Audrey Hobert on ‘Sue Me’ Success, Gracie Abrams, Malcolm Todd & Her Next Album

Audrey Hobert (0:07)

What should we talk about?

Jon Caramanica (0:26)

Welcome to the New York Times Popcast, our first roll strike of Weekly Culture Chat. I'm Jon Caramanica, and I am the critic.

Joe Coscarelli (0:34)

I'm Joe Coscarelli, and I'm the reporter.

Audrey Hobert (0:36)

I'm Audrey Hobart, and I'm on Popcast.

Jon Caramanica (0:38)

Hell yeah!

Joe Coscarelli (0:40)

Nailed it.

Audrey Hobert (0:40)

Made it.

Joe Coscarelli (0:41)

Audrey Hobart has been climbing all year to become one of the defining pop stars of 2026 Her debut album, Who's the Clown, came out last year. Her song Sue Me just hit the billboard Hot 100 for the first time. Sue me, I wanna be wanted Sue me, I wanna be wanted Sue me, I wanna be, sue me, I wanna be wanted And she's been on tour for the better part of a year, playing to increasingly frantic, sold out crowds with hits like Bowling Alley.

SPEAKER_4 (1:07)

But I got my jeans on and my crown on And the whole place totally cares what going on And Silver Jubilee.

Jon Caramanica (1:14)

I'ma pull my drink up, it's drinks up now I'ma tell my sister she's perfect If you watch footage from Lollapalooza recently, you see tens of thousands of people singing Audrey's songs back to her. Something that she might have had a hint was going to happen when her earliest songwriting, along with her friend Gracie Abrams, ended up taking Gracie to the top of the pop charts.

SPEAKER_5 (1:36)

We wrote most of the album together, also Best Friend, also Soul Me.

Jon Caramanica (1:42)

Yeah.

Joe Coscarelli (1:44)

Audrey, thanks so much for being here.

SPEAKER_5 (1:45)

Thank you.

Joe Coscarelli (1:46)

Really excited to have you here. Before we get into it, if you have not yet subscribed to our YouTube channel, that's youtube.com/popcast, please do that right there. Hit the button, like and subscribe. More big interviews coming soon.

Jon Caramanica (1:59)

Audrey Hobart says subscribe to Popcast.

Audrey Hobert (2:01)

Of course, I'm a watcher and a listener.

Joe Coscarelli (2:03)

Thank you so much.

Jon Caramanica (2:04)

There you go. If you are not already a New York Times subscriber, good news, you can download the app now. You get the first month totally free, no paywalls. Check it out. See us there.

Joe Coscarelli (2:14)

You've had this amazing run over the last few months. I think for a lot of pop artists in particular, the release of their album is the climax, but you've had a sort of old-fashioned rise where play a lot of shows, been on tour forever, the grassroots support is building both IRL and online. When did you know that you were going to have this particular arc? Was there a moment after the album came out where you're like, I think this thing has legs?

Audrey Hobert (2:43)

I mean, all of the whole music of it all felt like wind blowing me in this direction. I'd be a fool to not go with the wind. But I didn't feel like I ever had any predictions.

But I always believed in the music, and I just was like, I want the ears of the world, I want people to hear this. But I didn't really know about months or years. But it just goes to show what hard work can do.

SPEAKER_5 (3:16)

Like, it really does.

Joe Coscarelli (3:19)

When did you feel it click?

Audrey Hobert (3:21)

I mean, everything feels like a little bit of a click, you know?

I try and stay, I do actually do a pretty good job of staying off the internet. So, good for you. Yeah, but I did tap back in around Lollapalooza because I was like, let's just, I mean, that was crazy.

Joe Coscarelli (3:36)

You could tell like in real life that the internet reception would be positive? Yeah.

Audrey Hobert (3:41)

Well, there were a lot of people there, and mostly it was that Kyle, my friend who's on tour, like taking videos and photos, took this banging video from behind me of like the crowd and stuff. And I was like, I feel like I just got to post this. But I try and like stay away from what people say just because, well, for a lot of reasons, I could get into later.

Joe Coscarelli (4:07)

Get into them now. Like what's the, what is the thing you're trying to avoid?

Audrey Hobert (4:11)

I just think like the nature of this job is such, it's rooted in an obsession with yourself. Like, I just think it's the most self-obsessed job I've ever had.

Jon Caramanica (4:27)

The writing and the performing?

Audrey Hobert (4:28)