Photo via Summerfest
Abby Roberts
It was once relatively commonplace for actors and the occasional commercial spokesperson to try their hand at a successful pop music side hustle. Now social media influencers like Abby Roberts are crowding the field of pretty people parlaying dominance in one media sector for a shot at the Top 40.
The 20-something Briton has amassed over 12 million TikTok followers with tutorials for often fantastical, sometimes gruesome makeup looks. With her interest in primping her face for self-expression primed by watching “RuPaul's Drag Race” as a child, it seems a natural enough segue for Roberts to move into music in the way RuPaul and other drag performers have.
Unlike her crossdressing inspirations’ customary adoption of club music subgenres such as hose and hi-NRG, La Abby's first couple of singles have positioned her among the latest in the lineage of distaff British indie pop. Her elliptical and ironic lyrics, coupled with shimmery guitar tones and subtly pulsing dance beats, should be like a second coming of The Primitives, or a frothier Cranberries, to commercial alt rock radio. Roberts' tunes could well blow up there as a prelude to broader, cross-format acceptance, but she may need a full album's worth of material to make a fully convincing pitch that she is more than a dilettante in her latest chosen field.
Opening for Halsey’s headlining American Family Insurance Amphitheater date at 7:30 PM on Saturday July 2 should give Roberts yet another opportunity to test her promising musical mettle.
