Award winning composer Joff Bush, and the Bluey music team have released their third album, Bluey: Rug Island, featuring 16 original tracks from the global hit animated series.
The show’s first album made history as the first children’s album to reach the #1 spot on the Australian ARIA chart. Together, ‘Bluey: The Album’ and ‘Bluey: Dance Mode!’, have racked up more than half a billion combined streams and both debuted at #1 on Billboard’s Kid Albums chart in the U.S.
Bluey has also been nominated for a 2024 ARIA Award in Australia for ‘Dance Mode’ in the Best Children’s Album category to be held this November.
‘Rug Island’ which was all recorded and produced in Brisbane, is a playful journey through the imaginations of sisters Bluey and Bingo. Featuring tracks from all three series, the album takes inspiration from the episode ‘Rug Island’ – a place where children play, and adults embrace their inner child.
That episode, from season two of Bluey, showcases a world where connector pens are everything, and a place where grown-ups aren’t allowed (but if you become a kid again that’s OK).
Joff Bush said that “creativity and imagination play an important role in the process of creating the music for Bluey. Like ‘Rug Island’, it’s about entering your own world and having fun while musically bringing Bluey’s story to life.”
Daniel O’Brien, who is one of the composers that make up the Bluey music team, told the Bluey’s Brisbane podcast that the entire album was built on the themes of the Rug Island episode.
“This album is all themed around friendship, play, imagination and adventure, and Rug Island really encompasses all of that. It’s such a strong episode and that’s why ‘Rug Island’ is both the album’s theme and title track.”
More highlights on the album include ‘Octopus’, featuring the surf rock combo King Stingray, ‘Onesies’ and a new vocal version of the ‘Bluey Theme Tune (Vocal Version)’, released earlier this month. Standout tracks include an ‘80s-inspired synth rock ‘Fairytale’, a traditional style sea shanty ‘Explorers’, the driving rock song ‘Muffin Drive’, and a simple sweet track in ‘Turtleboy’.
“‘Onesies’ is one of the tracks I’m most excited about,” continues Daniel. “We used a brass trio which we’re never used before in this way; we’ve used trumpets and saxophones before, but we were really going for a brass feature in the chorus.”
“That chorus is essentially new material that’s been written for the album; that chorus wasn’t used in the episode and we felt we needed to add a chorus to give it more of a song structure.”
Bluey composer Joff Bush in his West End studio (Justin Rouillon).
The collection is available to stream and download now, and has also been released on CD, sunset orange vinyl and 7,000 copies of a limited-edition vinyl picture disc. The picture disc vinyl is exclusive to HMV, Target and JB Hi-Fi.
Exclusively for Record Store Day Black Friday, a limited-edition 7’’ picture disc single will be released on 29th November. “Rug Island (Full Version)” is exclusive to the 7” picture disc single and features the full-length version of the track which is separated as a trilogy on the album. The B-side features the ‘Bluey Theme Tune (Vocal Version)’ taken from the album ‘Rug Island’. The 7’’ picture disc is limited to 6,000 units worldwide, with copies only available from participating Indie Record stores taking part in Records Store Day Black Friday this November. The vinyl will be available in record stores on the day on a first come first served basis.
For Bluey music-themed activities and more, please visit the official Bluey website https://www.bluey.tv/bluey-music.
The sleeve captures this scene from “Rug Island,” with the reverse of the sleeve connecting together with the previous albums to form a panoramic image of the Heeler’s home. Album artwork designed by Costa Daniel Kassab. (Supplied BBC Studios).
BLUEY: RUG ISLAND TRACKLISTING
- Bluey Theme Tune (Vocal Version)
- Rug Island, Pt. 1
- Obstacle Course
- Octopus feat. King Stingray
- Wild Girls
- Escape
- Onesies
- Fairytale
- Rug Island, Pt. 2
- Explorers
- Muffin Drive
- Turtleboy
- Bin Night
- Cricket
- Café
- Rug Island, Pt. 3