The Curse of the Actor-Singer

Last week, I went to see Finn Wolfhard perform at Electric Brixton, and while I enjoyed the gig, I
couldn’t help but notice how different the crowd was from other shows I’ve been to. Of course,
concert etiquette post-Covid is often disregarded, with people prioritising getting noticed by the
artist over having a good time, but this show in particular seemed to fall for this notion to the
extreme. Weeks before this, I’d seen Pierce the Veil at Wembley Arena, the kind of venue where
an intimate atmosphere goes to die. And yet, even in an arena, the energy felt akin to smaller
shows I’d been to. Not everyone had this experience – I’d seen videos online after the gig
complaining about violent moshing and self-centred audience members – but there was
undeniably a vast difference when compared with the Finn Wolfhard crowd. The issue is this: he
is not a musician. He releases music, yes, and it’s good music, but whenever I told anyone I was
going to see him live, the predominant response was, “wait, he’s a singer?” His primary
association with his acting career makes cultivating a fanbase invested in his music almost
impossible. The show was filled with tweens, their parents, and the odd few 20-year-olds.
There’s nothing wrong with catering to a younger, more mainstream audience, but Wolfhard’s
music doesn’t really do that. This showed, with this being one of the quietest crowds I’d ever
been in, people only singing for singles ‘Choose the Latter’ and ‘Objection!’. The crowd was
static, with the drummer even screaming into his mic for people to move around even the tiniest
bit. It was so clear that people were there for Finn Wolfhard, the actor, rather than Finn
Wolfhard, the musician. He couldn’t perform one song without someone screaming “I love you,
Finn”, which was awkward once it became clear he wasn’t going to respond. Online, reports
from a gig in Cologne were also negative. Fans were pushy, entitled, and seemed only to care
about Wolfhard’s TV career, with someone writing ‘Byler endgame’ (a reference to his character
in Stranger Things) on his tour bus window.

Despite the reaction from the crowd, it’s clear that Finn Wolfhard is passionate about music.
He’s been making music almost since the start of his acting career, lending his voice and guitar
to band Calpurnia just one year after his breakout role as Mike Wheeler in Stranger Things. He
isn’t an actor who got bored of his trade and decided to make the switch; both music and film
run parallel for him. It’s clear from interviews that Wolfhard has immense knowledge of the craft,
citing a wide range of artists as his inspiration, particularly from 90s indie scenes. His attitude to
film is similar, 2023 bringing about his directorial debut with Hell of a Summer. It’s unfortunate
that his roles as Mike Wheeler and Richie Tozier have eclipsed these other projects, although
inevitable that this would occur; the fanbases for both IT and Stranger Things are massive,
garnering 5.2 million and 12.9 million videos under their respective hashtags on TikTok.
Wolfhard’s co-star Joe Keery, stage name Djo, faces a similar problem, although he boasts 24
million monthly listeners on Spotify. In 2024, his track ‘End of Beginning’ went viral, which has
definitely helped fans to separate his musical identity from his acting one, but many fans still find
themselves explaining that their favourite artist isn’t just Steve Harrington from Stranger Things,
and that he’s actually been making music since before the series premiered.

So, can any actors successfully become musicians in their own right? Big names such as Drake
and Lady Gaga did in fact start their careers in the TV and film industry, but their musical star
has now eclipsed whatever fame they gained from acting. They also weren’t in shows as huge
as Stranger Things, season 5 of which is expected to become Netflix’s biggest show yet. It’s
much more common for musicians to dabble in acting rather than the other way round, one of
the most famous examples of this being David Bowie’s starring role in Labyrinth, and also this
weird vampire film The Hunger which I watched at the BFI last year. Being predominantly
famous for music, while also acting, seems to be a much smoother transition. Gig atmosphere
isn’t impacted, and you aren’t tied to any one character in performances.

Unfortunately, it’s unlikely Wolfhard will escape the clutches of his acting legacy any time soon.
Maybe he enjoys it – I don’t know. Either way, it seems the best way to switch from acting to
music, or do both alongside each other, is simply to just not be too famous.