Alice Ruby Closes a Breakout Year With the Tender 'xx'

Alice Ruby has followed her through a remarkable debut year. Now, the 21 year old singer, songwriter, violinist, and composer caps off 2025 with her new single 'xx', a quiet but piercing exploration of the emotional static that haunts modern love.

Where most breakup songs go for the grand, dramatic exit, 'xx' sits in the small, uneasy moments, the half typed messages, the slow building self doubt, the mixed signals that say everything while revealing nothing. Alice captures that liminal space where honesty might break the fragile thing we’re still clinging to.

Produced by Edward Quinn (Telenova, Slum Sociable), 'xx' sits in Alice Ruby’s growing sonic signature. But what lifts the track into its own universe are the strings, performed live by Alice herself, including a catchy pizzicato violin line inspired by The Cure’s 80s era angular romanticism.

With a background in film composition and a freshly minted Bachelor of Music Composition and Film Studies, Aliceapproaches songwriting like she’s scoring emotions rather than simply documenting them. The AU Review has already dubbed her style “lush cinematic indie pop” and 'xx' reinforces the title with ease.

Her ascent this year has been steady and impressive. 'Cellophane' which spent two weeks at #1 on the AMRAP Metro Chart, earned spins on Triple J, and landed Alice on playlists like Apple Music’s curated selections and Spotify’s Fresh Finds Indie and Fresh Finds AU/NZ. Her work has appeared in publications including Palisade and The AU Review, and her music videos have aired nationally on rage.

Live, Alice Ruby trades spectacle for intimacy, a vibrant but close to the heart performance style that has quickly set her apart. On December 4th, she steps into a new chapter with her first ever headline show at Nighthawks Bar in Collingwood, a milestone moment for an artist whose trajectory is clearly pointing upward.

At 21, Alice Ruby’s list of accomplishments already reads like a decade long career, violinist from age three, multi instrumentalist, songwriter, producer, composer, performer. 

And she sets the tone for a future that feels just as dreamy, just as cinematic, and even more emotionally fearless.