Alternative pop artist Hemlocke Springs released her newest single, “w-w-w-w-w,” on Jan. 15. The track previews the sound of forthcoming album “the apple tree under the sea,” scheduled for release on Feb 13.
“w-w-w-w-w” is not the first song unveiled for Springs’ forthcoming album; earlier singles “the beginning of the end” and “head, shoulders, knees and ankles” were both released towards the end of 2025. This debut follows performances opening for artists such as Chappell Roan on the Visions of Damsels & Other Dangerous Things tour, as well as appearances at major music festivals like The Governors Ball.
“w-w-w-w-w” opens with the sound of ambulance sirens, immediately setting a tone of urgency and emotional disarray. As the sirens fade and the beat settles in, a minor-key melancholy emerges, shaping the song’s dreamlike soundscape as well as reinforcing the tension and unease of the lyrics. Its synth-wave production mirrors the bright, surreal textures of 1980s pop, a style that also reflects Springs’ eclectic, retro-leaning persona. That persona evokes Hannah Montana, particularly with the way Springs says she uses the character as a vehicle to “get back to [her] roots.”
Springs has stated that the song was written in response to the 2013 documentary “Father Figures.” She explains that she had watched the documentary in high school “whilst [she] was (unknowingly) struggling with the traditional expectations of others versus the expectations [she] had of [her]self,” framing the track as part of her ongoing exploration of pressure, identity and internal conflict. When asked directly about the documentary that inspired the song, she identified “Father Figures” in a TikTok post.
The documentary follows April Butler as she confronts her seventy-three year old father’s infidelity with a twenty-three year old Filipino woman he met online. This revelation forced Butler to “ask tough questions, such as why older western men feel it’s OK to hook up with desperate young Asian women,” even as it triggered a deeper grief over the collapse of the father she previously looked up to.
The moral questions and personal disillusionment explored in the documentary parallel the emotional terrain Springs explores in the single, with similar feelings of tension and betrayal surfacing in the lyrics. That influence becomes especially clear in the chorus, where Springs channels a comparable sense of confusion, hurt and self-interrogation. “Can’t even fathom / Waking up the man on a Sunday morning,” Springs sings, continuing with “Why would she do that when he’s already got one foot in the grave?” This perspective emphasizes the woman’s point of view as she carries a heavy emotional weight, echoing the documentary’s themes of infidelity.
Such internal conflict is embedded within Springs’ Christian upbringing in a Nigerian household in North Carolina. Her personal history complicates her exploration of identity, especially when layered with the cultural and religious pressures surrounding her self-expression. This contemplation is evidenced in the second verse of the song: “She closed the windows to open doors / But they lead to the gates of hell / In time, she’ll meet her maker.”
The ending of the final chorus then evokes the emotional dissonance triggered by someone else’s decisions. Although assumed to remain unaffected, the subject becomes entangled in the emotional wreckage, absorbing the impact of decisions that were never hers to begin with. This idea is central to “Father Figures,” with the collateral damage being left to sit with Butler in the fallout. “And already bought a child to enslave? / Ha, he’s seventy-three, yeah, his soul is astray.”
“w-w-w-w-w” poses as an experimental medley that pulls from an existing narrative in order to illuminate the internal fractures Springs had to overcome. The result is a track that feels both borrowed and deeply personal, signaling that her forthcoming album may continue to navigate the uneasy terrain between inherited pressures and self-definition.
Kathryn Lehman is an Arts & Entertainment Intern for the winter 2026 quarter. She can be reached at kalehman@uci.edu
Edited by Julia Kremenetsky
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