Musician Hemlocke Springs on going viral on TikTok, delusional confidence and the famous people in her DMs

“Sometimes things take time and sometimes things don’t work out… at least try, you know.”

Just over a year ago, Hemlocke Springs’ musical journey began when she filmed herself slumped on a wooden chair eating vanilla ice cream. Her debut TikTok video, which garnered 1.1 million views, has text that reads ‘Day one of me trying to make a viral song’. The song’s haunting lyrics “I just want love / I’ll take anyone” comically play over footage of a tracksuit-wearing Hemlocke, perfectly encapsulating the singer’s heady combination of talent and humour.

On the fifth day of her TikTok promotion, she met Ana Peralta Chong. “Can I make you a music video?” commented Ana, a Los Angeles-based creative director. Soon enough, Hemlocke’s music really did go viral on the video-sharing platform, and Ana and her joined forces to create the music video for her single, ‘Girlfriend’. Many artists strive to create worlds that their audiences can immerse themselves within, and the universe that Hemlocke and Ana have created conjures up an eccentric internet girl fantasy.

Discover more about Australia’s musical talent in FJ’s Music section.

Hemlocke and I connected over Zoom, and I was immediately struck by how delightful she is; she has a certain kind of magnetism that few artists possess. “Where are you right now?” I query, trying to figure out where in the world she’s situated (the Zoom background isn’t giving much away). “Right now… I just got back to LA this morning. Yeah, this morning. So yeah, I don’t sound too hot either. I’ve been sick! But it be like that, you know. Life is life,” she says.

Music wasn’t the initial path for the US-based singer-songwriter. Like many young adults, Hemlocke’s path to success was unconventional, and in her case, somewhat accidental. Originally studying medical informatics and considering pursuing a PhD, her new path could not be farther from the “OG OG plan” she expected to follow.

It’s scary to follow your nose and venture down a new path; I tell her about my own indecision and the way I’ve chopped and changed between degrees. How do we know we’re making the right choices? “Oh gosh… I would lie and say something kind of comforting. But honestly, you don’t know. When the opportunity is at hand, you’ve kinda just got to go with it. You’ve gotta just see, and be like ‘This might not work out’,” she shares.

“It might work out! But also [it] might not. I feel like I’ve got a lot of good things happening, so that’s been really comforting on my end, so I guess that’s what’s keeping me going. I’m like ‘Oh okay, you’re not completely crazy!’. Sometimes things take time and sometimes things don’t work out, and [you have to] be cognisant of that. At least try, you know.”

Despite ricocheting through the For You Pages of millions of people, many of her closest friends and family didn’t even know she was creating music. She laughs when recalling her family’s bewilderment at her sudden rise to fame.

I ask her whether there was something that made her believe in her original sound from the get-go. “Delusion!” she immediately exclaims, and we both burst into laughter. “Have you ever met a really confident person? And you’re like, ‘Wow. That’s how you’ve gotta be’.”

“Fake it ’till you make it,” I suggest. But what Hemlocke certainly isn’t faking is her authenticity. I ask her if she had a vision of how she wanted to be perceived as an artist when she was starting out. “Honestly, I’m not really a visual person. Luckily, the week I released a snippet of ‘Gimme All Your Luv’ on TikTok [Ana] reached out to me… and they’ve been working on my stuff creatively ever since. I would love to take credit, but I have to give the credit to her. I’ll come to her with the weirdest ideas and she’s been the one to be, like, ‘Oh! Yeah! Let’s do it!’.”

A lot of musicians find success by going viral on TikTok these days but the accessible nature of the platform means there’s a sea of creatives trying to get their voices heard. I ask Hemclocke whether she thinks there’s a formula you can use to create a song that will capture people’s attention.

“It just happens. I had the song on my computer for a minute. I teased the chorus for a month… you tease it [on TikTok] again and again and again. You’re like ‘Oh my god, if I hear this song one more time…’. And then I was like, ‘Imma switch it up. I’m going to tease the bridge’, and then people started seeing it.”

With her first EP Going… Going… Gone! already out, she’s now setting her sights on an album. Being young and confused, her EP resonated with me, so I have high hopes for the album. It’s comforting to know that despite her success, she’s still somewhat like me; a twenty-something creative wondering what on earth is going on.

Before we wrap up our conversation, I have one more pressing question for Hemlocke. Now that she’s skyrocketed into the public eye, who’s the most famous person to slide into her DMs? “In my DMs!? Who has DM’d me… oh. Steve Lacey. He was uber-sweet. I think I was uncool. I was not ready.”

To listen to Hemlocke Springs’ EP Going… Going… Gone!, head here. To find out more about her upcoming Laneway Festival performances, head here.