect.”