Audrey Hobert is Living Our Collective Pop Fantasy

For many young pop fans, the bedroom performance is where pop music transfers from an obsession to a full-on ritual. By embodying a Beyoncé, Britney, or Gaga, we get to try on our favs' confidence and grace. Many pop stars, like Tate McRae or Slayyyter had these moments, back in the day, but over time, they moved on from those "silly" childhood fantasies to the colder, more effective stuff of pop precision.

They are pros, here to serve.

That's why watching the rise of singer-songwriter and newly minted pop performer, Audrey Hobert, is so satisfying: she's still in many ways that girl with a hairbrush in hand, posing in the mirror, except now she's performing for millions on Fallon.

Hobert initially came to prominence via her collaboration with her bestie, superstar Gracie Abrams, co-writing many of her biggest songs like "That's So True" and "I Love You, I'm Sorry." As Abrams's co-writer, Hobert infused her own writerly sensibility, which over time revealed itself to be heavy on quippy details, psychological meanderings and laughing self effacement.

When Hobert embarked on her solo music career, though, those lyrical elements transferred from general features to pure matter. Hobert's songs are all winking pieces of yearning self deprecation, equal parts merpy, mundane, and, in their own way, poetic. She's not writing epic anthems about love and loss, but rather, subtle bangers about depression-bingeing Friends or navigating the competing feelings of FOMO and JOMO while attending a bowling alley party.

Her performances on stage and in her music videos evoke this awkward, bedroom diarist persona. Her choreo swings are big. She flops her body around with goofy impression, sticking the landing but purposefully stumbling a little too, giving diva and banana peel.

Her performance last night on Fallon was Hobert's project at its best. She was alone — no band, no dancers, mic stand centered, but still she filled up that stage. She was performing her debut single "Sue Me," which is her poppiest, most high energy track. Per the bedroom pop idea, the video for the song literally has her dancing in her room, energetically thrashing like she's performing for thousands.

She brought that casual, but ecstatic energy to broadcast, doing pirouettes and poses as some (literal) fans set up on stage subtly wafted her hair. At one point she went up to a small fan, letting herself have an epic little moment, before strutting over to a cartoonishly bigger fan, letting the industrial wind making her visibly tense and recoil. I guess her thing is, if she serves fabulosity for a moment, she must then immediately give us a moment of pure derp.

The vision board is very, pop star who could've been an SNL writer.

To be clear: I find all of this charming. But I wonder if there will be a moment where Hobert will let herself revel in the fantasy for a full song? The humor and shrugging is funny, but sometimes, it may be a bit of a defense. Let that wind blow, queen! Bask in it!