You Should Listen to Hi Ren
My latest musical obsession and why you should listen to it
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Ren Erin Gill is a Welsh artist who mostly does rap. “Hi Ren” is different. I can pretty much guarantee you have never heard anything quite like it. I’m embedding it here; watch it and come back — the rest of what I’m writing will make more sense afterwards.
The backstory of the song is pretty intense.
Ren was bitten by a tick when he was in his teens but didn’t realize it. He developed Lyme Disease but wasn’t diagnosed for around a decade — instead, he was diagnosed with mental illness and was treated for that, not for Lyme Disease. He was put on various psych meds as he got weaker and developed more pain. Apparently, he got the correct diagnosis at one point, which led to stem cell therapy. It didn’t fix a decade of his body falling apart, but it did help a lot. It made him strong enough to start creating music regularly. He raised enough money to get further treatment in Alberta, Canada.
His second album, released completely independently, will drop in October. It’s available for pre-order — this is not an affiliate link. The only thing I have gotten from Ren is his music. I want to share it with as many people as I can. https://www.renmakesmusic.co.uk/
Fuck, I have cried a half dozen times in my adult life, and since listening to Ren, I’ve been crying every few days, but it’s like it’s clearing things out, like every time I break down, I come back a little more whole. That song, the one listed above, is the one that introduced me to him.
Not all of his music is like this — He does silly rap with dick jokes sometimes, but the talent he has, even on those songs, is incredible. An example:
