'Like a slap in the face': Alt-pop star Julia Wolf describes her song In My Room going viral

The indie-pop singer is in the middle of a breakout moment, and she's chosen that exact time to move house. As she calls the BBC from her brand new New York apartment, boxes are strewn everywhere and clothes have gone missing. But her precious teddy (a polar bear called Wrinkles) has been carefully positioned in his rightful spot on her pillow. Then the wi-fi, installed "literally 20 minutes ago", packs up. There's a tense wait as she attempts to rejoin using mobile data. It's extremely tempting to write a segue here about Wolf's career having had its own teething troubles – but, in truth, it's been more of a slow burn on a long fuse. The 31-year-old started playing piano at the age of seven, and released her first single in 2019, building a loyal fanbase note by note. Then suddenly, after six years of graft, Wolf's grungy obsession anthem In My Room started trending on TikTok. There, it was often paired with fan edits of the Twilight movies (a touchstone for the singer) whose blue-grey visuals pair perfectly with her haunting vocals. Millions of streams later, Drake sent a DM, punctuated with exploding-head emojis, inviting Wolf to record the opening verse of his recent single, Do