This page is entirely dedicated to the English musician known as Rat Boy. Even though the Englishman is a particularly new talent, he is already quite famous among people, especially among the younger generation. Without a doubt, Jordan Cardy deserves even more recognition. Not only is he a talented guitar player, but most of his songs are filled with genuine truth.
In the succeeding sections, we’ll deliver up-to-date information regarding Rat Boy’s early life, career, debuts, and development. We’ll do our best to be as informative as possible and deliver all data about the young musician in one place. We truly hope you’ll find this page useful since the amount of available information about Rat Boy is quite limited.
Rat Boy’s Early Life
Jordan Cardy was born in Chelmsford, Essex, in 1996. He studies at Chelmer Valley High School, and his greatest interest was art. Cardy used to spend his free time doodling different pictures. That’s probably one of the reasons why he chose to study art at Colchester College. Today, some of his art can be observed online. The musician even used some of the projects for the covers of different songs of his.
Another thing he genuinely enjoyed doing in his spare time was writing. Despite the fact that Jordan is dyslexic, he released a few songs on SoundCloud. As many of you know, this is a Swedish platform used for sharing online audio. Many musicians choose to start their journey there because SoundCloud allows them to easily upload and promote their products.
Surprisingly, Jordan Cardy added his songs on the platform under the obscure pseudonym of Rat Boy. After some time, he shared that this was the nickname people from school called him by. The reason being was that, in their opinion, Jordan’s facial features resembled those of a rat. While he was at school, the young musician had some trouble grasping the material due to his condition. Nevertheless, when he got older and started writing his very first songs, he overcame some of his difficulties and didn’t struggle to create his writings. The first project he uploaded on SoundCloud was named The Mixtape. The five-track mix got massive approval from the audience, and Rat Boy later expanded his music portfolio on the website.
First Steps Into the Music Industry
Rat Boy’s entrance into the music industry actually happened with his first release on SoundCloud. The Mixtape was produced after Jordan got fired from his work. For a short period of time, he used to work at Wetherspoons. That is a pub company, which operates in the United Kingdom and is existent since 1979. Today, there are more than 900 Wetherspoons pubs.
Cardy didn’t enjoy spending so much time of his everyday life working there. Therefore, his quality of work was not of the highest level, which eventually led to his firing. Soon after becoming unemployed, Jordan found his inspiration and came up with The Mixtape in no time. The number of his followers started growing tremendously, and Rat Boy decided to take his chances by sending his debut to several record companies.
Not long after, Drew McConnell contacted him and arranged a meeting between the two of them. Drew was the bassist for Babyshambles, an English rock band that was formed in 2004 in London. Unfortunately, however, in 2014, the group fall apart. Subsequently, after the rendezvous of the two musicians, Rat Boy signed to Parlophone.
Parlophone is a record label established in 1896. Cardy joined the company in early 2015. The Mixtape by Rat Boy started appearing on popular radio stations and got featured in NME Magazine. The talent started getting more and more approval, and for a short period, his popularity grew immensely.
Rat Boy YouTube Channel
When Rat Boy made the decision to chase his dream of becoming a successful musician, he created not only a SoundCloud account but a YouTube channel, as well. As can be seen on the platform, he added his first video at the end of March 2015. During the same year, he uploaded four more videos named:
- BOYZ IN DA VAN
- RAT BOY – SING ON
- RAT BOY LIVE GREAT ESCAPE – KNOCK KNOCK
In the following year, Cardy was way more active on YouTube, adding 13 videos on his channel. Among these videos, you will find not only the official videos for his songs but recordings of his live performances, as well. During the years, his projects started receiving greater recognition and attention, and some of his uploads have more than one million views.
His most viewed video is that of his song called Get Over It. It’s been played more than 1.2 million times and has thousands of likes hundreds of comments. Currently, Jordan’s YouTube channel is called SCUM STUDIOS. The reason being is that Rat Boy’s first album is named Scum. The channel has more than 39K subscribers, and the number of views per video varies between 3K and 1.2 million.
Rat Boy’s Style
One of the reasons for Rat Boy’s popularity is the fact that his style is quite unique. Many experts state that his music is truly outstanding. Even though he’s in his mid-twenties, his texts are filled with sense, and his songs focus on real-life problems. His attempt is to create music that people will feel close to. For example, some of his projects include talks from Jordan’s everyday life. Additionally, if you listen closely to some of his songs, you’ll find out that they convey a message.
Rat Boy gives his best to create music that tells stories. His style is the perfect mixture between indie rock and hip hop, and that’s why his art is considered exceptional. And by art, we don’t mean just music. As mentioned above, Rat Boy finds pleasure in drawing. He has sketched multiple pictures that are available online.
As you’ll find for yourself, his creations are quite peculiar and vivid. It’s the same with his music. He tries to be easily distinguished from the mass of musicians by delivering an unusual type of content to his fans. He certainly succeeded in his endeavour since his album called Scum was released a few years after his first track upload on SoundCloud.
Further Success
Since the very beginning of Rat Boy’s musical career, his success has kept growing. After signing up with Parlophone in 2015, Jordan became part of the BBC Sound of 2016 Longlist. As some of you probably know, this is a list that’s formed each year, and it contains the names of artists who music specialists believe will become incredibly popular in the upcoming 12 months.
What’s more, Rat Boy’s name appeared on MTV’s Brand New list. This is another annual listing consisting of music artist’s names that are expected to gain a lot of recognition and fame. Jordan’s pseudonym was added to the table, next to the names of other popular musicians, such as Jack Garratt and Bonkaz.
In 2016, Rat Boy grabbed his first award, namely Best New Artist by NME Magazine. At the glamorous ceremony, he performed one of his songs called Move. For its making, Jordan worked with the producers Mario Caldato Jr and Jason Cox. The musician said that three of them got along very well and have met zero difficulties creating the single.
Cardy’s song Knock Knock Knock was sampled on one of Kendrick Lamar’s singles from his album Damn. When Rat Boy found out his song is part of Lamar’s Lust, he tweeted his excitement, saying he’s genuinely flattered by this compliment. A few months later, Rat Boy’s first album became a fact.
Scum
On August 11, 2017 Rat Boy released his first album named Scum via Parlophone. Unsurprisingly, the project received mainly good reviews. Some experts stated that the number of songs on the album is quite high, which, in their opinion, has led to a bit of a clutter. However, many of the singles on Scum have become absolute hits.
Scum received a rating of 74 out of 100 on Metacritic, which is a platform where various projects, such as books, songs, albums, movies, etc., get reviews. The website launched in 2001, and now it’s one of the most visited websites by people who wish to know more about a certain product.
Rat Boy’s debut album was mentioned on several highly popular magazines and newspapers, such as The Guardian, DIY, Clash, The Line of Best Fit, and many more. In one of the papers, the artist’s album was described as a contrast between bravado and vulnerability. Neli Z. Yeung from AllMusic also expressed his amazement, saying that Scum is a great product created by a person who’s overflowing with ideas.
In the Clash music and fashion magazine, Scum was said to be one of the most exciting and alluring things brought from British music for 2017. Some of the reviews were not as good as these; however, all critics agreed that Scum is certainly a successful project, and Rat Boy’s talent cannot be denied.
The album reached number 15 in the UK Albums Chart. That is a list of albums whose rank is based on the number of digital and physical sales of the product in the UK. Scum’s position in the Scottish Albums was 21st. What’s more, Rat Boy’s debut album was added to Dork’s Top 50 Albums of 2017. Louder Than War also ranked Scum on the 16th place in their Top 100 Albums of 2017.
The Making of Scum
Rat Boy’s deluxe album consists of 25 songs in total. However, the original Scum album has 13 tracks. In an interview, the artist shares that Scum was mostly created in his bedroom rather than a professional studio. The album contains older songs, as well, including a single that was released at the beginning of 2015. Jordan says that he had particular ideas in mind for the album, so he had to contact a few professionals for assistance.
Rat Boy worked with Kendrick Lamar’s producer because he wanted to create a style that resembles US hip-hop. Also, Stephen Street helped him with the making of one of the songs from Scum. Jordan says that some songs took longer to complete, while others were finished in a single night. Scum is mostly about Rat Boy’s life in Essex. The musician says that his head was full of ideas, and he had no difficulties writing so many songs over the years. He was very inspired by Gorillaz and Beastie Boys. When asked about the name of the album, Jordan simply answered that he really likes how this word looks. Additionally, Rat Boy has his own clothing line called Scum.
Most Popular Songs from Scum
The original Scum album consists of 13 songs. Their length varies between 2:38 and 4 minutes. All songs, with the exception of I’ll Be Waiting, were written by Jordan Cardy himself. Track number 12 is a work of Noah Booth, who plays the drums at Rat Boy’s band. Here is a complete list of the 13 tracks included in Scum:
- Turn Round M8
- Revolution
- Laidback
- Move
- Boiling Point
- Fake ID
- Sportswear
- Left 4 Dead
- Sign On
- Knock Knock Knock
- Scum
- I’ll Be Waiting
- Kicked Outta School
Without a doubt, three of the most popular singles from the album are Knock Knock Knock, Scum, and Turn Round M8. Knock Knock Knock is one of those songs that tell a story. With it, Rat Boy shares an experience he had years ago at a studio when a man held him and two other individuals hostages, because the other guys owed him money. Scum, as Rat Boy claimed himself, was inspired by Arctic Monkeys.
He shared that the song had to be re-done several times in order to become what Jordan was looking for. It’s one of the most guitar-based singles in his album. Turn Round M8 is the song that took Rat Boy the longest to complete. The reason being is that his laptop broke, and it contained all pieces from the almost complete single. Jordan worked with Damon Albarn and Gorillaz for the completion of this song.
Internationally Unknown
The second Rat Boy’s album is called Internationally Unknown. It was released on January 25th, 2019, again, via Parlophone. Like his first album, this one also got great reviews from many music critics. Even though the Metacritic’s rate of Internationally Unknown is lower than that of Scum, the album was still praised by the writers of The Observer, Q, Clash, and other popular magazines and newspapers.
The individuals’ opinions about the album were quite identical. Most of them pointed out the wild energy the album is packed with. Internationally Unknown consists of 12 songs in total:
- Chip on My Shoulder
- My Name Is Rat Boy
- Don’t Hesitate
- I Wanna Skate
- Follow Your Heart
- Internationally Unknown
- So What
- Peace No Justice
- Flies
- Night Creature
- Dad’s Crashed Car
- Silverlake
The production of the album was held not only by Rat Boy, but Tim Armstrong, as well, who is a Grammy-winning singer, songwriter, movie maker, producer, and actor. He’s featured in some of the tracks from Internationally Unknown, such as No Peace No Justice, where he sings with Rat Boy. Similar to Scum, Internationally Unknown’s singles again focus on rebellion. You’ll hear songs about disobedience, jobs that offer zero perspectives, and other substantial themes. One of the songs, I Wanna Skate, reveals Rat Boy’s other hobby, which is skating. Nevertheless, the single conveys another message.
With his lyrics, Jordan admits that he doesn’t really care about other people’s opinion, and he wants to do what only what he wishes. His goal is not chasing fame and getting expensive cars but rather living his best life doing exactly what he loves. As usual, most of Rat Boy’s productions have strict sense.
As previously stated, this is one of the major reasons why the artist has managed to grow so much popularity in such a short period of time. He has focused his attention on creating quality music that will boost your mood and made you think about certain themes simultaneously. The latter is achieved by delivering deep lyrics and the first by projecting singles with catchy melodies, lively tunes, and pounding bass.
Further Development
Rat Boy is only a twenty-something musician, which means that he will most likely develop even more as a professional. His style is incredibly unique, and all of his songs are fantastic in terms of melody and lyrics. He has managed to release two albums in a period of no more than two years. Therefore, it will be far from surprising if the musician announces that a third album is currently in process. One thing that’s for sure is that Rat Boy will definitely stick to his peculiar style and will do his best to come up with a number of new hits. Fans are eagerly expecting his newest singles to be released.