Betting everything on himself, RINI is boldly pursuing his love for music, one leap of faith at a time.

Responsible for such hits as “Aphrodite,” “Meet Me In Amsterdam,” and “My Favourite Clothes,” RINI is back with his latest EP Lucky 7 — a never-before-heard exploration in sound and lyricism from the Filipino-Australian R&B star, signaling an exciting new chapter in his career.

Chock full of songs that are infectious as anything RINI has ever put out, Lucky 7 stands out in his discography as perhaps his most experimental effort yet, showcasing a tasteful blend of his signature R&B, alongside elements of psychedelic, rock, funk, pop, and soul in the mix. Serving as his first body of work since 2022’s Ultraviolet, Lucky 7 ultimately sees RINI open his heart out all for the world to see, becoming the most vulnerable he’s ever been in his music as he touches on extremely personal topics such as long-distance relationships, letting go of love, and more.

What results is a strong musical effort born from RINI’s inclination to take risks and experiment with his artistry, all for the sake of his love for music. In turn, this bold move has ultimately led his songs to resonate with countless listeners across the globe, especially in here in his homeland of the Philippines.

With this, Billboard Philippines sat down with RINI to talk more about the story behind Lucky 7, his learnings from moving to Los Angeles to pursue music further, returning to the Philippines soon, as well as other future plans and more.

Billboard Philippines: Your latest EP Lucky 7 has been out for more than a month now. How does it feel to have this body of work out into the world, with millions of people, especially here in the Philippines, listening to the tracks constantly?

RINI: Honestly, it feels amazing. It’s probably one of the more personal projects I’ve put out. In the beginning, I was like, “Hmm, I don’t know.” I [felt] like it was gonna be one of those [instances] where I put out a song and I’m just like, “Maybe I was too open.” But I feel like that’s the reason why we make music — it’s to share our art, stories, and our emotions. So, yeah, I’m really happy that Lucky 7 is out.

People are showing a lot of love to it. It’s been rewarding. It took a lot of time to work on those songs and like, really get them to where they are so [I’m] very proud of it!

RINI: courtesy of Secret Signals, photographed by Tara Nichols

You’ve mentioned before that you believe you’ve “found yourself” and your “sound” with Lucky 7. The EP sees you explore a number of different genres, especially ones you grew up listening to such as psychedelic, rock, funk, pop, and soul. That being said, with how sonically diverse your music has become since you first started your career, what do you believe distinctly makes a song a RINI track?

I think, for me, it’s like when something lyrically is a sad song but when you listen to it, it makes you feel good, if it’s like a song that you can have, like, that connection to and takes some weight off your shoulders type of thing.

Like there’s a sort of release!

Yeah! I’ve heard a lot of fans say, like, “Hey, I’m going through this right now and this song is a sad song but it has made me feel so much better for some reason.” Like “Miracle” which is a song that’s like a hearbreak song but its beat is [something you can] dance to at a club.

I feel like that’s becoming a signature RINI thing. I feel like that’s something people wanna feel. There’s a lot of people going through stuff but they don’t need to be brought down even more. They need to be lifted up and feel release. That’s something I’m continuing to explore and just putting in the sound that I’m making.

The songs on Lucky 7 are what can be described as candid and vulnerable takes on different facets and stages of a romantic relationship, touching on such topics as sensual attraction on “Your Ecstasy,” being long-distance on “Far Away,” or the realities letting love go on the aforementioned “Miracle.” When it comes to being this personal with your work, what can you say is the most challenging part of doing so for the sake of inspiration? Ultimately, how has doing so transformed you into a better artist and person?

That’s a great question. I think, personaly, the thing I struggle with the most is honesty. Like, being vulnerable in the songs. Like, I know the whole world’s gonna hear it. I always have that fear in the back of my head like, “Oh, what would people say if I sing this or if I sound like this?” [But] at the same time, that’s how I feel [and] here’s so many other people that feel the same way, that are able to connect with these songs.

I think that’s the beautiful thing about music. [Being vulnerable] is a challenge you just gotta overcome it and you get to a point where you’re, like, honest to yourself and you don’t feel fake. I think that’s the best thing you can take away from overcoming that [challenge].

Since the songs on Lucky 7 are not only the embodiment of your very own signature sound but also very personal tracks, the EP is undeniably the perfect way for new listeners to be introduced to your music. With that being said, for our readers who are only discovering you now, which three tracks on Lucky 7 would personally recommend that they listen to in order to get to know you better as an artist and why?

One of my favorites is “Gone With The Wind.” It’s one I recommend to check out first in the EP.

“Far Away” is a very personal song because, you know, it talks about a long-distance relationship [and] it’s something I’ve been doing for five years and it’s tough man! It’s a song that, every time I listen to it, I feel like my girl is right next to me so, that’s another song.

The last one could be “Matter To You” because that’s me touching back on my real R&B side. I started making music with R&B music and it’s always gonna be kind of like the root of my music career, no matter how far I go in terms of discovering new sounds.

Speaking of going “far away,” you’ve mentioned before that when you moved to Los Angeles to pursue your career in music further, it was you taking “a risk” and that, ultimately, Lucky 7 is you “betting on” yourself. What have you learned since relocating to L.A. that has positively influenced you as an artist and as a person?

Number one thing, I guess, is being independent as a person. I’ve never been away from my family for that long. I was living in L.A. for four years, four-and-a-half years, and, you know, I had friends but family is different.

[Also,] just being able to stand up for myself more. Because this industry — when you get into the industry — there’s a lot of things going on. There’s competition. Culturally, to me, it was different. ‘Cause America — I wasn’t used to it when I first got out to L.A. I realized that if you don’t try to hustle and really show the world or everybody that you can do what you do, you get left out. That’s something I try to master. That helped me become more firm with myself and know who I am and what I like and what I love.

I’m kind of still in a self-discovery journey right now as we’re talking. [I’m] still getting to know myself but I think those are the two main things that I took away from the time that I’ve been in L.A. Just learning how to be independent and learning how to be authentically “you” and not take anything from anybody.

RINI: courtesy of Secret Signals, photographed by Dean Bradshaw

As I mentioned earlier, you have a lot of listeners here in the Philippines and since the Manila stop of your ‘Past the Naked Eye’ tour last year, that number has undeniably grown further. After all these years, how does it feel knowing that your music has and continues to resonate with your fellow Filipinos? In addition, can we expect your return to the country soon?

Yes, actually! Glad you asked that. I’m planning a tour right now. We have the Australia one already set for December. Right now, we’re talking about going to the Philippines next year. Maybe like, February or March.

I’m really excited because [the Manila show] was probably the best show I did in the whole Asia run last year. The Philippines was crazy. I’m super grateful. All the Filipino fans, I know when they support somebody. Like, us Filipinos, we take pride in other Filipinos winning so, I’m super proud and grateful to be Filipino, sharing this journey with the fans in the Philippines. When I go back, I wanna try and do something special, like hang out with some fans outside of the show, like, maybe a pop-up or something.

Lastly, you’ve also mentioned before that the tracks on Lucky 7 are “part of a larger project” that  you’ve “been developing.” With regards to that, what can we anticipate from you in the near future in terms of music?

That’s true, all the stuff that you said! I actually have a lot more music that’s been waiting to be released. [For Lucky 7,] we decided to go with a smaller project because, you know, I haven’t put out new music in a while ever since Ultraviolet so we wanted to kind of start building things up before we put out a bigger project.

With future projects, Lucky 7 is kind of like the door opening for this sound. But I really want to talk more about my life and look back and write songs about my childhood and growing up in the Philippines; and moving to Australia and growing up as an immigrant. Like, different stuff and not just love songs. Because I feel like I have such an interesting story to tell the world and I really wanna be able to share that.

I already have a vision of what I want to call the project. I wanna call it “Casino.” Because we have Lucky 7, which is like “betting on yourself” but then “Casino” is like the full picture. When you go to a casino, it’s chaotic. You don’t know what’s gonna happen. You take risks. You either go ’til you lose all your money or you hit the jackpot. You don’t know. And that’s kind of like where I’m at in life right now. A lot of the stuff that I’m going through in my career is all a risk and I’m, like, just enjoying my time in this “casino.” I believe that, one day, I’ll be able to hit the jackpot.

Listen to RINI’s Lucky 7 below:

This interview has been edited for brevity and clarity.