Life in Full Color

Photo by Neema Sadeghi

All it takes is one lone wolf’s vibrant vision to inject color into the lives of millions. For California-raised Remi Wolf, that vision comes in the form of funky pop sounds, an infinite wardrobe of flashy attire, and bizarre lyrics that’ll make your head spin. Oh, and we can’t forget her adorable sidekick, a French bulldog by the name of Juno. Growing up with a rigorous athletic background and a sparse music scene, Wolf forged a path of self-expression and immersed herself in an artistic community. She has since created a world which may only make sense to her, but nonetheless she invites us all to join her in a place that is audaciously fluorescent and full of life.

Though she has been making music for years, Wolf’s starpower skyrocketed at the peak of quarantine when her song “Photo ID” went viral on TikTok, leading to some of her other singles finding their way onto popular Spotify playlists. This culminated with her debut album, the bombastically playful “Juno,” which dropped in 2021. Before jumping on this rollercoaster, Wolf was known as a competitive ski racer—she hit the mountains on the weekends from ages 7 to 16 and represented the US at the Youth Olympic Games. All the while, though, the pull toward art stirred in her and manifested in myriad ways.

“Since I was little, I was obsessed with art,” Wolf reflects. “It started out as me drawing and painting all the time when I was in preschool. I would do all these performances for my parents in my backyard where I would sing or do dance stuff.” Amidst performing in talent shows with friends, joining a barbershop quartet, and eventually starting a band at age 14, Wolf was subconsciously building the foundation for her musical career. “I feel like harmonies are really my first love,” she says. “I think that’s because they’ve just been part of my life since I was literally 9 years old.” It only takes one listen to any of Wolf’s songs to notice her endless layers of vocals, resulting in a full and enveloping sound.

As Wolf continued to give in to her musical musings, her progression unfolded before her eyes. “Where I grew up, the South Bay suburbs, there’s no real scene to grasp onto like there is in LA,” the singer says. She knew it was only right for her to move to the city if she were to pursue music seriously, and getting accepted into USC’s Thornton School of Music paved the way. Coming from the regimented lifestyle of a competitive athlete, art had played a secondary role in Wolf’s life until this point. That changed quickly, and college became a formative experience in her future career.

“I was living in this 10-person house and we were all musicians, and we were just jamming and having fun all day,” she recalls. “Regardless of the actual musical education I got at school, I don’t think my music would be anywhere close to as emotion-filled had I not gone through the ups and downs of school, met all the people I met and had the friends I had. I would just be living a completely different life.”

Wolf’s public persona would never hint at the fact that she was a reserved kid who normally kept her head down. “I was always a very bubbly and goofy kid, but I was shy,” she shares. “When I come out of my shell it’s great, but if I’m in there, then I can be in there.” As a result, music and singing became a “cathartic expelling of feeling” for Wolf. “I love putting everything into my voice and songwriting,” she says. “I truly try to put my life into it. And my life can be very chaotic, and my brain can be very crazy and annoying. I really try to channel all that into my music.”

Wolf holds nothing back with her music, sonically or lyrically. On “Juno,” you’ll find no shortage of unhinged lines: “You got an ice cream cone on your leg, motherfucker, I’ve got two fish kissing on my clit, motherfucker” from “Liquor Store” is just one example. How these ideas form in Wolf’s mind is an enigma, but the process is actually quite straightforward. “My lyrics are pretty much all freestyle and stream of consciousness,” she explains. “I kind of just start dumping shit on the page and letting my brain free associate. I’ll take lyrical ideas from what’s around me. I try not to think too much and let my subconscious do the work. That’s the most honest I can be.”

Wolf’s music hits like a whirlwind of influences to a first-time listener—a testament to how much inspiration she takes from her upbringing and surroundings. “I love funk music, I love rock and upbeat songs filled with tension,” she says. “If we’re talking exclusively [about] color, I’ve always been drawn to color. I’ve always dressed kinda fuckin’ crazy ever since I was little. That also plays into all my art forms I like to participate in. It’s all color.”

As bold as Wolf’s music can be, her universe would not be complete without her psychedelic imagery. “I think my visuals are an extension of the music,” she says. “All the ideas are off the cuff. We made a lot of [our music videos] on a GoPro, just got decked out in clothes and were like, ‘Let’s just go to Hollywood Boulevard and stomp around, or borrow our friend’s convertible and drive around and sing this song.’” The perpetual desire to keep the kid in her alive is another driving force for Wolf. “I love the nostalgic feel,” she says. “I’m really inspired by children’s movies and shows I used to watch when I was a kid, like ‘The Big Comfy Couch’ and ‘Spy Kids.’ All that colorful shit. Doing all of our VHS processing was also an homage to that era of life.”

If you want to know what the past year or so has looked like for Wolf, look no further than the tattoos lining her arms. Most of them have been acquired over this time, and they encapsulate only a fraction of the emotions she’s experienced. “It’s probably been the craziest and most stimulating, amazing and difficult year of my life,” she says. “I think I’m still processing it.” She’s also not done touring yet, having just come back from Mexico a day before this interview. There, she acquired a Kewpie baby on her arm, who is also wearing tattoos himself.

“It’s become quite an obsession,” Wolf laughs. The singer subscribes to the philosophy of going with the flow—she never goes in with a plan for her tattoos. However, she does have an aesthetic she’s most drawn to. “I’ve been getting tattoos for a while, but I think the one that really solidified tattoos for me was this one. It’s a puffer fish,” she says as she displays the American traditional piece on the back of her bicep. “It’s a Tony Polito flash, I got it at Smith Street Tattoo (in Brooklyn) by this guy Steve Boltz.” The shop was introduced to her by frequent collaborator Kenny Beats, with whom she got tattoos on the same day. “Being in LA, there’s so much fine line, which I never really loved. I feel like I kind of found my tattoo aesthetic at Smith Street ’cause of its bold, colorful New York style.”

For many artists, finding their footing over the pandemic came with a mountain of challenges, but Wolf wasn’t impeded at all. In such bleak times, it’s no surprise that masses were drawn to someone so animated when searching for a ray of light. But just because that’s where she made her mark, it’s far from where it ends. “For the next year,” she ponders, “once I’m off tour, there’s gonna be a lot of exploring for me artistically. I feel like I deserve to explore a little bit. I’ve been working so hard and just wanna dig back into what makes me feel good and how I can push myself.”

In only a couple of years, Wolf has cultivated a distinct sound and attracted a dedicated fanbase by being the purest form of herself. At this point, the world is her oyster. Wherever her career takes her from here, you can count on it shaking things up, with a rainbow of ink on her arms, a groovy beanie on her head, and the exuberant voice that got us through the dark.