Audrey Hobert wears Dress, Earrings, and Shoes Celine.
Audrey Hobert is, in some respects, an accidental pop star. She initially set out to be a screenwriter, then fell into writing songs and directing music videos with her childhood best friend, Gracie Abrams. When one of those songs, “That’s So True,” took off, Hobert decided it was her turn. Her debut single, “Sue me,” and its self-directed video, built around Hobert’s own frantic, joyful dancing, announced her as a performer with an uncompromising vision and the nerve to see it through. After a confessional album and a series of viral live performances, Hobert has become pop’s most self-possessed new voice. Now, as she tells Mel Ottenberg, she’s figuring out how to control her own chaos.
TUESDAY 11 AM JUL. 21, 2026 L.A.
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AUDREY HOBERT: Mercury’s in retrograde right now. I don’t know if you’re feeling it.
MEL OTTENBERG: I didn’t know that. Keep going.
HOBERT: Logistically, my life is much harder than it usually is, and it’s forcing me to, first of all, confront the fact that I can’t let things get done unless I’m heavily involved. And also sometimes shit just doesn’t go perfectly and you have to rise above.
OTTENBERG: Yes. You like to get your hands dirty in all things Audrey, don’t you?
HOBERT: Yes. All things Audrey.
OTTENBERG: Like, she’s a video director.
HOBERT: She’s making a video tomorrow and it’s my dream video, but it involves a lot of logistics; aka, I’m flying in 13 of my cousins to come be in the video with me.
OTTENBERG: Wow. And with Mercury in retrograde. Watch out for the electronics—
HOBERT: My phone is broken.
OTTENBERG: Look at that.
HOBERT: Mm-hmm.
OTTENBERG: Yeah. Sorry, I’m stunned into silence. I don’t know what to do with that, Audrey.
HOBERT: You should just be like, “These things shouldn’t matter so much.”
OTTENBERG: Yes.
HOBERT: You just got to push through.
OTTENBERG: Audrey, do you talk to psychics? Do you talk to astrologists? And if so, how many in 2026?
HOBERT: I have talked to one astrologist as of recently. She told me this summer would be exciting for me, and it has been.
Dress and Earrings Celine.
OTTENBERG: Okay. What’s the vibe? And where are you? Do you live in Silver Lake?
HOBERT: Hmm. How did you know?
OTTENBERG: Watching your videos, I’m like, you deeply give Silver Lake, and I love Silver Lake.
HOBERT: Yeah, it’s fun.
OTTENBERG: So wait, you’re doing the thing. The dream is happening.
HOBERT: Yeah.
OTTENBERG: And now you’re in video-production mode. You’re going to direct, you’re starring, you’re dancing. Do you do the choreography?
HOBERT: I like to get on set and just move.
OTTENBERG: Okay. So the “Sue me” video, you’re doing it until you like the playback?
HOBERT: That was my first time being in front of the camera and directing, so I never watched playback because I felt too embarrassed to be seen watching myself.
OTTENBERG: Oh.
HOBERT: I danced for eight hours straight and did a bunch of takes in each of those rooms, then got all the footage and just spliced my best moments together.
OTTENBERG: And you’re the editor as well.
HOBERT: Yes.
OTTENBERG: That’s so brutal.
HOBERT: It’s the only way forward. I edit my own 10-second clips that promote something, that usually somebody else edits for someone. Because I know these very short things are what people see, and how people, just in the endless scroll, judge someone. And I’m like, “I want to be as in control as I possibly can of the way I’m portrayed, even in a 10-second promotion of my concert.” Who knows if I’ll keep doing it, but for this first time I was like, “I have to be in charge.”
OTTENBERG: It makes total sense.
HOBERT: I think more people should do it. If you have instincts about editing, and if you have instincts about anything aside from just being the front-facing person, I think everyone should be doing it themselves, because it really helps portray you properly.
OTTENBERG: So have you always been dancing?
HOBERT: Yeah, always.
OTTENBERG: Do you have a dance icon that influenced your dancing vibes?
HOBERT: I don’t have one. I just did so much dance training that I have my own way I like to move. But I did just watch Truth or Dare, the Madonna documentary. Oh my god. I was like, “God, look at her.”
Dress, Earrings, and Shoes Celine.
OTTENBERG: One of the great documentaries.
HOBERT: Holy shit, it’s incredible.
OTTENBERG: Have you always been an extrovert?
HOBERT: Yeah.
OTTENBERG: And are you an exhibitionist?
HOBERT: Define that.
OTTENBERG: I don’t know. You’re like the “naked neighbor,” you know what I mean? Like, are you really good at being the center of attention and outrageous?
HOBERT: I wouldn’t say outrageous. I’d be scared to be outrageous. But I’m comfortable holding court, and also I want to give other people the floor as well, always. I could hold the floor, but I don’t want to all the time.
OTTENBERG: Yeah, yeah, yeah. You’re extremely L.A., right?
HOBERT: I guess so. I don’t know. Define that. I feel like there’s something negative about that.
OTTENBERG: It’s not. I’m totally into L.A. I love it.
HOBERT: L.A.’s the greatest city. I’ll never move.
OTTENBERG: Great. I would move to L.A., but the universe is not into me moving to L.A.
HOBERT: Why?
OTTENBERG: Crazy things happen when I try to move to L.A., so I can’t. But L.A. people are my favorite people, Audrey. This is not a diss. You drive?
HOBERT: Yes. Love it.
OTTENBERG: When you’re driving around, what do you do? Are you on the phone? Are you listening to things?
HOBERT: I’m either on my phone, or I’m in silence.
OTTENBERG: Right. You’re looking at the phone while driving, or there’s nothing happening.
HOBERT: A hundred percent. And every time I have dinner with my dad, which is once every two months, when I get in the car, he says, “Don’t text and drive.” And every time, for that one drive, I don’t do it.
OTTENBERG: That’s beautiful. It is dangerous. I’m not a safe driver, but I really love driving.
HOBERT: Yes, I’m not a safe driver either. I’m a very distracted driver. I’m always like, I got from point A to point B and I’ve been in a fantasy the entire time. But I haven’t been in an accident in a while.
OTTENBERG: What is the L.A. grocery store you’re most passionate about?
HOBERT: Erewhon probably, but also Gelson’s.
OTTENBERG: Took the word Gelson’s right out of my mouth.
HOBERT: Yeah.
OTTENBERG: I love it there. We don’t have shit like that. We can’t have anything nice like either of those places here. A Gelson’s birthday cake, a sheet cake from Gelson’s, it’s a perfect American cake.
HOBERT: It is.
OTTENBERG: Everything’s just perfect there.
HOBERT: I know. And it is expensive, but it’s not Erewhon, and there’s something more down-to-earth about it. But it is very expensive. In terms of inexpensive, I like Ralphs and I like Vons.
OTTENBERG: On that note, tell me about songwriting.
HOBERT: I love to do it. It’s total creative freedom. There are rules if you’re paying attention, but no rules, really. And it’s challenging, it’s mystical, it’s also methodical. I adore doing it and I haven’t done it in a really long time.
OTTENBERG: How long?
HOBERT: Oh, it must have been a year or something. I’ve been doing everything else. And I wasn’t always a songwriter, so I don’t really see myself as someone who processes my emotions through songwriting. It feels like work, but in a great way, because I like to work. But it’s okay, because my time is coming up to start again, and I know I’ll be ready and excited.
OTTENBERG: And how does one write a song when you’re in the flow? How do you prep to write a good song?
HOBERT: You just have to be committed to it, and you have to believe in it. I’ll have an idea for a first line, I’ll have a melody, and if I believe in it enough, I’ll just work on it until it’s done.
OTTENBERG: Do you sometimes say things in real life and you’re like, “That’s a song?”
HOBERT: It’s only ever happened with “Sue me.” I said, “Sue me, I wanna be wanted,” out loud. And then I immediately started singing it to the melody.
OTTENBERG: Gorgeous.
Coat, Hat, and 17 Bag in Grained Calfskin Celine.
HOBERT: Yeah, it was like blowing in the wind, you know?
OTTENBERG: You’re blazed when you write?
HOBERT: Yeah.
OTTENBERG: Sick.
HOBERT: Really?
OTTENBERG: Yeah. If I smoke weed, I can’t tie my shoes and I get super paranoid.
HOBERT: That happens sometimes, but also, sometimes it just makes me able to go so down deep in my brain that it’s a place I can’t access any other time. And I’m so deep in my brain in a way that helps me be creative.
OTTENBERG: Does getting high change the way you think about things after it’s written? Will you be stoned and be like, “That song’s fucking… ah,” and then change it, or wake up in the middle of the night—
HOBERT: No. I’m always in the moment. I’m shitting out 10 horrible things while I’m high and writing, but each thing brings me closer to what it should be. And also, yes, I will put a song down for a day, maybe pick it back up while I’m high or listen to it, and I will immediately know if it’s good or not. I just know. I don’t know why.
OTTENBERG: And then will you also know if it’s for you or for somebody else?
HOBERT: Ever since I started writing by myself, it’s always for me. I actually wrote something recently that I’m trying to get to Benson Boone. With my whole heart, I really think I’ve written a part of a song that belongs to him, and I’m just trying to get to him. So maybe this is a good way to.
OTTENBERG: Audrey, when you’re writing, are you freehand? Are you on the phone? What are you doing?
HOBERT: I’m freehand usually, but if I’m out and something comes, I’ll just hit my phone.
OTTENBERG: Do you have a specific writing area?
HOBERT: Yeah, at my old place it was just my desk in my bedroom, but I’m in a new place now, and that desk hasn’t really gotten much use lately.
OTTENBERG: She will.
HOBERT: Oh, a hundred percent, she will.
OTTENBERG: What about writing for other people versus you? You wrote a lot of songs for Gracie Abrams, famously, then you did your album. What’s the big diff?
HOBERT: It’s just collaboration, which I love to do. I think it’s very helpful sometimes. If I’m writing for myself, I’m writing alone in my room.
OTTENBERG: Yeah. If you’re writing for other people, you’re with them.
HOBERT: Right.
OTTENBERG: What kind of gum are you chewing?
HOBERT: Nicorette, of course.
OTTENBERG: Ugh, I love—wait, I want to get some.
HOBERT: Are you a chewer as well?
OTTENBERG: I haven’t smoked a cigarette in six years.
HOBERT: Wow.
OTTENBERG: And I’m not addicted to gum.
HOBERT: Oh, it’s my lifeline.
OTTENBERG: Do you smoke cigarettes?
HOBERT: I really can’t. I recently had an ENT visit that was very enlightening. He’s someone I met only a month ago, but trust with my life, and he said to me, “Some singers are lucky and can smoke and party and they’re fine, and some singers aren’t, and you are not, so you have to be careful.”
OTTENBERG: Right.
HOBERT: So I’ve been good. I have a paper-thin voice. I have to be so good. It’s so annoying.
OTTENBERG: When did you become really known, famous?
HOBERT: I don’t feel like I’m that famous, but a few months after my first song came out, I started to notice some weird looks on the street. But I still feel pretty normal.
OTTENBERG: When did you decide to do that first album?
HOBERT: I wrote a song called “Sex and the city,” and I’m not even trying to be corny, it made me want to be a singer. I was so sure of that song and so proud of it, and I thought, “I’m delivering this, and I’ve got more in me, so let’s see where this train takes me.”
OTTENBERG: And then did you write that whole album quickly?
HOBERT: Pretty quickly, yeah. It was like an eight-month, packed experience.
Dress, Sunglasses, and Small Flair Bag in Shiny Calfskin Celine.
OTTENBERG: Eight months, like, “This is my shit. This is what I’m doing?”
HOBERT: Yes.
OTTENBERG: Since you do different things, what’s Audrey’s favorite output?
HOBERT: Ooh, music videos. That’s why I’m doing them. They’re not a requirement anymore. They sincerely aren’t. I would probably be better off spending my day making TikToks, you know? Not to be a bitch, but it’s true. I think music videos are pure joy, because I’ve had the same crew on every single one. They’re all my friends. For this specific video I’m flying out my family. It’s just pure creativity and joy and fun.
OTTENBERG: I watched them all together yesterday, and I was like, “Oh, this is so cohesive in the right way.” The way you’re dressed, the way you’re showing yourself.
HOBERT: I appreciate that. It’s true. All I’m doing, or trying to do, is just show myself.
OTTENBERG: Do you have a knowledge of MTV and videos and stuff, or are you just kicking it your way?
HOBERT: I always love references with music videos, which is fun, because in songwriting I’m never trying to reference another song, but with videos it’s fun to pull from different places and do references.
OTTENBERG: Have you ever seen the Cars video “You Might Think?” I feel like you would really like that.
HOBERT: No, I should watch it. With my video “Thirst Trap,” I watched the Japanese horror film House. I was struggling to come up with an idea for that video, and I watched that movie and I was like, “Oh, it should just look like this.” And then for this video, without doing an exact replica, I’m looking at Usher and stuff like that.
OTTENBERG: Beautiful. What’s your relationship with fashion?
HOBERT: I used to love fashion. From a very young age, I always wanted to dress to the nines to go to school. And then as I’ve gotten older, I find that I look like a dump most days, and that’s just me.
OTTENBERG: On the days you’re going to pull it together, what are you feeling right now?
HOBERT: I’m wanting very, very simple, not trying to make a statement. That feels disingenuous. I love when people make statements with their clothes, I love people who dress fun, and I have done that, but lately I just want to look that famous word: demure.
OTTENBERG: What was the first concert you ever went to?
HOBERT: Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus.
OTTENBERG: Sick.
HOBERT: Mm-hmm.
OTTENBERG: Was it good?
HOBERT: I have one distinct memory from that show. I was standing up on a folding chair during her song “I Miss You,” which is about her late grandfather, and in the middle of the song, the chair flipped and I bumped my vag really hard on the chair. I was 8 years old and I was stifling back tears, because it was the song about her dead grandpa and I knew I couldn’t start crying.
OTTENBERG: Right. What was your first CD?
HOBERT: That, and The Jackson 5, and Sheryl Crow, and Taylor Swift.
OTTENBERG: Did you go to the Taylor Swift wedding?
HOBERT: No. Did you?
OTTENBERG: No. [Laughs]
HOBERT: Wow.
OTTENBERG: I can only name four Taylor Swift songs. This is with people trying to waterboard me into being a Taylor Swift fan, but I can only name four songs.
HOBERT: Yeah. Some people take to it, some people don’t.
OTTENBERG: Exactly. What are your favorite movies?
HOBERT: Recently, The Squid and the Whale, by Noah Baumbach.
OTTENBERG: Love.
HOBERT: I also recently loved—what is it? Moon with Cher. Moon… dance?
OTTENBERG: Moonstruck.
HOBERT: Moonstruck. Moonstruck. Moonstruck. I only watched it for the first time last year and I’m like, “That’s my new favorite movie.” I’ve seen it five times since.
OTTENBERG: I’ve got to rewatch it. I’ve seen it many times. It’s very good.
HOBERT: Yeah, I’d go with Moonstruck, The Squid and the Whale, and I just watched Hoppers, and it was fine, so not that.
OTTENBERG: What?
HOBERT: Hoppers.
OTTENBERG: Oh, I didn’t see that.
Coat, Shirt, Pants, and Belt Celine.
HOBERT: It’s Pixar. It’s about a beaver.
OTTENBERG: Okay. What do you do to unwind?
HOBERT: I don’t really do much. I like to watch Love Island.
OTTENBERG: Cool.
HOBERT: Yeah.
OTTENBERG: What’s the girl’s name, the one who’s like the star?
HOBERT: I’m watching the U.K. version.
OTTENBERG: Oh, yeah.
HOBERT: I did watch the U.S. version, but it wasn’t very good to me. The U.K. version, I cry every episode.
OTTENBERG: Are you a rabid reality woman?
HOBERT: No. Just Love Island. And then sometimes I watch Love Is Blind for some reason. I find that first part of that show really fascinating.
OTTENBERG: I’ve never seen it, but I feel like I’d be happy watching Love Island.
HOBERT: It just ended in America. It was a bad season, though. Kind of a heinous watch, in my opinion. But the U.K. version is unbelievable.
OTTENBERG: Yeah. Something about the way they do reality is so dark and perfect and incredible.
HOBERT: They’re just British, understated, smart, weird. It’s so British. I love British people.
OTTENBERG: Are you single or are you taken?
HOBERT: I’m taken.
OTTENBERG: How long’s it been?
HOBERT: A year. You might know him. I mean, you’ve probably met him.
OTTENBERG: Did I maybe meet him the same night I met you, since that was a year ago?
HOBERT: Mm-hmm.
OTTENBERG: Where did you guys meet?
HOBERT: Through work, music videos.
Coat, Hat, and 17 Bag in Grained Calfskin Celine.
OTTENBERG: Oh, cute. A year is a good moment.
HOBERT: It’s great because it’s still new, and also you’re really like, “Okay, I know you. I’m knowing you truly now, and I’m liking what I’m figuring out.”
OTTENBERG: How hard is it to actually do the insane aerobic routines while singing?
HOBERT: I’ve gotten better at it, and I still think I could go harder sometimes, but I’ve worked at it. I don’t feel like I’ve really done a show unless I leave the stage in a full sweat. I’ve had shows where I’ve slacked off, and I get offstage and it just doesn’t feel worth it.
OTTENBERG: Fuck yeah. And we want it.
HOBERT: Well, yeah. I’m working on controlling that, though. I would rather figure it out for myself. I’ve experimented. I feel like on one of my first tours, I was much bigger in my movement, and I’ve learned to dial it in. I’m just figuring it out, but ultimately I just want to give people a show, for real.
OTTENBERG: You’re just so fun to talk to.
HOBERT: Aww, you are too.
OTTENBERG: I knew you were going to say Gelson’s. I get you. I totally understand you.
HOBERT: Thanks.
OTTENBERG: Thanks for being in Interview.
HOBERT: Oh my god, it was a dream. I actually had the greatest laugh of my life on set shooting the photos. I got put in a trench coat and a bowler hat and I was like, “Yeah, this works.” And then I saw the photos of me and I started laughing so hard I was crying.
OTTENBERG: I love that. Also, wait, one other thing I want to say, a pep talk for tomorrow. The good part about Mercury retrograde is, maybe the new things don’t always work and travel is bad and your phone is broken, but maybe the ideas and dreams you have for this cousin thing can happen, because you already had the concept, and now it’s realizing old dreams.
HOBERT: Yes. I love that. That’s so sweet of you to say to me.
OTTENBERG: All right, go get them. Bye, Audrey.
HOBERT: Bye. Nice to see you.
OTTENBERG: Of course. Bye.
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Hair and Makeup: Ciara Maccaro at DAY ONE Studio.
Nails: Candace Kim using Manucurist.
Photography Assistant: Alex Santos.
Fashion Assistant: Hayley Francise.
Production Director: Alexandra Weiss.
Photo Producer: Georgia Ford.
On-set Production: Lily Hyde.
Location: Cybèle.
