Wallows

Los Angeles’ Wallows have an ’80s-influenced sound with hints of post-punk, synth pop, and power pop as well as more down-to-earth contemporary bedroom pop. Their debut album, Nothing Happens, arrived in 2019 and hit 75 on the Billboard 200, buoyed by the Top Ten alternative single “Are You Bored Yet?” featuring Clairo. In 2020, the group again landed on the Billboard 200 with the Remote EP, and they rose into the Top 50 with their Ariel Rechtshaid-produced second long-player, Tell Me That It's Over, in 2022. In 2024, the John Congleton-produced Model became their best-charting album yet, landing in the U.S. Top 30 and Australian Top 20. Wallows first came to broader public attention in 2017 after bandmember and actor Dylan Minnette had a starring role on the teen drama 13 Reasons Why. However, prior to the press coverage, Wallows had already existed for several years. Featuring singer/guitarist Minnette, singer/guitarist (and fellow actor) Braeden Lemasters, and drummer Cole Preston, Wallows initially grew out of a music class the friends took together. By their teens, they were playing under various names, including appearing on the 2011 Warped Tour. During this period, the members balanced pursuing their musical goals with Minnette’s and Lemasters’ budding acting careers. Settling on the name Wallows, they issued a handful of standalone singles in 2017 before signing with Atlantic. The label released their debut EP, the John Congleton-produced Spring, in 2018. It featured the single “Pictures of Girls,” which landed in the Top 40 of Billboard’s alternative songs chart. In early 2019, the band’s single “Are You Bored Yet?” featuring Clairo reached as high as number seven of the same chart. It was included on the group’s full-length debut, Nothing Happens, which arrived on Atlantic that March. They followed the release with an appearance at the 2019 Coachella Festival on their way to a series of sold-out shows at rock clubs in the U.S. and Canada. A series of singles appeared throughout the front half of 2020 including the Top 30 alternative hit “OK” and a cover of the Beatles’ “With a Little Help from My Friends.” Wallows’ third EP, Remote, was released later that year. The trio recorded their next album with another Grammy-winning producer, Ariel Rechtshaid (Vampire Weekend, Adele). Titled Tell Me That It's Over, it arrived on Atlantic in March 2022, spawning the Top 25 Alternative Airplay single “Especially You.” Meanwhile, the album hit number five on the Top Modern Rock/Alternative Albums chart and 49 on the Billboard 200. The band returned with new material in the form of the singles “Your Apartment” and “Calling After Me” in early 2024. Both songs appeared on their third album, the Congleton-produced Model, in May. Model became Wallows’ biggest chart success yet, reaching the U.K. Top 40, debuting at number 28 on the Billboard 200, and peaking at 14 in Australia. Soon after, not having acted since 2022′s The Dropout (Hulu), Minnette revealed that he intended to continue to put all of his creative energies into music. ~ Marcy Donelson & Matt Collar