Rudimental

The London-rooted electronic group Rudimental specializes in uplifting dance tracks frequently enriched by standout guest singers. Beginning in the late 2000s, the four-piece delivered a consistent run of successful releases, among them the U.K. chart leaders “Feel the Love” featuring John Newman and “Waiting All Night” featuring Ella Eyre. Their multi-platinum first album, Home, reached stores in 2013, while the follow-up, 2015’s We the Generation, also debuted at number one and contained the worldwide success “Lay It All on Me” featuring Ed Sheeran. The third collection, Toast to Our Differences, arrived in 2018 and yielded the international hit “These Days” featuring Jess Glynne, Macklemore, and Dan Caplen. In 2021 the quartet unveiled their fourth long-player, Ground Control, which preceded the 2022 single “Break My Heart.”

Rudimental first assembled in 2009 when production partners Piers Agget and Kesi Dryden began working together. Their emergence as performers came with the U.K. number-one single “Feel the Love.” Agget’s club sets led him to DJ Locksmith, who soon completed the trio, and a subsequent studio encounter in Hoxton, London, brought Amir Amor into the fold. The outfit’s inaugural outing, the dancehall-tinged “Deep in the Valley,” surfaced on the garage, grime, and dubstep imprint Black Butter in 2011 and was swiftly succeeded by “Speeding” and “Spoons.” After Asylum Records/Warner Music signed the act on the strength of those early cuts, the drum’n’bass track “Feel the Love” appeared in 2012. Zane Lowe championed the song on BBC Radio 1, propelling it to the top of the U.K. singles chart the same weekend Rudimental performed at the station’s Hackney Weekender. Home followed in 2013. Enlisting leading British voices such as Emeli Sandé, the album blended dubstep, R&B, house, and drum’n’bass to widespread acclaim and debuted at number one on the U.K. album chart. Further singles continued to surface through 2014, notably the U.K. chart-topper “Waiting All Night,” which earned a BRIT Award for Best British Single. Another major success arrived in 2015 via the Ed Sheeran collaboration “Bloodstream,” setting the stage for We the Generation. That sophomore release featured appearances by Dizzee Rascal, Anne-Marie, MNEK, Lianne La Havas, Bobby Womack, and additional artists. The album’s second Sheeran track, “Lay It All on Me,” marked Rudimental’s first entry on the U.S. charts and their eighth U.K. Top 40 hit while achieving platinum status in Australia, Denmark, Italy, New Zealand, and the U.K. The group closed 2017 with James Arthur on the single “Sun Comes Up.” The next year brought several prominent joint releases—“Let Me Live” with Major Lazer, Anne-Marie, and Mr. Eazi; “Walk Alone” with Tom Walker; “Summer Love” with Rita Ora; and the multi-platinum chart-topper “These Days” with Jess Glynne, Macklemore, and Dan Caplen—all of which appeared on the third album, Toast to Our Differences, issued in early 2019. August 2020 saw the arrival of “Come Over” featuring Anne-Marie and Tion Wayne, a track later included on the 2021 fourth album Ground Control alongside the singles “Be the One” and “So Sorry.” “Break My Heart” followed in 2022.