There seems little doubt that the scruffy charm of Australian singer Conrad Sewell is about to take him a very long way. Captured in today’s film horsing around backstage with Ed Sheeran, whom he opened for on the English star’s recent tour, Sewell’s self-effacing, slightly goofy attitude belies his phenomenal number of YouTube views. 

Sewell's keening, confessional vocal on the beach-towel house tune “Firestone,” by Norwegian producer Kygo, has helped ease the track to 49 million hits since the song came out in March, and the gifted musician’s own solo videos are no slouches either, with summer single “Hold Me Up” currently on 600,000-plus-views and rising. 

While Sewell knows well that the hype around him carries its own set of pressures, his dressing-room piggybacks with Sheeran are evidence of an unpretentious and easy-going nature similar to Taylor Swift's, which enables an easy affinity with young fans. While there are no guarantees that he will achieve the superstardom of his peers, one thing is clear: rock’n’roll rebellion is decidedly not part of the recipe.