Audrey Hobert’s pop success is more than a lucky strike

Audrey Hobert isn’t clowning herself anymore.

- Francesca Bermudez, Tribune News Service

Audrey Hobert

She was meant to be a pop star. “I had been sitting on all of this music long enough that there was like a tiny man in my soul beating down the door of my soul,” Hobert, 26, said on a recent rainy morning at Swingers Diner in Hollywood.Last week, the LA native set out on her Staircase to Stardom tour across North America, Europe and Australia. Intimate venues will see her perform from her debut album, “Who's the Clown?,” released via RCA Records in August.

Though the “Bowling alley” singer has “so immensely” enjoyed her whirlwind year, music wasn’t always in the cards. After graduating from New York University with a BFA in screenwriting in 2021, she fell into place behind the scenes, working in a Nickelodeon writers’ room for the since-canceled “The Really Loud House.”

Everything changed when she started penning tracks with childhood friend Gracie Abrams for the 2024 album “The Secret of Us.” Hobert signed a publishing deal with Universal Music Group soon after and participated in songwriter sessions for a few months before setting her sights on something more personal.

Initially writing for herself, it became clear her confessional lyrics couldn't be confined to her bedroom walls.