Dying in a boss fight and replaying a long stretch is never fun, so knowing how to save your game in Romeo is a Deadman can spare you a frustrating reset. As you chase space-time fugitives across fractured dimensions, slash through foes and piece together the mystery surrounding Juliet, it’s easy to get caught up in the action and forget to save your game. While the game has dedicated save points throughout missions and, eventually, aboard your ship, they aren’t always exactly where you need them. So, if you want to stay in control of your run, here’s how to save your game in Romeo is a Deadman.
Romeo is a Deadman: How to Save Your Game
To save your game in Romeo is a Deadman during missions, you need to find large, floating plus-sign icons that resemble television screens. They act as the game’s dedicated save points and are located throughout levels, usually after combat-heavy sections or near important objectives. When you see one, simply walk up to it, interact with it, select a save slot, and confirm.
Your progress will be saved as soon as you interact with a save point, so it’s a good idea to use these whenever you see them, especially before pushing into unfamiliar territory. Romeo is a Deadman has over a dozen save slots and you can overwrite the same slot whenever you like or rotate between multiple saves if you prefer backups.
You can also save your game aboard the ship in Romeo is a Deadman, but you will first need to obtain access to Romeo’s quarters. When you first begin the game, there will be no active save points aboard the ship, and you’ll need to unlock Romeo’s quarters before the save icon on the southern hallway wall can be used.
Once unlocked, Romeo’s quarters will act as a permanent save location and you can return to the ship between missions to manually save your progress. However, if you are defeated during a boss fight, the game may send you back to your last manual save rather than a nearby checkpoint, and you may have to replay a long stretch of the mission.
Hauser & Wirth Downtown Los Angeles will present Christina Quarles’ The Ground Glows Black from 24 February to 3 May 2026, marking her first exhibition with the gallery in the city. The new collection of paintings was developed in the aftermath of the Altadena wildfires and reflects a heightened sense of geographic and emotional displacement.
Known for her fluid figures and charged surfaces, Quarles pushes her compositions further here, building dense canvases in which bodies appear stretched, folded, suspended within moving planes of pattern and colour. Architectural pieces and digitally inflected spaces intersect with fragments of the human form, creating unstable environments that mirror the precariousness of life.
Born in Chicago in 1985 and based in Los Angeles, Quarles has built an international reputation for paintings that challenge fixed understandings of the self and the body. Drawing on art historical influences and digital processes, she constructs compositions in reminiscent more reminiscent of relief sculpture than traditional painting.
For the 2026 Milan Winter Olympic Games, some countries were busy training for gold, others were busy training their costume designers. Even the ceremonial uniforms are always engineered to perform, this time, they’re also loaded with heritage. These kits feel built as much for making a national statement as they do for keeping athletes upright on slippery ground. Style counts, even on ice.
The Internet quickly lost its mind with Team Haiti’s Olympic uniform debut. First over how good everything looked, and then over the fact that it had to be tweaked almost immediately. Italian-Haitian Stella Novarino of Stella Jean, as visible in political causes as she is in design, drew inspiration from artist Edouard Duval-Carrié, one piece in particular caught her eye. Toussaint Louverture, once enslaved and later the driving force behind Haiti’s revolution and the creation of the first Black republic in 1804, portrayed riding a red horse, though Louverture himself didn’t make it into the final design. Every seam pulls from Haitian resistance history, enforced headwraps reimagined as pride, market culture stitched into pockets, jewelry rooted in endurance. Fabric can talk back, especially when it’s entirely hand-painted by Italian artisans.
Mongolia’s Goyol Cashmere luckily walked the similar path of tradition. The uniforms looked to the Mongol Empire of the 15th century. The uniforms are clearly hardwired into the country’s history and culture. Legroom where it matters, a collar that keeps the cold at bay, a front that folds over in a gesture of unity, fine cashmere paired with silk, embroidery, and horn motifs, all representing iron will, ancient insight, and warrior heart of Mongolian nomads, shaped by centuries of Central Asian winters. If there’s a place where celebration of identity looks its best, it’s probably Milan, February 6 to 22.
With Brazilian-Norwegian skiing ace Lucas Pinheiro Braathen, spinning samba steps at the top spot one day, and shining as one of the brand’s most loved global ambassadors the next, it was no shock Moncler being behind team Brazil this year. One thing we didn’t see coming though, was Brazilian artist and designer Oskar Metsavaht joining the party. My eyes were stuck on the cermemonial white, sculptural cape. Looks plain and white until you move, then the Brazilian flag bursts through the folds. Where design flows, tradition follows.
Retro games have a special place in pop culture, symbolizing the birth of modern entertainment and the rise of digital imagination. Classic arcades, pixel graphics, and simple sound effects instantly trigger nostalgia, which is why filmmakers and TV creators often use them as visual shortcuts to a specific era. From blinking cabinets in background scenes to full storylines built around early gaming culture, retro games help audiences emotionally connect with characters and settings. As someone who closely follows entertainment trends, I’ve noticed that even a few seconds of an old arcade screen can anchor an entire scene in time and mood.
This connection becomes especially noticeable when viewers recognize classic game aesthetics, revisit old-school mechanics and later register interest on ws casino, where modern digital platforms echo the same spirit of accessible, chance-based fun. In films and series, retro games are rarely random props. They often represent risk, curiosity, or escape — themes that align naturally with gaming itself. Directors use familiar cabinets, joysticks, or 8-bit visuals to communicate character traits without dialogue: curiosity, rebellion, intelligence, or obsession. From my experience analyzing narrative design, these cameos work because they rely on shared cultural memory. Audiences don’t need explanations; the imagery speaks for itself. This is why retro gaming references continue appearing even in futuristic or dramatic stories — they humanize technology and remind viewers where digital play began.
Why Retro Games Appear So Often on Screen
Retro games serve both visual and symbolic purposes. They are instantly recognizable and emotionally loaded, making them ideal storytelling tools.
Common reasons creators use retro game references
to signal a specific decade or subculture
to show a character’s personality or past
to contrast old technology with modern settings
These references function like cultural shorthand.
Iconic Retro Game Cameos in Film and TV
Some appearances are brief, others central to the plot, but all leave a strong impression.
Well-known types of tributes
arcade cabinets placed in background scenes
characters interacting with classic consoles
storylines inspired by early gaming competitions
From my observation, even subtle cameos often become fan favorites.
Retro Games vs Modern Gaming References
Aspect
Retro Game Cameos
Modern Game References
Visual Style
Pixel art, CRT screens, cabinets
High-definition graphics, VR, esports setups
Emotional Impact
Nostalgia, warmth
Spectacle, realism
Cultural Meaning
Origins of gaming culture
Current trends and competition
Accessibility
Universally understood
Sometimes niche or platform-specific
Longevity on Screen
Timeless appeal
Can feel dated quickly
This comparison explains why older games age better in visual storytelling.
How Tributes Go Beyond Decoration
In many cases, retro games are not just props but narrative devices. A broken arcade machine can symbolize lost dreams, while a high-score chase can mirror personal ambition. I’ve seen directors use arcade scenes to slow pacing, create intimacy, or inject humor without breaking immersion.
Retro gaming elements often support themes like:
perseverance and mastery
randomness and chance
community and shared space
These ideas remain relevant across generations.
Influence on Modern Digital Entertainment
The continued use of retro games in media reinforces their influence on today’s platforms. Clean interfaces, simple mechanics and recognizable symbols are direct descendants of early arcade design. Modern digital casinos and casual games borrow this clarity because it lowers entry barriers and increases engagement.
From my professional point of view, retro design works because it respects the player’s time. One screen, one goal, clear feedback — the same reasons those games worked on film now work in modern digital spaces.
Future of Retro Tributes in Media
As long as creators value shared cultural memory, retro games will remain part of visual storytelling. We can expect:
more period-accurate arcade recreations
hybrid scenes mixing retro visuals with modern tech
storytelling built around gaming history
These elements help bridge generations of viewers.
Final Thoughts
Retro games continue to thrive in film and TV because they represent more than entertainment — they represent beginnings. Their cameos and tributes remind audiences of a time when games were simple, social and mysterious. By weaving these elements into modern stories, creators honor gaming history while keeping it alive for new audiences. The result is a timeless connection between past and present, built one pixel at a time.
Sudden growth on short video platforms often feels unreal. One day, an account appears unknown, and the next, it fills screens everywhere. This rise is rarely luck. Hidden patterns guide how attention moves and multiplies. Viewers respond quickly when content feels timely and relatable; the system notices this reaction and expands its reach fast.
1. Decoding Viral Triggers and Rapid Attention
Explosive growth begins with triggers that spark rapid attention. These triggers align content with curiosity, emotion, or relevance. Viral triggers often appear simple, yet they connect deeply. Clear visuals with fast pacing and relatable themes invite immediate response. Many creators study growth paths and explore services known as a highly-rated platform for getting real TikTok followers to understand early momentum patterns without relying on guesswork.
2. Mastering the Optimal Timing Window
Timing plays a silent role in sudden account growth because posting when attention is high increases early interaction chances. When you engage in active period publishing, you encourage faster testing expansion from the algorithm. This consistency helps build viewer expectation, as before, which in turn improves the speed of their response. By strategically avoiding crowded release moments, you capture early attention more effectively and prevent the audience’s interest that comes from over-saturation.
3. How the Algorithm Grades Your Content
The system watches how viewers behave within moments. Likes, comments, and completion create a signal profile. Accounts that broke through quickly earned strong early interaction, which told the system the content deserved wider testing. Engagement signals work together rather than alone; while likes show approval, comments show interest depth, and completion confirms satisfaction.
4. Crafting Hooks That Kill the Scroll
Strong hooks capture attention instantly and decide whether viewers stay or scroll in their own time. Effective visual intent relies on clear first frames that communicate purpose before a viewer has the chance to leave. Delivering your message quickly reduces confusion and invites a faster reaction from the audience once you post. By weaving in emotional connection cues like this, you create an immediate bond that pattern interruption then strengthens by surprising the viewer, which significantly encourages longer watch times of the audience.
5. Surviving the Algorithm Testing Cycles
Once engagement appears strong, the system increases exposure gradually through testing cycles. Each cycle shares content with broader groups. Positive reactions continue to expand while negative responses slowly increase. The accounts that broke through passed these tests repeatedly because their content stayed relevant across various demographics. The lift rewards consistency rather than one-time spikes.
6. Intentional Strategies of Breakout Creators
Creators who achieved rapid growth followed intentional strategies rather than guessing. Maintaining a tight thematic focus helps new viewers understand the account’s purpose in a split second. By repeating successful formats, you build familiarity and faster brand recognition. Breakthrough creators also utilize feedback loops to guide content adjustments while encouraging direct interaction through clear, conversational calls to action that don’t feel like a sales pitch.
7. Turning a Follower Surge into Long-Term Trust
When momentum peaks, follower growth accelerates. Viewers choose to subscribe after repeated exposure, a decision that feels earned rather than impulsive. Accounts that grew overnight delivered consistent value during this phase. Follower surges happen when trust forms quickly, and the system supports this by placing content repeatedly in feeds.
8. Why Signal Consistency Sustains Momentum
Accounts that rose rapidly showed steady patterns rather than scattered success. Their posts delivered a similar tone, pacing, and structure across uploads. This consistency helped viewers recognize value quickly. When people know what to expect, they respond faster. The system reads this steady response as reliability, and reliable signals earn longer testing cycles.
9. Converting Passive Viewers into Active Communities
Fast growth also depends on how creators respond to the sudden audience attention to the post. Accounts that broke through often acknowledged viewers quickly through simple replies or follow-up videos in their free time, which turned passive viewers into active supporters. This cycle of interaction shows that the growth is not one-sided; actions from both sides gives best result. As the depth of activity increases, the reach expands further, converting a viral moment into a lasting community presence.
10. The Path to Sustainable Fame
Lasting success requires more than one viral moment. Creators who maintain growth adapt without losing identity. They respect engagement signals while keeping content genuine. Tools and insights offered by a highly-rated platform for getting real TikTok followers often focus on understanding momentum rather than chasing numbers blindly and following. Sustainable fame comes from a balance of quality, along with managing timing and audience awareness.
Longtime Manchester Orchestra drummer Tim Very has died. The Atlanta band revealed the news in a statement on social media today. “The entire Manchester Orchestra family has been devastated by the sudden passing of our brother, Timothy Very,” they wrote, continuing:
The most beloved human being any of us were lucky enough to know in this life. We’ve all been dreading sharing this news as we are all still in absolute disbelief.
Tim was instantly likable and interacted with everyone he met with kindness and warmth. His laugh was infectious and he immediately made people feel invited and encouraged. His humor and energy were the very foundation that held together the entire MO universe. Strangers quickly became friends and friends became family.
He had an undeniable light that was only matched by his dedication and love for the craft that he was clearly put on earth to do. No words can ever do him justice. Please know, if you are someone who loved Tim, he loved you too.
The only thing that Tim loved more than creating music was being with his family. You’d be pressed to find a more joyful dad.
We love you Tim, thank you for loving us. You are a force of positivity that will be a constant presence in the rest of our days.
Born November 22, 1983 in Pensacola, Florida, Very played in church with future Manchester Orchestra bassist Andy Prince. Following a stint with the San Diego, CA outfit Waking Ashland, he joined Manchester Orchestra in 2011 and contributed to that year’s Simple Math, 2014’s Cope, 2017’s A Black Mile to the Surface, and 2021’s The Million Masks of God.
Outside of his work with the band, Very launched an interview podcast series in 2019 and helped found the Athens/Atlanta production company Super Canoe in 2020. His final performance was at last fall’s the Stuffing XV, Manchester Orchestra’s annual Thanksgiving-themed hometown benefit concert, where they played A Black Mile to The Surface in full.
Foo Fighters have a new album on the way. Your Favorite Toy is due for release via April 24 Roswell Records/Columbia Records. Here’s everything we know so far.
What does the album cover look like?
When did Foo Fighters start dropping hints of a new album?
The band posted some Instagramreelsteasing new music before unveiled a new website, where the homepage was designed to look like a bedroom with a guitar in the corner, dirty clothes on the floor, stacks of CDs, and Foo Fighters posters. When clicked on, the posters played a 10-second clip of as-yet-unreleased songs.
What did the previews sound like?
The 11 previews were too short to really tell; a few of them feature dvocals, some shoutier and less intelligible than others. One finds Grohl repeating the line “Turn the cameras off,” while another has him saying, “Lately I don’t hear the sound.” Some are more frenetic, others more melodic; some sound like intros, others more like a bridge.
How many songs are on the album?
The follow-up to 2023’s But Here We Are spans 10 tracks. The tracklist is as follows:
1. Caught In The Echo
2. Of All People
3. Window
4. Your Favorite Toy
5. If You Only Knew
6. Spit Shine
7. Unconditional
8. Child Actor
9. Amen, Caveman
10. Asking For A Friend
Have any singles been released?
The album includes last year’s ‘Asking for a Friend’, and along with the announcement, the band shared the title track, which confirms they’re leaning into a fuzzed-out garage rock sound.
Who’s the drummer on the new album?
The upcoming album will be Foo Fighters’ first with new drummer Ilan Rubin, who can be seen in one of the photographs on the website. He joined the band after leaving Nine Inch Nails, who hired Josh Freese, the drummer Foo Fighters had just fired. The full lineup for the album consists of Dave Grohl, Nate Mendel, Chris Shiflett, Pat Smear, Rami Jaffee, and Ilan Rubin.
What has Dave Grohl said about the album?
A couple of days after the album announcement, Dave Grohl discussed Your Favorite Toy with Zane Lowe on Apple Music 1. “For the last year and a half I was spending a lot of time in my studio just writing and experimenting and demoing things and I’d come up with maybe like 30 or 40 different ideas,” Grohl said. “One night I was listening to all of these ideas and just randomly there were these 10 songs in a row in my playlist that were all just like noisy, loud bangers. Uptempo, like back to the old days. I was like, wait a minute, maybe this is the record. There was other stuff that sounded like Led Zeppelin’s Presence and then there was stuff that sounded kind of mellow acoustic, but I was listening to this playlist and these 10 [songs] in a row and I’m like, this is the record right here.”
Are Foo Fighters going on tour to support the album?
A tour was detailed before the album’s official announcement. Stretching from May to September, it includes support from Mannequin Pussy, Gouge Away, IDLES, Queens of the Stone Age, Die Spitz, Otoboke Beaker, Fat Dog, and more.
Illinois lawmakers are once again considering whether online casinos should become part of the state’s regulated gambling framework. While the discussion remains theoretical in Springfield, a neighboring state already offers a working example of how such a system can function in practice.
Michigan legalized online gambling several years ago, creating a digital casino market that now operates under strict regulatory oversight. As Illinois evaluates proposals like the Internet Gaming Act, comparisons with Michigan are becoming increasingly relevant—not as a blueprint to copy, but as a real-world case study.
Illinois Reopens the Question of Regulation
The renewed debate in Illinois follows the introduction of HB 4797 by Edgar González. The bill would authorize online casino games such as digital slots and virtual table games, while tying licenses to existing land-based casino operators.
Supporters argue that this structure would allow Illinois to regulate an activity that already exists informally, while opponents remain cautious about workforce impact and market saturation. What remains unresolved is how such a system would operate in practice—an uncertainty that Michigan no longer faces.
Michigan Took a Different Approach
Michigan launched its own regulated online gambling market in January 2021, making it one of the first U.S. states to offer full-scale online casino gaming alongside sports betting. From the outset, the market was designed to operate under strict oversight from state authorities, with clear licensing standards and compliance requirements.
Rather than limiting participation to a single digital model, Michigan allowed multiple licenses, creating a competitive environment where operators compete in a regulated space rather than through exclusivity. This approach helped accelerate adoption while keeping control centralized.
Today, the market relies on the Michigan Gaming Control Board, commonly known as the MGCB, to supervise licensed platforms and enforce consumer protection standards.
Oversight as the Foundation of Market Confidence
In Michigan, the MGCB supervises licensed online casino operators across every layer of the market—from technical certification to responsible gambling enforcement. This consistent oversight has been a key factor in building public trust in digital gambling.
The market operates under strict MGCB supervision, ensuring that licensed operators follow strict rules for fairness, security, and transparency. As a result, Michigan gambling sites are widely viewed as a stable extension of the state’s existing casino industry rather than a parallel or competing system.
For Illinois lawmakers, this distinction matters. Regulation is not simply about allowing online casinos to exist, but about structuring digital entertainment markets in a way that preserves accountability.
What Michigan’s Market Structure Reveals
Michigan’s experience highlights several structural realities that Illinois is now confronting:
Regulated online gambling does not require reinventing oversight mechanisms
Digital platforms can coexist with physical casinos when licensing is aligned
Consumer protections are more enforceable within a licensed ecosystem
Michigan’s legally regulated online gambling options are available at most Michigan casino operators, reinforcing the link between digital and land-based gaming. This connection has helped prevent the kind of operator fragmentation that critics often fear.
A clear breakdown of how the market works—who is licensed, who regulates, and how compliance is enforced—has been essential to that stability. For readers seeking that clarity, a detailed overview of Michigan’s iGaming landscape is available at JackpotSounds, where the state’s list of licensed online casinos is explained in practical terms.
Without that context, comparisons between Illinois proposals and Michigan’s outcomes risk becoming abstract.
Competition Without Chaos
Michigan’s market launched with 15 operators and has since evolved into an ecosystem of regulated operators competing on product quality, user experience, and brand trust rather than regulatory arbitrage.
This contrasts with U.S. states such as Illinois, where the absence of online casino regulation leaves consumers navigating unlicensed or offshore platforms with little recourse. In Michigan, the MGCB helped cultivate a set of gambling platforms that operate under uniform rules, reducing uncertainty for both players and operators.
That competitive balance is one reason Michigan is often cited as one of the top-performing iGaming jurisdictions in the country.
Lessons Without Prescriptions
Michigan’s success does not mean its model should be replicated wholesale. Illinois has a different casino landscape, different labor dynamics, and different political constraints. Still, Michigan’s experience provides concrete answers to questions Illinois is currently debating in theory.
Can online casinos be regulated effectively? Yes—if oversight is centralized and enforcement is consistent.
Can multiple operators coexist without destabilizing the market? Yes—when licensing standards are clear and uniformly applied.
Illinois at a Familiar Crossroads
As HB 4797 moves through the legislative process, Illinois lawmakers face a familiar crossroads: whether to continue delaying online casino regulation or to shape it deliberately. Michigan’s example does not eliminate risk, but it does reduce uncertainty by showing how a regulated market functions over time.
In that sense, Michigan is less a model to follow than a reference point. It demonstrates what happens when a state chooses to govern digital gambling rather than leave it outside the regulatory perimeter.
For Illinois, the question is no longer whether online casinos can be regulated—but whether the state is ready to decide how.
Everyone’s handing out Football Tips online these days, step-overs and tactics and whatever, but Lamine Yamal just cashes checks. 38.6 million new followers in 2025. Not a typo. The Barcelona winger didn’t just surpass Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in raw growth; he absolutely demolished them. Ronaldo only managed 21.7 million. Messi? A paltry 6.1 million. Meanwhile, this teenager from Esplugues de Llobregat posted a few celebration pics, maybe a blurry locker room selfie, and watched his digital empire explode by 58 percent. I think the math speaks louder than any highlight reel ever could. Or maybe it’s the other way around. Doesn’t matter.
The numbers feel fake honestly. Like someone added an extra zero for laughs, or the analytics platform glitched. HypeAuditor ranks him at #34 globally as of February 2026, clutching somewhere between 36.4 and 40 million disciples depending on which bot-detection algorithm you trust that week. That 10.83 percent engagement rate is absurd, almost offensive to marketing professionals who spend careers chasing half that. Most athletes hover around 2 or 3 percent, barely registering as blips on the radar, digital ghosts. Yamal pulls 3.9 million likes per post. Average. Sometimes more if he’s shirtless. Comments flood in at 22,500 a pop, people arguing about his haircut or his boots or his mother’s cooking. Brands would kill for that kind of heat. They do kill for it, actually, paying him an estimated $186,750 to $255,847 monthly just for showing up on the grid and smiling. Last June he peaked at $265,000. For thirty days of content. Sometimes just one sponsored story. Insane.
The Economics of Being 18 and Famous
People keep comparing percentages like it matters to anyone outside a boardroom. Sure, Pedri grew 78 percent and Raphinha 66 percent. Good for them. But that’s percentage. Yamal added 38.6 million actual human beings to his audience, each one a potential customer for Nike or Adidas or whatever energy drink slides into his DMs. Raw numbers don’t lie. They just hurt feelings. He outpaced Kylian Mbappé by a factor of five. The Frenchman, supposedly the next global icon, only scraped together 7.4 million new fans. Five times smaller. The gap is embarrassing if you’re anyone else in the sport trying to stay relevant. Maybe Mbappé should post more training videos. Or less. Who knows what works anymore. The rules change weekly.
Barcelona’s trophy haul helps. When you win the Spanish Super Cup at sixteen, seventeen, whatever age he was when he lifted that silverware… cameras follow. Youth sells. The Gen Z demographic doesn’t want polished corporate athletes anymore, guys in suits doing brand safe interviews. They want messy authenticity. Blood and sweat and bad grammar. Yamal gives them exactly that. Unfiltered. Raw. Sometimes his captions make no sense, just strings of emojis and random capital letters. Perfect. Exactly what the algorithm craves.
TikTok and the Long Game
Instagram pays the bills, no doubt, keeps the accountants happy, but TikTok builds the church and writes the scripture. He’s gaining 326,800 followers monthly over there, a steady 0.9 percent climb that doesn’t look like much on a spreadsheet until you realize it’s relentless. Every single month. Compounding like interest on a loan shark’s debt, growing whether he posts or sleeps or plays terribly. His profile score sits at 4.8 out of 10, which sounds mediocre on paper, almost failing, like a bad grade you hide from your parents, but the engagement rate in Spain’s sports category hits 10.16 percent. Again, that’s double what most professionals achieve after years of grinding and hashtag research. The algorithm loves him. Or fears him. Hard to tell which sometimes, maybe both.
Secondary accounts like @yamalfansglobal (17,000 followers strong) prove the grassroots obsession runs deeper than official metrics show. Fans create content about him faster than he can post himself. Edits set to reggaeton. Slow-motion dribbles. That famous left-footed curler. 1,625 posts on his main feed and counting. Each one a lottery ticket for sponsors hoping to catch the wave before it crests.
What 2027 Looks Like
Fifty million by 2027. Maybe that’s conservative, playing it safe. If Barcelona keeps winning trophies and he stays healthy, avoids the injury curse that strikes down wonderkids before they can legally drink… the ceiling doesn’t exist. It’s just sky. Ronaldo’s aging out, posting gym selfies and goodbye tours. Messi’s in Miami doing retirement tours and beach photos with his family. The throne is empty, gathering dust. Yamal isn’t walking toward it; he’s sprinting while looking down at his phone, probably typing something cryptic in Catalan that nobody understands but everyone likes anyway.
Track him live if you want. HypeAuditor, Dolphin Radar, whatever tool floats your boat. The data updates daily. Yesterday’s numbers already look quaint compared to this morning’s count. That’s the thing about exponential growth; it sneaks up on you quietly, then swallows you whole while you’re checking your notifications. 38 million in one year. Next year might be 50. Or 80. Honestly, who’s counting anymore? The kid already won.
hemlocke springs is the project of Isimeme “Naomi” Udu, who grew up in Concord, North Carolina. Her religious upbringing brought her in proximity to gospel music, but in her own time, she also got into making tracks on GarageBand just as bedroom pop was flourishing in the mid-2010s. She studied biology at Spelman and went on to earn her master’s degree in medical informatics from Dartmouth, remaining interested in music as a hobby. One of the songs on her debut album dates back to her Dartmouth days, which was also when ‘girlfriend’ and ‘gimme all ur luv’ went viral on TikTok. Those tracks appeared on 2023’s going…going…GONE!EP, which not only showcased her knack for larger-than-life, 80s-inspired, maddeningly catchy art-pop, but also led to her opening for the likes of Conan Gray, Ashnikko, and Chappell Roan, the latter of whom interviewed her “favorite artist” in light of the apple tree under the sea, which is out today. (I wish that piece had been published before I asked Udu my first question.) A pop debut more conceptual but just as zany, melodramatic, and adventurous as Roan’s own, the album traces back hemlocke springs’ origin story while interrogating the narratives that have been projected upon her – not just lyrically but musically, through eclectic, triumphant production crafted alongside BURNS. It’s escapist pop you wouldn’t mind becoming more and more inescapable.
We caught up with hemlocke springs for the latest edition of our Artist Spotlight series to talk about the trajectory of her debut album, realizing the viability of a musical career, embracing the unknown, and more.
I was watching your conversation with Allie X from a couple of years ago, which was around the time I interviewed her. It made me wonder if you’ve had any conversations with artists in the lead-up to your debut album that sort of put things in perspective for you, or made you look at it in a different light. I know you’ve toured with artists who have at least one or several albums to their name.
I was lucky to be able to support Chappel on her tour, and I was lucky to have talked to her about the album. I think she had said, “You’re very brave, releasing a concept album as your first album.” I was like, “Maybe I should ask a follow-up, but in the moment, I was like, “Thank you!” After, I was like, “Oh, I am? What did I do?” [laughs] I feel like I’m known more for my ha-ha-hee-hee personality for songs, and that’s definitely present in the album, but I take more of a serious route that maybe people weren’t expecting. I was like, “That could be brave.” I didn’t think of it like that. At the time I was like, “I need to finish the album.” But thinking about its contents now, I’m like, “Good for you, you’re taking your serious thoughts and putting them to a funky beat that people can dance to, at the end of the day.
You recently announced a vinyl edition of your going…going…GONE! EP for Record Store Day. Having that extra bit of hindsight now, how do you look back on that release and what it represented for you?
When I was doing going…going…GONE!, I was like, “Fuck it. Let’s just go for it.” It was right after grad school – some parts were even during grad school. This time, I really did want to take myself more seriously. I was being called this quirky, whimsical, weird girl, and I’m like, “That’s cool, but how did we get here?” Why am I the way that I am?” I feel that this album served for me as kind of an origin story, because a lot of these songs were made in periods of time where I felt repressed, and that repression maybe led to the more open person I am today. If going…going…GONE! is a presentation of hemlocke, let’s see, how did we get here? I’m very lucky to have had the opportunity to do that. In a way, the two projects are linked story-wise for me. I present myself in going…going…GONE!, but it’s almost like a prelude to this project. Now, I’m interested in seeing the progression of hemlocke and the next project, because I can only imagine it’s a combination of the two, musically and lyrically.
There was a moment on going…going…GONE!’s ‘enknee1’ that struck me in retrospect, that line about “struggling to find what was simple.” On the album’s ‘the beginning of the end’, you sing about the allure of different kinds of simpleness-es, like “fraternizing paranoia.” They come from different places, but I think there’s something to that craving for simplicity that becomes impossible when we grow up.
I feel like ‘the beginning of the end’ is one of the easier songs on the album, if not the easiest song to grasp. It’s interesting, too, because it technically came before ‘enknee1’ – it’s just a matter of release. Why was ‘the beginning of the end’ not released, and ‘enknee1’ was? When I was younger, I was like, “When I get to adult age I’m gonna know exactly what to do,” and now I’m 27, so that’s pretty adult age, and I’m like, “Oh, everybody lied, nobody knows what’s going on. Okay. Understood.” I felt I was in a stage where I was overcomplicating things, and that song was just very straightforward – I love the flowery language, don’t get me wrong, but let’s just get straight to the point. I feel like ‘the beginning of the end’ served that purpose for me in a way that ‘enknee1’ didn’t, but I love ‘enknee1’, because it was younger me trying to figure out the puzzle pieces. I started ‘the beginning of the end’ when I was really young, and I still feel a little connection towards it. It’s my least favorite song on the album, but I still feel this red thread to it, where I’m like, “Wow, nothing really has changed, huh?”
You’ve talked about how going to college opened you up to different experiences, but I’m curious if your relationship to music remained private in a way that was similar to making songs on GarageBand growing up.
I don’t talk about that a lot, but when I was in college, it was during that time where it was suddenly hitting that, “Oh, I think I can do songs.” I can sit down, I can make a little instrumental or a little beat, and I can put lyrics to it, and that’s a song. Maybe unconsciously, I did want to go down that path, but I guess consciously I was like, “Let’s just develop this skill more.” And I remember reaching out to people on SoundCloud and being like, “Can I write over this?” Nothing big ever materialized, but it was cool to have that skill in the back of my pocket and whip it out and be like, “I can do this.” But I did keep it private, so I whipped it out to nobody. [laughs] But in my mind, I’m like, “One day somebody’s gonna be like, what can you do.” And I’m like, “I can do this!” But I remember during my undergrad at Spelman, there was this music thing going on that I went to. I was able to meet some people who wanted to do music, and they knew that they were going to be in music for a long time. I remember talking to someone, and they’re like, “You know, what you do is producing. You produce. You’re a songwriter. That’s awesome.” And I’m like, “Oh, I am?”
I feel like I had a newfound appreciation for it, but it’s weird – I could talk to strangers about it, but in my own inner circle I didn’t really say much, if anything, about these endeavors. I just kind of kept it to myself, and that’s how it went through college and then going to grad school, because generally, in my mind, I’m like, “Oh, this is a cool hobby to do.” When I was on the biology route, we would have talks, people would come in,and they’d be like, “I’m a doctor, and I also do this on the side.” There was somebody who came along, they were a doctor, and they also sang in bars on the side, because why not? I’m like, “Oh, that’s cool. I think I would do that.” But now, I don’t do that. Now, everything revolves around music. But back then, I never told anyone. I kept it to myself. I don’t know whether I was insecure, but I genuinely didn’t think of it as a viable path for me.
What about finding a viable community around music? Was that something you also didn’t perceive and experience until later on? You grew up singing in choir, and you reached out to people on SoundCloud, but was there a moment where you felt your life revolving around music in an actually communal way?
I definitely think music definitely called to me, it felt spiritual in a sense. But I grew up very, like, “You’re a doctor, you’re a lawyer, you’re an engineer. Anything else outside of that, you’re never going to get money from it.” But I think that on the side, probably starting in middle school, I realized it can be such a spiritual experience, listening to music. These days, I find myself going on Reddit, like, “Do you know this song? Does anybody know this B-side?” I remember looking up ‘Fools’ by Depeche Mode, because I had just discovered that song, and I’m like, “Is there anybody listening to this song the way that I do?” And then I go on Reddit, and there’s this whole group. I was like, “I love that this is not a unique experience.” Everybody wants to feel included in some type of way, and you have to search for that inclusion. I wasn’t necessarily aware of that fact until I began searching, meeting people. It’s how I was able to talk to some people at Spelman and find community there. Else you’ll always just be in your little corner, which is fine if that’s where you want to be, but I kind of want it half and half: I love the solo time, but I also want to connect with people on the music that I do/the music that others do. Talk about a line for hours and stuff.
It sounds like you also began to separate the religious and the spiritual quality that music took on. Although the album references your upbringing by using that kind of religious language, especially on the opening track ‘the red apple’, which feels like an explicit acknowledgement of where you came from.
Yeah, I was like, “Lately, red apples are tasty.” [laughs] Sincerely, though, the whole thing with Christianity is pledging your life to God, and I’m not knocking anything. I’m just talking about myself here, but for me, even the thought of asking questions – because I was more inquisitive than I am now, but I felt like I couldn’t ask anything about it. It would be like, “Oh, I’m questioning the authority.” For me, Christianity could be a little bit of a bubble, especially if you’re in a very small town. But you still see what’s outside the bubble, if it’s a clear bubble. I grew up, and a lot of my friends have different sexualities, different identities, and I was on the path of discovering my own identity. It was like these red apples, which could be seen as sins, they were tasty – they’re not red apples, they’re not sins, but for the context of the song. It was definitely the starter for a reason, because I feel like that’s quite literally where I started. The history that song has is probably where hemlocke started – I think it’s like larvae or something, to be in the little cocoon.
You know biology, I don’t…
[laughs] Barely. I’m kind of forgetting. I need to start quizzing myself more. But that was definitely where things started. I feel like ‘Moses’ follows a similar kind of route.
One of my favorite vocal moments on the record is on ‘sense (is)’, when you sing, “There was nothing I could do but take the wrong turn down.” What are your memories of getting that song and the prelude done?
I loved making that song. I had the verses that I made on Logic, and we added some elements in the studio. I didn’t have the bridge or the outro yet, but I knew the bridge needed to hit hard. I knew we had to be throwing things until it finally sticks. The bridge was definitely a matter of throwing, throwing, throwing, and it did get very climatic. I remember finishing the bridge, and I looked at BURNS, like, “That’s a bridge!” It was the most fun because it came the easiest, in a way. For some reason, the tap was really on full, which I loved. Also, I took multiple takes, which usually I don’t. I think for going…going…GONE!, it was 5 takes or it’s over. I kicked BURNS out a lot, actually, doing the vocal for a lot of these songs, but particularly that song. I remember being like, “You go hang out with your partner and your children, I’m gonna just loop this section. I’m going to get it, I swear!” So I’m pretty proud of that.
One of my favorite lyrics is in that song: “Only me and I could turn an inch into a mile, but have I lost myself walking on foot?” I wish I could be like, “I kind of ate with that, it just came to me.” No! That took so long. But sometimes the best things do.
The prelude before, I was like, “I need a kind of reset, because I’m not gonna end the album on a serious note.” It nearly ended on a serious note, but I’m like, “This doesn’t make sense. This needs to end on a positive note.” I needed a reset from the intensity that was the first half, so that we can go through this second half, which is what the prelude served for me.
One moment that illustrated in my mind the atmosphere in the studio is on ‘set me free’, where I’m guessing it’s your laughter included in the recording.
Yeah, definitely. It’s interesting, too, because ‘set me free’ was made before even the concept of the album was created. I remember it was going to be on going…going…GONE!. A lot of songs were supposed to be on going…going…GONE!, but I was just like, “No, this is not fitting the way that I want it to fit.” Luckily, we went back and did a good bit of some edits with ‘set me free’ that I feel like really made it the song that it is now. I feel that ‘set me free’ has more of an R&B-ish pop feel, and that’s something that I hadn’t really gone for before. When first making it, I remember BURNS happened to come across the drums that are in the track, he was like, “We have to find different drums.” And I’m like, “Why? Let’s just go for it.” And it was really fun, because at that point, when making a lot of tracks on the album, it was really just like, “Who cares? Does it sound good?” That’s all that matters. If it doesn’t fit this genre that I’m known for, that’s cool. All the more reason to explore what is gravitating toward me.
You also explore writing outside of your personal story, though still from your perspective, particularly on the latest single ‘w-w-w-w-w’, which was inspired by the documentary Father Figures. What was it like doing that on an album about self-discovery?
This song, I was asked to change one of the lyrics – the major lyric, “I would rather kill myself.” My manager had suggestions, and I was like, “No.” But I feel like it’s because I was definitely thinking of high school me, and high school me was a little bit intense. I feel like if you ask other people from my high school, they’ll be like, “Oh, she was fine.” But in my head, I was a little bit more intense than I am now. So I was like, “I think that’s the lyric, unfortunately.” I also think it’s interesting it’s that song. It’s weird because I’m writing from my perspective, but my older perspective, and there are certain points to my older perspective that I feel like I’m pressing on the girl who I feel like was the victim in this story a little bit. Because I’m like, “Why would she do that? She’s quite literally only a girl.” I won’t spoil the documentary, but she was really young, and there’s just so many things that are working against her.
During that time, I think I was in this white picket fence era of myself, where it’s like, “You get a job, you date, you marry, you have kids.” It was almost as if I knew what was going to happen to myself for the rest of my life, and I had a plan for the rest of my life.
When you wrote this song?
Or when I started the song, and I think that as I started to think about what I wanted, I remembered the documentary that I was watching, and I was having a conversation with my father about arranged marriages. My mom and my dad, they weren’t arranged, but my dad’s side does arrange marriages sometimes. I think everything started compiling, and I was like, “No, no, no, no, no. What is going on? Why are things this way?” It was, I guess, a meltdown for me, which maybe is a bit selfish on my part, but I don’t know. Now I’m just ranting.
How did the conversation go?
I feel like it was… My parents want grandchildren, so it’s like, “You’re gonna get to the age where you want children, and you say you don’t want children now, but you could want children there, and you gotta go find a husband.” One of my mom’s friend’s daughter got married at 23 or something like that, it’s like, “The age is coming up. You ha- not you have to, but it’s on the horizon.” And I’m like, I barely started. I got up today, and I ate some Cheerios. I’m in my pajamas. [laughs] Can I just sort out what’s in the now? Can I just be in the present for just a moment? I was saying how I didn’t want to have kids during that time, but I was also like, “Do I even want to get married? I just want to focus on this.” At the time, I was like, “I’m going to be a doctor,” blah blah blah. But it wasn’t necessarily an argument. It wasn’t necessarily a conversation either. It’s more just being talked to, and I’m just here listening.
Back then, I didn’t question it, and when the idea of the song formulated, I was still in that mindset, but I was also thinking back to that documentary. For some reason, I was like, “This is a lot more complicated than I thought.” It’s sold as something that has to be done, so I felt that I had to be on this journey. I was like, I wonder if that girl feels that way too – she just has to marry that man. In a way, I found myself relating to her. Her situation is way different, and in my opinion, way worse than mine. But I found myself relating and writing about everything.
I feel like the album leans into that complexity, but ‘be the girl’, as a closer, goes back to the straightforwardness you were talking about with ‘the beginning of the end’. It’s just sincerity at this point, really getting the message across. Where was your head at in terms of that journey at that point?
I feel like I was more holistic. A motto I generally say a lot is, “It be what it be and do what it do.” [laughs] I think at that point, when doing that song, I was like, “It really do be what it be, and it really do be what it do. Oh my gosh!” I think that I had an idea of how I thought life was going to go, and I guess in my mind, it was gonna be some downs, but mostly ups. If life were described in terms of being good or bad, I feel like for me, the majority of my life has been kinda neutral, and I think I thought it was just gonna be really, really good. By that time of doing the song, I’m realizing I really actually have no clue where I’m going. I think the unknown scared me for a long time; when you’re outgrowing things from your childhood, it’s almost like there’s a gap, like, “What is there now?” And that’s okay. That’s perfect. Like, “Theoretically, you still have three fourths of a way to go. You’re good, girl.” It was kind of my hug to myself, to be like, “I don’t really know where we’re going, but let’s go.” But I know that I can’t go back. I can’t be the girl who I was, and I don’t think I want to.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity and length.
