Emerging in 2019 as an idiosyncratic pop star ready to conquer the 2020s, Remi Wolf made waves with her earliest singles like the rocksteady-for-the-tumblr-set “Sauce,” and the plucky-yet-emotional bedroom R&B vibes of “Shawty.” The LA-based, Palo Alto native’s stock really began to rise in 2020, with synth-leaning, hook-laden, needle-drop-ready cuts like “Photo ID” and “Hello Hello Hello” from her EP I’m Allergic To Dogs! In 2021 she dropped both the We Love Dogs! remix collection—featuring Hot Chip, Little Dragon, and Beck—and her debut LP Juno.
And she’s kept things moving ever since, performing on The Tonight Show With Jimmy Fallon, rocking Coachella ‘23, and touring with heavy-hitters like The Red Hot Chili Peppers, Paramore, and Lorde. Plus, she’s kept her legions of fans enthralled via her fun ‘n’ flirty social media presence.
On the eve of her sophomore LP Big Ideas—which contains big musical ideas ranging from pop-punk power balladry, to sultry slow burners, to brass band-fueled, disco bangers—Wolf joins Morning Becomes Eclectic to tell us what she’s been listening to lately and how it plays into the new album. Scroll on for her selects and hit that player button to your left to hear the full set.
The Flaming Lips – “She Don’t Use Jelly”
Amazing song, amazing songwriting. I love The Flaming Lips in general because their music is so live sounding, but it's also so detailed. It’s colorful in every single sense — I strive to be that way. Really detailed, but also free and analog. They go so deep with their sounds, but they also don't take it too seriously.
Blossom Dearie – “I Like London in the Rain”
When I was in New York with Leon Michaels [who produced a portion of Big Ideas] I would walk around the city (to and from the studio) listening to this song a lot — there's kind of like a funky drum groove going on [with it]. I think it kind of soaked into my bones a little bit. Leon's also a huge Blossom Dearie fan, which was one of the reasons we connected in the first place, so I think we were channeling her a little bit going into our sessions. She's kind of [always] been around and I always go back to her [for inspiration].
Paramore – “All I Wanted”
I just love this song [Paramore frontwoman] Haley Williams is just an insane vocalist. I got to tour with them in Australia, and it was life changing just watching them all interact as a band. They've been a band for 20 years, which is crazy because they're only like five years older than me. This was my favorite song every night when they would play it and I was really inspired by it. There's a song on [Big Ideas] called “Wave” where I really lean into this kind of funk-punk-rock persona. And I kind of let Haley guide me on that.
Dan Reeder – “Clean Elvis”
What really struck me the most about [Dan Reeder] when I first heard his music was the way that he produces his harmonies. It kind of reminded me of myself because I do a lot of vocal layering of just me. I’ll layer my lead vocal three times or more and layer my harmonies on top of it, like three stacks of three, stacks of six [etc.]. He does a very similar thing where he's layering his voice in a really specific way, in a really clean way … [it] almost sounds like its own instrument, which is something that I try to do in my music as well. I think it struck me when I first heard this song, like, how similar we were in our processes. But his voice is so amazing and it layers on top of itself in the most unique way I've ever heard.
Evelyn “Champagne” King – “Love Come Down”
This is one of my favorite songs of all time, like, probably top three. I was rinsing the song when I was making this album… I could not stop listening to it. Everywhere I went it was just on and like really deeply inspired. One of my songs on [Big Ideas], “Cinderella,” [I wanted it to give] the same feeling that listening to this song “Love Come Down” gives me, which is pure bliss.
