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Maisie Fitzmaurice

Review: I love indie-pop artist Remi Wolf, here's why you should too

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Funky, energetic and colorful, Remi Wolf is like no other artist for many reasons.

Her bold, sometimes absurd, style is exactly what you’d expect from a self-identified Aquarius sun/Leo rising (which she mentions in the track, “Sexy Villian”).

She refuses to put herself in a box and doesn’t want her fans to either.

Her sound stretches across rock, pop, soul and R&B genres, and she’s not afraid to bend the rules in the name of artistic expression. Songs like “Quiet on Set,” which includes a monologue from the point of view of a child who lost their mother in a grocery store, include attention-grabbing and novel elements.

Watching her perform at KEMBA Live! promoting her newest album, Big Ideas, which hit streaming platforms in July, was captivating. She excitedly told the crowd to “shake their brains out” and notably performed a surprise cover of “Life is a Highway” by Rascal Flatts as well as a stripped-down acoustic performance of “Sexy Villian.”

Her live performances are overflowing with energy. She can be seen running across the stage, jumping, and using her powerful and unique voice through belting lyrics with passion, as seen through her facial expressions. She appears confident but doesn’t take herself too seriously, displaying theatrics and sometimes uncoordinated dance moves.

This unapologetically-weird attitude goes beyond live performances, lyrics and sound, it defines her unique look. She is often seen dressed in mismatched ensembles, for example, a checkered skirt with a tie-dye long sleeve, accompanied with a fuzzy bucket hat and bright blue smeared shadow.

Her self-expression reads genuine and her demeanor and interactions suggest she is down to earth despite her ability to garner attention just by being herself.

She is openly bi-sexual, like a significant portion of her fan base, and often shares romantic experiences in her songs, including the soulful love letter, “Liz” and “Hello Hello Hello” which questions relationship dynamics and infidelity.

She often experiments with androgynous looks, which I saw firsthand during her performance at Kilby Block Party music festival in 2023, where she wore basketball shorts that showed off her unshaven legs, a men’s cut Utah t-shirt, glasses and a hat. It was night and day from the green-checked peasant-style dress I saw her wear a year earlier while performing at Newport Music Hall in Columbus.

This is just another way she keeps her personal brand exciting and unpredictable. Like artists such as Chappell Roan and Grimes, it shows her adoring fans that they too can experiment with their appearance without any reservations or confines of gender or fashion norms.

I first heard Wolf in 2020 after the release of her 5-track EP, I’m Allergic to Dogs! I was drawn in by the constantly changing dynamics of each track, and it immediately became my favorite project of that summer.

I’d drive down the street on a sunny day singing along to the catchy and fun, “Disco Man,” which is still one of her most popular tracks as of 2024.

“Woo” was one of those songs that came to me right when I needed it. I repeated the lyrics “Love, it's not the answer it’s the mindset. // The question’s not about who, it's how you find,” as I continued on my journey to self-love and understanding, something that many others in her fan base can relate to as well.

During the following two years, Wolf kept the momentum going, releasing Juno, which included eccentric tracks such as “Liquor Store” and “Anthony Kiedis,” both expressing relatable feelings of restlessness, frustration and longing.

Big Ideas, features popular tracks “Cinderella” and “Alone in Miami.” This album felt more personal than others as she settled into her identity and continued to polish her songwriting skills.

At 28 years old, there's no way to predict where her career will take her from here, but I surely hope she’ll make another stop in Columbus in the future, so her fans, including myself, can watch her radiate her talent and joy once again.

Maisie Fitzmaurice is an editor at CityScene Media Group. Feedback welcome at mfitzmaurice@cityscenemediagroup.com.