Tom Derickx’s new song is the most personal he’s ever released. Titled Put The Work In, on the surface, it sounds like a love song. But listen closely, and you’ll hear something far more vulnerable  – a reckoning with mental health, identity, and what it means to feel things fully.

For Derickx – a former AFL player, model and longtime RUOK? ambassador – the release marks an honest turning point, not just in his music, but in his life. “This single is the sound of me walking through the fire,” Derickx tells RUSSH. “It’s not polished, it’s raw, like the first time I felt something real in a long time.” In particular, Put The Work In speaks to the version of Derickx that no longer hides behind what he calls “a safety blanket” –  the things he once leaned on to quiet the noise of public life. “You never get the great feeling you feel after doing something challenging,” he says. “You start living a bit of a lie.”

Music has been simmering in the background of Derickx’s life for years. He started out drumming, then played in garage bands as a teenager, and studied composition at university before football took centre stage. In recent years, he found success as one half of Kayex, the electro-pop band he formed with Perth school friend Palassi Kailis. But his decision to go solo marked a shift, both in sound and intention. “This latest batch [of songs] is definitely a personal batch,” he says. “[It’s] narrating things I haven’t really been able to talk about.”

Away from music, Derickx is no stranger to being vulnerable. As an ambassador for RUOK?, he’s spent a decade encouraging others, in particular, men, to talk about their struggles. But as he admits, for a long time, he wasn’t telling the full story. “It was like, yeah, you’re being vulnerable, but it’s not a real vulnerability. It’s like a dulled down version of it.”

Now, with Put The Work In, Derickx is stepping into authenticity wholeheartedly, and confronting the parts of his journey he once kept hidden. For years, he turned to unhealthy routines and behaviours that helped him manage the high-pressure worlds of professional sports and public life. “I’d just medicate myself to feel comfortable,” he recalls.

While these coping mechanisms might have worked to dull the nerves, they also cut him off from genuine moments of vulnerability and growth. “It became something I couldn’t really hide anymore. I made a promise to my ex that I wouldn’t do it again, and I’ve kept that promise. And then the next thing is becoming okay with that part of your story.”

The decision to be open wasn’t without fear, but Derickx says the response so far has been one of admiration, rather than the embarrassment or shame he expected. “Coming through the other side of it, talking about it with people, making it part of your story. It could help someone else,” he says. At the same time, Derickx says while society has come leaps and bounds in destigmatising mental health conditions like anxiety and depression, the ways people cope with them can still be shrouded in judgement. "I’m ready to just be authentic and real about it. Because I think the more I talk about it — not that I’ve really dove into it in depth yet — the more I sort of, destigmatise it."

As well as continuing to make music (he says to expect something a little more lighthearted as a follow up to Put The Work In), Derickx hopes his honesty will inspire others to do the same. “I’m noticing that there’s always been strength in vulnerability for me,” he says. “I see people, or men in particular, talking about their struggles as the ultimate pillar of strength… I just value someone who can be so strong.”

Put The Work In is available to stream now.