The 220-million-stream signature did not come first. Before RUNRUNRUN, Dutch Melrose was an LA songwriter finding his sound one release at a time.
Before the imprint
Early tracks like Sleepless (2020) predate the MADKID era, released before the catalog consolidated under his own label. They are the foundation, the sound of an artist figuring out the dark, melodic lane he would later own. Every signature artist has a stretch like this, the woodshedding years where the identity is still forming and the streams are still small.
Finding the voice
The early singles are where Dutch worked out the balance he is now known for: enough pop to be catchy, enough darkness to be his. You can hear him testing how moody a hook can get before it stops being a hook, the exact tension that would later make RUNRUNRUN work. None of it is wasted; it is the practice that made the breakthrough repeatable.
Every signature song has a quiet prologue.
The turn
Everything changed in March 2022, when RUNRUNRUN arrived on MADKID Records and became the song that defined him. The early singles are what made that breakthrough possible; you do not land a signature song without the years of practice behind it. From there, the release pace and the streaming numbers only compounded. The full timeline is in the Dutch Melrose wiki.