Audrey Hobert has one of the most brilliantly odd pop star origin stories going. She was working as writer on hectic kids TV sitcom The Really Loud House when she helped best friend and roommate Gracie Abrams pen six tracks that featured on her swaggering second album The Secret Of Us, including the dreamy That’s So True which has racked up more than 1.6billion streams in less than two years.
After joining her best mate onstage a couple of times, Hobert decided to write songs of her own. Rumour has it then she confidently told label execs “you will not be able to put your finger on what I am because I’m going to be just me.” There was plenty of personality to last year’s debut album Who’s The Clown? – a lyrically dense collection of indie rock gems that straddled painfully sincere and playfully mocking, often at the same time. It quickly found a cult audience that’s grown into something much larger and on Tuesday night, Audrey Hobert played the first of two sold-out shows at London’s Kentish Town Forum as part of her Staircase To Stardom tour – a nod to both her own ambition and the expectations that have already been placed at her door.
