On TikTok, singer Julia Wolf might be known for her love of Twilight, but what the singer really wants is a secondhand shirt from Gilmore Girls. “The thing that I search for most, more than anything, is this Custo Barcelona top that Lorelai wears,” she tells Teen Vogue. “It's the red one with the leopard velvet collar, and it has black sleeves. I search for it all the time.”
As she brings her viral hit “In My Room” to the stage this summer during a festival run that will take her from our own Teen Vogue Fest in Brooklyn on July 25 to Lollapalooza in Chicago, and Leeds in the UK, maybe she’ll stumble upon that piece in a secondhand store during her travels. Or maybe she’ll find it when she returns to the US, specifically the Pacific Northwest (where she previously did an intimate performance at the Twilight Swan House), to play at the Forks Forever Festival as cooler weather returns in the fall.
Ahead of Wolf's festival performances and tour, we meet her on an early-spring morning at Rogue, her favorite shopping destination, on Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The store is filled with curated secondhand pieces that are just as spunky and cool as the decor, chock-full of pop culture references, just like the singer’s social media pages.
Exploring pop culture is how Wolf first discovered her personal style, and it’s a method she’d recommend to others. “Growing up, for me, all I ever did was watch YouTube videos,” she recalls. “I'm very into the return of long-form content, so I think just diving deep into the internet and finding what you like; also pulling from your favorite movies and TV shows. Things like that.” Among her fellow musicians, Wolf looks up to Phoebe Bridgers and Hayley Williams. In fiction, Twilight, True Blood, Gilmore Girls, and The Vampire Diaries provide her with worlds of inspiration.
Notably, Wolf and, in turn, her fans share a resonance with teenage characters. “The way I grew up was so similar to a character like Bella Swan, where she is struggling to be social, and she's never been the girl who was picked for anything,” she says. “I felt that very deeply. While I would eat lunch alone every day, I would read that book to just feel a little less alone and have something to almost look forward to in my life. I just wanted that to happen to me.”
Those resounding feelings of teenage girlhood are woven into much of Wolf’s music, from the lyrics of “Jennifer’s Body” and the chorus of “Loser” to the heartfelt vocals of “Last Summer.” “Inherently, I always just write about experiences that I've gone through,” she says. “Anytime I try to step outside of that, it becomes very obvious and doesn't feel authentic.”
It seems that approach has worked, as Wolf has landed collabs with major players in a plethora of genres, including with artists Yeat and John Summit. “I think sticking to real-life experiences is what makes [my writing] relatable across the board,” she says. “As far as genres go, it's really just in my core already, because I love so many different things. It's just kind of natural for me.”
While it may have seemed like Wolf was an overnight sensation when “In My Room” began to trend, recognition has been a much longer process for the singer. For someone who struggled socially, just calling herself an artist was a battle: “I couldn't even admit to wanting to do music until I was in my 20s because it just felt so impossible for so long,” she says.
Style has become a vehicle Wolf uses to pull herself out of her shyness. “I think the older I get, the more I have to let go of trying to hide myself all the time,” she explains. “It becomes just a need that overpowers the insecurity. I need to express myself in one way or another. I think clothing is one of the easiest ways to do that without being so verbal and social and having to talk in group settings, which I still can't do. So I use fashion to speak for myself sometimes.”
For the young artist, suddenly having so many eyes on her after her viral song added a layer to how she presents herself to the world. “It’s been interesting,” says Wolf. “I get really stuck sometimes in the [fashion] micro trends that keep happening.” It’s not easy to resist: “I am the perfect target for overconsumption,” she adds jokingly. “It's just something I think anyone who is kind of insecure struggles with.”
Although, Wolf says further, “it is nice to feel that sense of community with everyone. Like, ‘Oh, I'm wearing what other people think is cool right now,’ but I have to really step back from it and go back to the basics to actually understand what I love, if that makes sense.”
Wolf found an alternative to using micro trends to feel like she fits in “by going vintage and not trying to buy into everything that I see every five minutes.” Secondhand shopping, especially Depop, is going to be her go-to as she prepares stage looks with her stylist. “This is my first time where I'll get to build out a proper stage,” she notes of her upcoming tour. “It's usually just me, the [band], and a curtain. Now we get to have a whole set and scenery. So I definitely want to level up in all aspects, including the clothing. I also love when the audience comes in a certain style.”
Wolf is not yet sure what she wants for her look, exactly, but she does have some muses in mind. “I feel like it has to be very Elena Gilbert coded, very Bella Swan,” she says. “At the end of the day, I do always gravitate towards something more simple but still reflecting personal[ity]. So we need to dig. We need to do some digging.”
For Wolf, wanting to match her fans is fitting, as it seems they are an integral part of her journey from the girl sitting alone and reading at lunch to an artist who is singing to them. “It is such a discouraging road, but now that we're here, it means the world to me,” she says. “Just [seeing] people getting tattoos of the lyrics and crying at the shows every night, I couldn't dream for anything more.”
For those who might relate to the insecurities Wolf has experienced, she has a clear message: “Nothing is forever. The feelings that we're feeling right now are so temporary. You don't see it yet, but I've lived through it," she says. "We can all live through it.”
She adds, “Just don't let too much time go by without listening to your gut. Always trust that intuition you feel.”
Get tickets to see Julia Wolf at Teen Vogue Fest here!
