Written by Krysta Ayers

MAY 30, Antone’s—Julia Wolf has been here before. On the mic, she tells the crowd that the last time she played in Austin (in the same venue), she played to only a quarter of the people in attendance. “Now this is a sold-out show!” Years of streaming biographical singles and a recent collab with MGK for a cover of Goo Goo Dolls’ “Iris” has resulted in a motley crew of fans gazing up at her with stars in their eyes.

The Long Island native is touring to support her third album, PRESSURE, which debuted on May 23—just enough time for the crowd to learn the lyrics and sing along. While she’s simplistically labeled as a “pop” musician when you do a quick Google search, that would be a lazy description of what is going on with her sound. Listeners know that Wolf is darker than that; there is more grit and edge to her sound than a perfectly packaged, and stereotypically curated, glittery discography.

And that is exactly what Wolf put on display during the show.

She played a mix of new album songs and old favorites, like any good (crowd-pleasing) artist does. And whether she played “Pearl” or “Wishbone,” she was good at engaging the crowd and leaning into the rock stylings of the songs, even when her voice got shaky, and even when the music veered closer to Owl City territory.

Wolf, while sweet and excited to play for an incredibly generous crowd, still has a long way to go. She hits the mark when tasked to write a vulnerable song, and proves to be an artist that people want to hear from (she’s got over 3 million monthly listeners on Spotify), but she’s a young artist with room to grow—and this tour might be the best place for that. As her confidence builds with sold-out venues, and her sound and voice become more uniquely and powerfully hers, she will no doubt be an artist we could soon see playing bigger venues in town, like Stubb’s or Moody Amphitheater.