![listen to me against the world album listen to me against the world album](https://cdn.shoplightspeed.com/shops/634895/files/24015537/1600x2048x2/2pac-me-against-the-world-25th-anniversary.jpg)
Me and my creative director, we both sat down after I wrote the song. What was the inspiration behind the video itself? How was it like shooting it? We saw the music video and there was a lot going on, like a colander-ish situation and the ventriloquist scene. It's not the world that is against you, it's just that you know the decisions that you're making. And they hope you figure it out but the way they're going about things isn't right and you're putting all of this on yourself. In this track, I guess it's a little different in the way that in this situation, this person has got very self-destructive, self-sabotaging qualities and you tell them you're rooting for them. I feel like that's becoming a lot normal which is amazing. I feel like that's the message that has been really, I guess, elevated for the past few years. It's obviously hugely important to just check in with people and make sure they're okay. How important do you think is this message nowadays? The single is about reaching out to someone feeling hopeless and destructive and getting a message across that you're still rooting for them. But then, at the same time, if they're listening to it in their car or by themselves, they can kind of also hear all the lyrics and figure out what it's about. And it's loud and it's like a festival song and people can scream it back. My main goal was to make sure it really just hits really hard live, and everyone wants to jump around to it. (laughs) It was very similar to it was like, slight changes that really would impact how it feels live. It went through, like, fifteen versions of pretty much the exact same song. The finishing touches actually took quite a long time. I wrote in LA with Sammy Witte and Emma Rosen, and then finished it in Sydney with my producer M-Phazes. On the first day, I felt like I knew exactly what it was gonna sound like and where I wanted it to be. So what was it like working on 'You Against Yourself' and how was it like collaborating with others on the single? So Bandwagon sat down with Ruel to give more insight about what the single is about and how it was created-and the things this young artist did to keep his mind off of things when needed. We can't help but feel intrigued over this, especially from someone who reportedly has written and recorded over a hundred songs over the last two and a half years.