Huddy caught up with NME backstage at Lollapalooza to chat about the pop-punk revival, working with Travis Barker and his transition from social media personality to musician.
The ‘All The Things I Hate About You’ singer – real name Chase Hudson – spoke to us following his performance on the BMI stage on the final day of the annual Chicagoan music bash.
His debut performance at Lollapalooza saw Huddy draw in one of the biggest crowds of the weekend. “I couldn’t have asked for anything more,” he told NME. “I really wanted to amp it up, because it was my first performance back in two years.
“The last set that I played was in San Jose at Poptopia, and this was just such a sick welcome back set in Chicago. I haven’t played here before, so it was really awesome to see everyone’s faces in the Midwest.”
Back in May, the 22-year-old musician released his ‘Love Bites’ EP, a collection of four pop-punk songs inspired by girlfriend Chiara Huvland.
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“When me and her first met, I saw something in her that was almost like a partner and a muse,” he said. “She is just such an inspiration, both with my music and within my life. She’s helped me do so much and realise so much about myself. I’m doing all these things that I wasn’t doing before I met her so I have no one to thank but her.”
Explaining what it was like to work with producer Omega (Fall Out Boy, Kesha, aespa, Lil Uzi Vert), Huddy said he “really showed me what taking your time and being almost nitpicky about every part of a song does for you and how that helps your outcome in the long run”.
“We re-tracked ‘Love Bites’ I think three times just to make sure everything was perfect,” he continued. “One little thing would be like ‘Meh’, and then we would be like, ‘Fuck, let’s redo the whole fucking thing’ just because we want to make sure we had something that was perfect.”
Huddy performed on the last day of Lollapalooza, a day in which pop-punk seemed to have taken over the fest. The likes of Pierce The Veil, Waterparks and Destroy Boys all graced different stages while pop-punk icons Blink-182 headlined.
Speaking about being a part of the recent resurgence of the genre, Huddy said: “It’s been awesome. It’s such a lovely genre. To be honest, alternative music as a whole deserves so much love and more.
“At the end of the day, when it comes down to the music that I make, it’s never felt more right when it’s played with guitar and drums, that’s all I need. It could be rock, it could be nu-metal, it could be punk, anything in that lane. I’m there and I’m all for it and I love it.”
The ‘Mugshot’ singer also spoke NME about his experience working with drummer Travis Barker on his 2021 debut album ‘Teenage Heartbreak’. The legendary Blink drummer appeared as a feature on the track ‘Don’t Freak Out’ alongside Lauv, Iann Dior and All American Rejects frontman Tyson Ritter.
“We wanted him to be a feature on one of the records so what a better song to do it on,” he said. “Travis was such a big help on that album. He helped reshape how the drum production sounded and it sounds so beautiful.”
Arguably one of the first internet personalities to gain a massive following and fame from TikTok, Huddy explained how coming up through the social media platform had been “such a fun roller coaster ride since the beginning”.
“I always wanted to connect with people and I was a really emotional person,” he said. “No one took me seriously in my hometown so I wanted to pour that love on [the platform] because I had nowhere else to put it.
“Being able to go on social media, people really understand and connect with your feelings,” he added. “I’ve always wanted to be a musician. I really wanted to make that transition. I wanted to make alternative music and I couldn’t find any producers in Northern California, but when I made it down to LA I made it my mission to find some people to work with and it fucking happened and killed it.”
Huddy is set to join Palaye Royal as opening support on their 2024 ‘Death or Glory’ UK and European tour. Visit here for tickets and more information. ‘Love Bites’ is out now.