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I Completely Lost It! | Grammy Member Reacts to Ren 'Hi Ren' for the First Time

Listen In Colour with Rachel Walker Mason

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GRAMMY member songwriter reacts to Ren – "Hi Ren" | the song that broke me open

Two weeks ago, I didn't get the Grammy nomination I'd been working toward. The voice in my head told me I'd failed. Then I heard Ren's "Hi Ren" for the first time... and it completely broke me.

I've written country chart hits and won Best New Musical Song for "Drown Without Water." I know how to tell a story in 3 minutes and build a character arc across an entire show. But what Ren did in 7 minutes? This is the most sophisticated narrative structure I've ever heard in a single song.

What broke me as a professional storyteller:
→ 2:08 - The genre-flip as character reveal (this is MASTERCLASS songwriting)
→ 11:11 - "The beautiful curse" of creativity (every artist knows this demon)
→ 25:40 - The inner Satan reveals himself
→ 20:40 - When Hope enters the conversation (where I completely lost it)

Why this matters: I've collaborated with Jamie Lawson, written for country radio, and crafted songs for the stage. Ren took everything I know about storytelling and compressed it into a raw, unfiltered conversation between a man and his mind.
My synesthesia colors: Aggressive red → olive calm → yellow hope rising

This isn't a reaction video. It's a fellow warrior recognizing another soldier's battle scars.

📹 Hi Ren official video: Ren - Hi Ren (Official Music Video)
🔗 Ren's official channel: @renmakesmusic

TIMESTAMPS (these moments hit hard)
0:00 – Intro – First ever listen to Hi Ren by Ren
0:12 – Song starts… immediate “WHAT is this?!”
2:07 – Guitar + choir-boy voice + rap = brain explosion
4:08 – This is Gollum, but harder (voice-acting genius)
6:37 – £20-budget video that destroys everything
10:49 – The inner musician war starts getting real
11:11 – “Being a songwriter is a beautiful curse”
17:20 – The darker voice… wait, this is deeper than I thought
20:40 – The Hope section – I lose it and cry
24:12 – This song is spiritual warfare in 7 minutes
25:46 – I’m now 100 % obsessed – tell me EVERYTHING about Ren
29:49 – The colours I saw (synesthesia breakdown)
31:28 – Final thoughts + outro

Ren fans – please take over the comments:
What should I react to next? Sick Boi? Money Game trilogy? Jenny & Screech?
Drop your favourite lines, your stories, your theories – I need the full Ren education!If this one hit you in the chest, consider buying me a tea (I’m British )
→ https://buymeacoffee.com/rachelwalker...
Members get early access + help choose reactions →
@listenincolourwithrachel

This song just changed my life. Thank you for watching it with me.

#Ren #HiRen #RenReaction #FirstTimeHearingRen #MentalHealth #SongwriterReacts #songwriterlife
Have a colourful day
Rachel x

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20 Comments

@Listenincolourwithrachel Creator 10 months ago Pinned

Thank you all so much!! What Ren song should I do next?? Drop your vote below!

@williamhall3606 7 months ago

I am 73 years old and I found this masterpiece by mistake, I thought I was clicking on another song, and when this song came up, as soon as I saw the butcher in a pig mask (ironic), I thought "no" and was about to click out when Ren began to play the acoustic guitar, I absolutely love the acoustic guitar, so I watched. At the end of the song, I couldn't move, and my tears were streaming. I watched the video five more times because I felt something I hadn't felt in a long time... Hope. I have suffered severe depression my entire life, and this song touched every chord of what I lived, but the line that really hit me is when he began singing, that line (paraphrasing) "that I won't retire, or stand in your fire, inspire the weak to be strong" got my tears flowing. With everything this kid has been through, he could have been a bitter man, and rightfully so, and no one would have begrudged him, instead, he used his countless years of pain to create music to show us that he knows our struggles, darkness, and pain, because he lives it as well, and this is how he gets through it, powerful. What a gift. I now know that finding this song wasn't a mistake, the universe put it in my path because it was what I needed.

@MikeR_NZ 10 months ago

"Why have I never heard of Ren before?"

Because it wasn't time. Ren finds you when you need him to.

@cagedstooge 6 months ago

They shot the video in one take. All of the sounds were live, no editing, no filtering, etc. in one take in one day.

@PaulFeldkamp 9 months ago

My wife asks me why I watch reaction videos and my answer is always “justification for my feelings and emotions.” Are other people feeling what I feel when I listen to a piece of work? Your reaction puts that question to rest. Thanks for the emotional support.

@Dan-wo4bx 7 months ago

The voice you hear when you loosen the noose on the rope….. that’s a profound line … absolute genius.

@infin1ty850 6 months ago

I found Ren shortly after my wife passed and his music was one of the biggest factors in helping me move past it. His music has literally been life changing for me. I'm not going to sit here and try to claim how good he is as a musician because I don't think qualified to do that, but his music helped me greatly and I respect the hell out of him for that.

@GB57825 7 months ago

If I spent $200 to see a one-man show on Broadway, and it was him doing this one song, I would feel like I got my money's worth! An eternal message - the battle between good and evil is internal and external.

@dmj4966 10 months ago (edited)

As a 59 yr old I say this with complete understanding of how often this is said ....Ren may be the most important artist of the last 50 yrs since Pink Floyd, and the deepest yt rabbit hole since Nightwish.....he is a rapper, singer, philosopher, guitarist, bassist, pianist, producer, actor, writer.....and more

@ShazbatJones253 4 months ago

I love it when someone finds Ren for the first time, such a talent ❤

@Entropy72 10 months ago

What will really blow your mind is that this is a live recording. This is a performance, not overdubbed in a studio. What you are listening to is what was recorded on set.

@Markus-uc5jq 10 months ago (edited)

Ren is an independent musician, born 1990 in Wales. He is a tortured soul, because at the age of 19 he caught lyme disease, caused by a tick bite. This went undiagnosed for 7 years, and he nearly died from this, while the doctors told him, this would all be in his head, giving him pills against bipolar disorder, which made his health even worse. He developed autoimmunity and bartonella, a follow up of lyme. Lyme disease causes brain damages and lots of painful symptoms. After he was rightly diagnosed by a doctor in Brussels, a stem cell doctor in LA offered him treatment, and he was able, to get out of bed and make music again. But because the damage was done, lyme never got cured fully, and he has to be aware of his health, that's why he is unable to tour, only make single concerts or go busking in the streets of Brighton, where he lives. Still he has to go to clinic treatments in regular time distances. Sorry English is not my 1st language... So welcome to the Reniverse. There are 2 parts of life for many of us "Renegades": the one before, and the one after "Hi Ren". So I would suggest "Sick Boi" for the follow up...

@bamafandad22 4 months ago

I just heard Ren yesterday (5-20-26) for the first time. I’m a 68 year old man and I wept like a child I went looking for reactions because I had never heard of him. Your reaction hits home. God bless you and God bless Ren.

@woodywoodman2319 10 months ago

RENegades... we got another one! 😊

@GwenTripleG 10 months ago (edited)

Ren is brilliant! He is also a very generous human being! He has brought so much awareness to Lyme disease through his musical journey. I'm glad you're starting down this rabbit hole. The Renegades will descend on your channel!

@itskaybe6348 5 months ago

"Im going to go listen to everything he has ever done" 1:45 into the song. Yeah thats about how we all feel after our Ren introduction.

@yankeemanification 10 months ago

Ren is worth obsessing over. He is a great person whom also may be one of the greatest artists of our time. He doesn’t miss. He cannot be confined by any genre!

@pamelagoodman7559 9 months ago

Ren has said he’s agnostic but likes the symbolism and psychology of religion. He is also very well read in philosophy.

@Ticnsndbfbfbd 6 months ago

He's talking about losing control of your own subconscious, and how it will destroy you from the inside if you don't learn how to live with that part of yourself and find balance again.
This is what I'm in therapy for.

@Arkryal 10 months ago

I would just mention, he is very reactor-friendly. You don't need nearly as many pauses on his music as with many other artists, provided you link the official track and make sure the rection video isn't a substitute for listing to the official track. He prefers to work with reactors who get his music to a broader audience than actively fight against them for a few pennies worth of clicks. I actually respect that a lot. He's part of a new breed of musicians who actually understands viral marketing nearly as well as he does music. Everyone gushes over his lyricism, but his business savvy is just as impressive.