Remi Wolf on “gritty, emotional” ‘Mud’: “This album is a sonic sidestep – there’s always fear in trying

Remi Wolf has spoken to NME about her “gritty, emotional” third album ‘Mud’, as well as her viral appearance in romantic drama Off Campus and the chances of a collaboration with Hayley Williams.

• READ MORE: Remi Wolf – ‘Big Ideas’ review: funk-fuelled catharsis.

Following two funk-driven albums of party-starting alt-pop (2021’s ‘Juno’ and 2024’s ‘Big Ideas’), Wolf wanted to change things up for album three. “My first goal was that I wanted to be able to play every song on an acoustic guitar around a campfire, and it still hit you in the gut,” Wolf told NME from a hotel room overlooking New York City.

The Californian artist also teamed up with people she trusted – regular collaborator Jared Solomon, long-time friend Jack DeMeo, and friend and sister-in-law Gigi Grombacher – to create ‘Mud’, which she described in a press release as a “very cleansing record” to make.

Antes de entrar no estúdio, ela se inspirou no rockeiro country Lucinda Williams, no ex‑membro do War On Drugs Kurt Vile e no America (“one of my favourite ever bands”), além de Paul McCartney, Wings e Neil Young.

Once she was in NYC’s famous Electric Lady Studios, she was drawn to music that felt rooted, earthy, and raw. “There’s a lot of acoustic guitar on the record, and a lot of gritty electric guitar,” Wolf said.

Wanting to make each track as strong and distinctive as possible (“I have ADHD so I never want any song to feel too similar to another, and I hate redundancy”), she ended up writing around 130 songs for ‘Mud’.

Os que conseguiram entrar sentiram-se “emotionally muddy” mas também alcançaram o que Wolf e seus colaboradores chamam de “SpongeBob Ascendance”, referência ao meme em que a esponja animada ouve música tão boa que literalmente flutua em direção ao céu.

Se uma música não tivesse ambos esses sentimentos associados a ela, não a colocamos no álbum, ela nos disse. “If a song didn’t have both of those feelings attached to it, we didn’t put it on the album,” she told us.

Check out the full interview below, where Wolf also talks about processing the shame of alcohol addiction, her experience of “raw dogging the hell out of life”, the healing power of making ‘Mud’, her “dream” of voicing a Pixar character in the future, and more.

NME: Hey, Remi. What inspired the different approach to ‘Mud’.

Remi Wolf: “I really wanted to turn a page for myself, make something new and keep experimenting with my shit. I’ve lived almost the entirety of my 20s on tour and by the end of it, I felt this disconnect between the music I was singing on stage and how I was actually feeling, which was very lost and very tired.

When I started writing this album, I’d also just gotten out of a relationship that wrecked me. There was just so much that had gone unprocessed.”.

What does the title ‘Mud’ mean to you.

Liricamente, qual é a história de 'Mud.

Does this record feel more vulnerable than previous albums.

You’ve released three singles so far – ‘Twiggy’, ‘Bottle’ and ‘I Won’t Cry’. How have you found the reaction from fans.

Você fez um cameo no Off Campus da Amazon Prime Video no início deste ano – como foi essa experiência para você.

Você estreou “Twiggy” no início deste ano ao apresentá‑la ao vivo com Hayley Williams. Há algum plano de entrar em um estúdio juntos.

O novo álbum “Mud” de Remi Wolf será lançado nesta sexta-feira (9 de outubro) – pré-encomenda/pre-guardar aqui.

A voz definidora do mundo em música e cultura pop: revelando o que há de novo e o que vem por aí desde 1952.

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