This month, singer-songwriter Salem Ilese is in the hot seat to answer our burning questions. In Next Question, Her Campus rapid-fire interviews emerging Gen Z talent about what it’s like to rule over the Internet.
Salem Ilese is no stranger to a viral TikTok moment. The 22-year-old singer-songwriter, who hails from Mill Valley, CA and once attended Berklee College of Music, has worked on some of the social media platform’s biggest hits. Her first song to blow up, “Mad at Disney,” was certified gold by the RIAA and has been used as a sound over 2.6 million times on TikTok. In February, she dropped “PS5,” a cleverly written tongue-in-cheek collaboration with Alan Walker and K-pop superstars TOMORROW X TOGETHER (TXT) that has since been adapted into a “challenge” trend taken over by gamer boyfriends and K-pop stars alike.
As if that wasn’t enough, Ilese has also played a part in some of the most viral tunes by other artists, like TXT’s “Anti-Romantic,” which has spawned its own TikTok dance challenge, and Bella Poarch’s “Build A B*tch,” for which the music video has accrued almost 380 million YouTube views since its May 2021 release. She enjoys collaborations, she tells me, because “It’s just a more fun process. I could write by myself in my bedroom seven days a week, but it’s way more fun to go to someone’s studio and bounce ideas back and forth. It just makes it a really special experience.”
It’s easy to see why Ilese’s songs have been able to gain so much ground: Her lyrical niche is tapping into extremely specific emotions and situations with tongue-in-cheek humor and just the right amount of that familiar Gen Z pessimism. How many other artists do you know making songs about how your favorite childhood movies lied to you (“Mad at Disney”), your phone can’t tell you the meaning of life (“Hey Siri”), and you just really want your partner to pay more attention to you than to their video games (“PS5”)?
Since releasing her EP Unsponsored Content in February, Ilese has big plans for 2022: She’s part of the lineup for Japan’s Summer Sonic music festival in August alongside Post Malone, Megan Thee Stallion, Carly Rae Jepsen, and more. She’s also been performing “PS5” for her steadily growing number of fans at live venues. Plus, she tells me she’s cooking up an album with hopes for a release within the year. I think we can all safely assume that at least one of those works-in-progress will end up having its own moment in the sun on your FYP, if not greater success beyond the confines of TikTok — so if Ilese hasn’t been on your radar yet, this is your sign to start listening.
1. WHAT’S ONE THING THE INTERNET DOESN’T KNOW ABOUT YOU THAT YOU WISH THEY DID?
That’s a great question. I’m gonna have to think on this. I feel like I am pretty much an open book in my songs. I try and make that come across as much as possible because I want fans and supporters to feel like they know who I am — at least, most of who I am, because no one can know someone 100% of the time.
I’m trying to think of what the Internet doesn’t know about me! One thing is that I’m allergic to lavender. I don’t know if people need to know that about me, but I don’t think I’ve mentioned that before in a video, so there’s that.
2. HOW WOULD YOU DESCRIBE GEN Z IN THREE WORDS?
I’m trying to pick the perfect three words. Okay. Can hardworking count as one word? I’ll say hardworking. Future will be my second word, and… I’m gonna go with creative. I mean, I feel like I can’t not say creative, when every time I open my phone, there’s some new form of creativity in a TikTok, or an Instagram, or just anything that always makes me think.
3. WHICH ONLINE TREND ARE YOU TOTALLY OVER, AND WHICH IS HERE TO STAY?
I think the trend of using face filters or editing photos in any sense is a toxic one. And I think that we’re actually moving away from that, and I’m really happy to see that.
For example, there’s a trend that just started on TikTok a few days ago that I just saw, to a Twenty-One Pilots song. Basically, you have this crazy face filter on that completely morphs your face and gives you a nose job and bigger lips and a ton of makeup, and all of that. And then, the line is, “My taste in music is your face,” and on “face,” you take the filter off and everyone just shows their actual face without makeup on or anything. And I think that’s an amazing trend. So that’s an example of us moving away from, you know, putting on a mask — in a destructive sense. We love masks when it comes to N95s, but we don’t love them when it’s on the Internet.
So everyone should do that one. And the “PS5” dance challenge.
4. WHAT ARE YOU MANIFESTING FOR THE NEXT STAGE OF YOUR CAREER?
Definitely more performances! I have not done too many live shows. I went on tour for the first time in November with LANY, which was the coolest experience of my life. So I really want to do that or something like that again. I did a bunch of shows before I discovered TikTok and all of that.
I feel like I found my platform in the middle of the pandemic, so when I had the opportunity to really connect with so many more people, it was only on the Internet and not in person. So I’m really excited to actually meet people and get to sing new songs with them, and see how they’ve impacted actual humans in real life, as opposed to just on the Internet.
I would also like to keep doing more collaborations. Working with TOMORROW X TOGETHER and Alan Walker, and Bella, and Jamie Miller, and all those amazing artists is such a pleasure and such an honor for me because I’ve been fans of all of them. Just getting to work with them is so surreal, so I’m excited to keep meeting new artists and collaborators.
And I’m working on an album! Definitely hoping to finish that and get it out by the end of the year. Yeah, I’m excited to share that new music.
5. WHAT ARE THE FIRST THREE SONGS ON YOUR SPOTIFY “ON REPEAT” PLAYLIST?
“Run” — Vampire Weekend
“As It Was” — Harry Styles
“Somebody Told Me” — The Killers
This interview has been edited for length and clarity.