In March last year, Rubii’s life changed forever. She released the Olive Green EP while working at a nightclub on Brighton seafront and, within weeks, she was catapulted to almost a million monthly listeners on Spotify. Things would never be the same again, and it is the grappling with this seismic shift that forms the focus of her newest EP Change & Remain.

Rubii’s music has a unique quality. Sitting somehwere between RnB and rap, her delivery is layered yet rapid and softly-spoken yet punchy. “I don’t really deep the process. I just do my thing with it,” she tells Dazed, and the result is lyrics which are highly personal. “Can’t stand all the bougie places, all comes with the screwed up faces,” she purrs on opening track “Chameleon ft. Kofi Stone”, which affirms her desire not to be swayed by the shifting environments around her. 

At the centre of this resolve is Rubii’s memories of her younger self, back when being a full-time artist was just a fairytale. She addresses these memories on breakout single “Jammin”, with lyrics like, “I’ve been rockin’ big jeans and big dreams, and creams that keep the eczema at bay”. The same younger self appears on the cover of Change & Remain in the form of a black-and-white childhood photo. After all these years, Rubii is finally able to accomplish those nascent dreams, and now stands as a rolemodel for others to do the same. 

Below, we catch up with Rubii on everything that’s led up to the release of Change & Remain.

How did you first get into making music and what was the journey like up to the release of Olive Green?

Rubii: I grew up around music as both my parents are musicians. I’ve spent my whole life with an almost-addiction to sitting down and spending endless hours making something, whether that be playing the piano back in the day, drawing or making the music I make now and not withdrawing from it until I’ve got the result I want. I grew up playing a few instruments and singing in choirs etc and then joined a band around the age of 16-17 which had quite a different sound to what I make now. When I left the band I started doing music as a solo artist literally just finding lo-fi beats (along with my own awful production) and making one minute melodies over the top of them. I think Olive Green was a solidification of my sound, every moment up to that point had been working out what that sound was

“I know she would think I’m the coolest girl in the world and I could honestly sob for days over that” – Rubii

Breakout single “Jammin“ speaks to younger Rubii. With the benefit of hindsight, and this recent success, is there anything you’d like to tell her?

Rubii: I love this question. I don’t think I’d want to tell her anything that would change my younger self. If I could really meet my younger self I would just say, ‘You did it, and well done for fighting through your hardships because you’ve got me where I am today’. Also that I will always carry her childlike qualities with me for the rest of my life – we are still doing and loving the same things, drawing, creating and making music. It sort of feels like I’m tapping back into my younger self but with less adversity. I know she would think I’m the coolest girl in the world and I could honestly sob for days over that. 

Speaking of which, where did the name Rubii come from?

Rubii: I’m a big lover of the drink Rubicon, although I drink it less than I used to. The lychee carton is always a favourite. I changed my name on Instagram, when it was cool to have something a bit quirky, to ‘rubiicon’. I’d just started releasing my own music on SoundCloud at that point so some people would message me and say, ‘Hey Rubi’. I guess they were thinking that I’d changed my name to ‘Rubi Icon’ which makes me cringe a bit because that definitely wasn’t the intention. But, because I’d already been called ‘Rubi’, I just went with it and kept the two i’s. 

It’s important to see softly spoken female vocals in a space that is at least partly dominated by men. Is this something you’ve had first-hand experience of? 

Rubii: Definitely, it’s quite blatant to me and can sometimes be frustrating in that I do have to question whether people assume I can be taken advantage of purely because I’m a woman in a male-dominated industry. I’ve always been quite feisty when I need to be though – I’m not scared to put people in their place and that’s just the energy you need to carry within these spaces because there’s always the risk of not being taken seriously. As much as I meet unsavoury people I also meet a lot of sweet guys that are great to work with, too, and that feels really good! 

Considering the bittersweet themes of this latest EP, are you happy with this new life?

Rubii: I am happy, I’m overjoyed. The bitter in my songs usually comes from more personal experiences – I use writing almost as a form of therapy. In any situation there will always be downsides and difficulties, I’m just happy I have a medium to express my frustrations as I’m not the biggest talker. It also makes me laugh that I can sound both bitter and sweet in my music. I welcome all of the trials and tribulations along with the successes, it’s part of the journey!

Change & Remain is out now