Their name might be unfamiliar, but you’ve likely heard their songs. From Off Campus’s “Sue Me” to the TikTok viral hit “Earrings,” Audrey Hobert and Malcolm Todd are rising indie pop stars. Considered the best new artists by Billboard, Audrey and Malcolm share a deeper bond: they are brother and sister.
The four Hobert siblings grew up in Santa Monica, California, surrounded by art and music. Audrey (the older sister), Ella and Malcolm (middle twins), and Charlie were directly influenced by their father, the famous director and writer Tim Hobert, who wrote and produced TV series such as “Scrubs” and “The Middle”.
This sibling duo writes for indie pop. On one hand, Audrey’s songs feel like an intimate conversation with your best friend, embracing every quirk and vulnerability. On the other hand, Malcolm’s lyrics cut straight to the heart: concise, poetic, and deeply resonant.
In any of these cases, their songs must be in your playlist!
She’s takin’ thirst traps in the mirror in her room: meet Audrey Hobert
Audrey’s journey into music was a complete accident. Graduated from NYU (New York University) with a degree in screenwriting, she worked at Nickelodeon, writing scripts for the sitcom The Really Loud House. Writing has always had an important role in Audrey’s life, from creating new characters to expressing feelings.
As she said in an interview to The Guardian: “I would listen to people try to express themselves, and I could repeat it back to them in a sharper, articulate way. It’s my favorite thing to do”.
However, as she entered her twenties, Audrey was troubled by imposter syndrome and soon realized she was not fulfilled in her life.
Everything changed in 2022 when she moved in with her childhood best friend and also singer, Gracie Abrams, and it didn’t take them long to start writing songs together. In fact, Audrey co-wrote Gracie Abrams’s platinum-certified second album The Secret of Us (2024), contributing to six songs, such as “That’s so True”,which spent 38 weeks in the top 10 hits on Billboard hot 100th, “I love you, I’m sorry” and “Risk” (for which she also directed the music video).
To The Guardian, Audrey said that witnessing Gracie’s songs blossom in a studio made her wonder whether to pursue songwriting.
That’s how her debut album Who’s the clown was born. Audrey intended to release it independently alongside her colleague Ricky Gourmet, who produced the album. However, she soon signed with RCA Records, and Who’s the clown was officially released in August of 2025.
Hobert’s persona as an artist evokes an awkward, unique style with a wild, crazy spirit. She puts her true self into her lyrics, talking about self-deprecation, exes, self-sabotage, love, and social anxiety in a breezy, funny way.
‘I just want to make the young girl who’s too scared to go to school feel seen”, she says.
When the debut album was released, Billboard praised it, saying: “The quirky, Gen-Z-coded anthems on Who’s the Clown? demonstrate how singular her perspective is, setting her solo work apart not just from the music she made with Abrams, but from everything else currently occupying the pop space”.
It is definitely worth it to check out Audrey’s archive website, where she shares the behind-the-scenes of writing the songs for her first album. It really shows how she wants to be seen: as a strange, spontaneous girl who embraces her own quickness.
Extra, extra, read all about it: Malcolm Todd is in his feelings, and he can’t get out of it
Malcolm’s musical journey began in high school with his debut EP, Demos Before Prom. His true breakthrough came in 2024, when Columbia Records signed him following the release of his mixtape “Sweet Boy“.
While he’d been making music for years, viral fame arrived nearly two years after his debut, when his songs took off on TikTok and introduced him to a much wider audience.
His song “Earrings“, for example, has spent almost 14 weeks in the Billboard Hot 100, reaching a peak of 25, and also hit #8 on Spotify’s weekly U.S. tally. Other songs, such as “Chest Pain (I love)” and “Sweet Boy,” have become soundtracks of many fanbase edits on TikTok.
His “late launch” doesn’t take him for granted: “Right now, it’s not overwhelming, so I’m just enjoying the love. They’re coming up and expressing how they feel to me, which most people can’t do in their lives. I’m trying not to write it off and be like, ‘Okay, yeah, let’s do a picture’. I look them in the eye and appreciate them. I’m so lucky to have such nice people rooting for me”, he said in an interview for Interview Journal.
Besides being his passion and a way to put out ‘his energy into the world’, Malcolm sees his career as a job, with a lot of pressure from the record labels: “That’s the battle. And it’s a beautiful battle because when things get harder, the ceiling becomes higher. I embrace it”.
Malcolm’s songs are directly inspired by artists like Steve Lacy, Dominic Fike, Rex Orange County, and Omar Apollo, and blend of R&B and indie pop. In fact, Malcolm first gained attention on social media by pretending his songs were Steve Lacy leaks (Todd is also known as “white Steve Lacy”) and later by opening Omar Apollo’s concerts.
On June 5th, Todd released his new album “Do that again“, whose song “I saw your face” surpassed 2 million streams in its first 24 hours, earning a Top 25 debut on Spotify’s US charts.
With 13 tracks, Do that again is a letter to emotional maturity. Almost like a chronist, Malcolm lyricism follows a night of teenage summer love: it starts with a rage of emotions, yearning types of tracks like “Breathe” and “Jean Skirt”. However, by the end of the album, Todd’s persona is heartbroken and realises that loving a person that much also means letting her go. The album also counts with Steve Lacy’s collaboration in the last song of the album, harmonizing and backing vocal Malcolm’s voice.
When questioned about the album title, Todd explained how it is a reflection of feeling young:
“It’s such a pure thing to feel so happy in a moment and to have the survival instinct to be like, ‘Do that again’.I remember the first time someone kissed my neck. The only thing in my mind was, ‘Do that again”.
Later on, he also explained about the pressures of keeping up with previous releases and their success as he dives into a new era: “Then there’s also the scary part of ‘do that again’, like if you’re working a job and you’re like, ‘This is awesome’. And then someone goes, ‘Hey, do that again’, and you’re like, ‘Okay, I’m just enjoying this moment, but yeah, I can try to figure out how to please you more’”.
Malcolm’s songs are a true reflection of his feelings and experience rather than mere commercial hits; featuring lyrics that speak to the listener’s soul while avoiding clichés.
Indie Pop Today: Audrey and Malcolm’s legacy
A common thing between the Hobert brothers is a legit desire to stay true to themselves and be unapologetically themselves. When asked about what lessons Audrey taught Todd, he said:
“Definitely a masterclass on confidence, individuality, and not taking yourself too seriously. She’s just such a fun time and so easy to crack jokes with. She is unapologetically herself, and that is one of the strongest freaking qualities of all time”.
The Hobert brothers really show that there is no shame in being yourself, a true legacy for indie pop.
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The article above was edited by Isabela Raucci.
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