Welshman Wren is at number one in the UK chart with the album “Sick Boi”

Young Welshman Wren tops the UK Top 100 Albums list with Sick Boi. He beat out Drake, Olivia Rodrigo and British pop icon Rick Astley on the charts. He talks about how, practically without getting out of his hospital bed, the rapper and multi-instrumentalist turned into the main artist of the United Kingdom Igor Gavrilov.

Rick Astley has been preparing for his next push to the top for a long time. For forty years now, his baritone has reigned in the hearts of high school girls and housewives thanks to the song “Never Gonna Give You Up.” 20 years after its release, it has found a second life thanks to an Internet meme that has spread among video game fans around the world. As of July 2023, the video for “Never Gonna Give You Up” has been viewed more than 1.4 billion times online.

This summer, Rick Astley performed twice at the Glastonbury festival, which is an unprecedented event even for the people’s artist of the whole of Great Britain. He played a set of super hits, which, along with his own hits, included “As It Was” by Harry Styles, “We Will Rock You” by Queen and “Highway To Hell” by AC/DC, and Astley also played drums in the last number. His second performance consisted of songs by The Smiths, and he was accompanied by musicians from the Blossoms group. This whole attraction was made up of details that are close to the heart of any British music lover. There was no doubt about the chart prospects of Rick Astley’s upcoming album Are We There Yet?

Last week, the album competed for number one with the new album Sick Boi, which was released by Ren (whose full name is Ren Erin Gill). The pop classic and indie rapper laid claim to the throne, which at that time was occupied by Canadian rapper Drake with the album “For All The Dogs”.

Ren has been working in the music industry since the early 2010s. However, his career was constantly hampered by mental and physical health problems. Moreover, chronic fatigue syndrome, which Ren had been treating for a long time with various drugs, turned out to be an incorrect diagnosis. Ren never finished writing his album as part of his contract with record major Sony Music, and he recorded almost all the songs for the indie debut “Freckled Angels” (2016) in his bedroom while fighting Lyme disease (aka tick-borne borreliosis). When Ren wasn’t busy undergoing treatment, he performed on the streets of Brighton with the band The Big Push. Videos taken during their street performances received millions of views.

The Big Push group followed the fate of such today’s stars as Zaz, Sela Sue and Maneskin, who also honed their skills on the streets. And Ren also masterfully mastered the art of promoting his work on social networks. For example, his TikTok account now has more than 900 thousand subscribers.

Remaining an independent musician and undergoing treatment in Canada, in December 2022, Ren released the video “Hi, Ren,” in which he detailed the story of his struggle with his illnesses. The clip was filmed in one room, without special effects. On the screen there was only Ren, playing the guitar, sitting in a wheelchair in a nightgown. He sang and rapped as several characters representing the voices in his head. There was so much artistic energy in this video that few people noticed its “low budget” nature. The video of the musician, about whom few had heard anything before, was actively shared by social network users, and to date it has been viewed 20 million times on YouTube alone. In subsequent videos, Ren seemed to continue the conversation he started in “Hi, Ren”. He filmed videos in the setting of “Hi, Ren”, went out into the street in a cover of “Bitter Sweet Symphony” by The Verve, and in the video for “Suicide” he used animation and at the same time continued to give verbose comments about his work and about his treatment at all possible resources.

The album “Sick Boi” was released on October 13. Starting from the ideas and images stated in “Hi, Ren,” Ren actually recorded a modern opera, using his entire performing and producing arsenal, from rap and reggae to bel canto and classical flamenco guitar. I’m scared for Ren. And not because of his illnesses – on the screen he is full of life. It’s scary how much he’s been given. How much he can do and knows. Everything featured on “Sick Boi” was written and produced by him himself. This guy with a shaved head, in an Adidas suit, like the gopniks from the gateway, will he take out, will he endure everything that is born in his head and is now available to millions? His image does not fit with the concept of “scale,” but he, as commentators on YouTube write, “breaks down the door and bursts into the room, unapologetic, unscrupulous, fearless.”

In the last 24 hours before the results were announced, Ren barely slept, using every means to encourage fans online to listen to and buy “Sick Boi.” 24 hours before the BBC Radio 1 broadcast, Rick Astley and Wren shared 350 chart units (the equivalent of one purchase or stream). The video, where Ren, in the company of friends, listens to the national hit parade, and then hugs with his boys on the porch of some simple dacha, almost a hut, is full of raw human authenticity and also works for the album. Now Ren’s next task is to make sure that his “Sick Boy” is not pushed off his pedestal by the new Rolling Stones album released a week later.