AM I the clown?
Audrey Hobert released her debut album “Who’s the Clown?” last August. The 2025 album has slowly taken parts of the internet by storm. Songs like “Sue me,” “Silver Jubilee” and “Phoebe” are some of the better known ones and have been praised, along with the rest of the album, as silly, honest and just the right amount of quirky needed in music today.
“Who’s the Clown?” covers luck, loss, nervousness, hope and every other emotion in between happy and sad, taking its listeners through a joyous journey full of grief and acceptance. You’re an adult now, and it’s time to act like one.
I know for Gen Z, the concept of adulthood is foreign. It’s unfamiliar and everyday feels like something new and unexpected is around the corner. Hobert’s album takes the idea of adulthood and reminds listeners it’s okay. There are days where you will feel insecure, embarrassed and deeply flawed and that’s normal. Hobert’s album dissects the complex relationship between teenage-hood and adulthood in a way that is raw and understandable to everyone who is still trying to get the hang of growing up.
“Drive” is the third song on the album and revolves around perseverance through failure. “Drive” reminds listeners that the best thing you can do after failure is try again and do your best. “Sometimes it’s all you, it’s all you can do” echoes throughout the last seconds of the song as a final reminder to give yourself grace. You gave it your best try, and that’s what matters!
“Drive” encapsulates the feeling of dreading an inevitable outcome, like the leap in your chest on the way down from a fall. “Drive” also represents the feeling of getting up and walking it off afterwards. Things won’t turn out as planned.
A rough night, bad hair, rush hour traffic, breaking a heel on the walk back from downtown, all uncontrollable scenarios and sometimes acceptance is the only way to make peace with it. So let it go, check your mirrors and put it in drive, girl!
“Bowling Alley” is the fifth song on the album and follows Hobert as she feels odd. Something is off and she can’t put her finger on it. Feeling cursed, pissed and like she’s the “naked neighbor.” “Bowling Alley” is a lesson in perspective.
Being 20 going on 21 is like puberty all over again. You flip a page and all of a sudden you’re back in middle school, nervous someone may hear you open your period pad in the bathroom, or scared to meet new people because they might not understand your humor.
Being that age is like being in a constant state of ick and concern for yourself. Worried about your health, future career, love life and leaving no room for self-compassion. “Bowling Alley” serves as a reminder to get out of your comfort zone and your head. Know that no matter how nervous you are, things will work out! Who would have thought you’d be a lucky beginner.
“Phoebe” is the eleventh song on the album and revolves around the idea that by accepting your flaws, you will free yourself from the burdens they can inflict onto you. In a time where beauty and grace seem to be the only things women should aspire to be, it means the world to hear such a raw portrait of self-perception.
Giving this joyful piece a raw touch of honesty, Hobert gives her audience a valuable truth that can only be given through a deep understanding of what beauty is. Yes, it is in the eyes of the beholder, but there is a spectacular beauty found in accepting you will be ugly to someone else making peace with it. “Phoebe” speaks of self-doubt, acne and feeling unwanted all while keeping listeners on the sunny side of life.
Giving the message that life will burden you with many events and emotions, but at the end, the garden of your life will be more beautiful than any product, workout routine or person can make you feel. Sometimes what you were looking for was always deep inside you, and when you find it, it will be gorgeous and amazing!