New Shooting Star: Who is Audrey Hobert?

Rosie Greenwood

If you’ve been on TikTok in the past six months, chances are you’ve heard of Audrey Hobert. With her Billboard charting single “Sue me,” which has amassed over 33 million streams since its release in May, and “Bowling alley,” which cultivated the TikTok dance community over the summer, many people have been left with one grueling question: “Who even is this girl?”

Hobert’s rapid and recent rise to stardom has led many to dub her an “industry plant,” or worse: a nepo baby. It’s true, her father is a television producer and writer, which actually inspired her to attend NYU Tisch for screenwriting — but she found her true passion in songwriting. She’s been a collaborator with her childhood best friend, Gracie Abrams, having written on two of her biggest hits: “I Love You, I’m Sorry” and “That’s So True,” both incredibly popular, charting songs.

Abrams and Hobert have a similar (if not the same) demographic, however, Hobert may represent a new frontier for this generation of music. Her public persona and discography feel authentic and genuine — she’s awkward and funny and truly herself. Her debut album “Who’s The Clown?” contains songs about her personal insecurities and social awkwardness, such as “Phoebe” and “Thirst trap.” The album maintains a sense of self-awareness; she doesn’t take herself all that seriously and doesn’t need people to take her seriously, either. This security allows her to express the messy, often tumultuous human feelings and events that have occurred in her life.

This December, Hobert is starting on “The Staircase to Stardom Tour,” which spans across 29 shows in 10 different countries. All venues she will be playing have a capacity of under 1000, a stark comparison to her 1.9 million monthly listeners on Spotify. Tickets sold out in minutes, with resale prices going as upwards of $1000.

Whether you’re a fan or not, Audrey Hobert has already made an impact during her short time in the industry, and you can expect to see more of her in the future. There’s no doubt, to me at least, that Audrey Hobert will take her own steps, in the coming years, to ascend her own “Staircase to Stardom.”