Emerging singer/songwriter WRENN has garnered growing recognition thanks to the viral success of her song, “Hailey”. The song was released late 2020 and exploded on TikTok with 7 million views and counting, along with over 4 million streams across other streaming platforms. The gut-wrenching song inspired by a messy breakup is unique in that it contains an audio clip of her ex admitting to cheating in the background. WRENN stated that the relationship took place over a year ago and was written within minutes and although there was hesitation with including the clip of the audio, it was something worth trying. She stated, “I just went for it and I was like this is either going to turn out really good or really bad. I think there was also hesitation to show that scar and that wound to the world.” The feeling of release after some distance from the relationship allowed WRENN to pour all her feelings into writing not only “Hailey” but also a handful of other songs inspired by the situation. “It was not so much anger but more of a release of sorts. I definitely felt a lot of vulnerability and cried while I wrote it. It was a good feeling overall.” WRENN is still an independent artist who has been steadily releasing music for the past nine years. She was featured on the song “fragile” with gnash and has also toured with him and other artists. Now with an updated sound and a new EP forthcoming, WRENN has put together an all-female band that will be ready for when live music returns.
WRENN spoke with B-Sides host Pete Mar about the success and attention of “Hailey”, details of the writing process and more.
