Remi Wolf released her third studio album, 'Mud,' today, a 10-track project she says marks her most vulnerable and strongest work to date. The album's title and imagery grew out of an unusual mental exercise: Wolf, who has long wanted a spot on 'Survivor' but hasn't landed one, tested herself by rolling around in a makeshift mud pit. 'I'm never gonna make it on that show if I can't handle this in such a controlled setting,' she told Variety.
For Wolf, the mud became both a literal prop and a metaphor for working through difficult emotions, a process she calls 'mudding and sudsing.' 'Once you get past the point where you're disgusted that you're so dirty and unknown Earth is inside of all your crevices, you can start to have fun in there,' she said. 'If you kind of let yourself surrender to the mud, it can be a really fun and beautiful and freeing experience. I felt like making this album, I went through all the phases of being in mud.'
The album shifts away from the vibrant energy of earlier hits like 'Photo ID' and 'Soup,' leaning instead into diaristic songwriting about what appears to be a breakup, including on the third single 'I Won't Cry' and the track 'Bottle.' 'People want to cry,' Wolf said. 'I feel like we're all pent up and everything's so crazy. I want to take people to church a little bit with this album and give them a space to let it all out.'
Unlike her 2021 debut 'Juno' and 2024's 'Big Ideas,' which involved hired creative directors, Wolf kept 'Mud' close to home, working with Jared Solomon, Jack Demeo and Gigi Grombacher, among others. The group recorded partly in a makeshift studio inside an Airbnb in Joshua Tree, jamming around a campfire. 'I was so vulnerable and broken down that I was like, I can't even fathom going into the studio with people that aren't automatically going to be chill with me being this way,' she said, adding, 'fuck all the bullshit! I'm bringing in my homies, and we're homieing down so hard.'
Wolf also served as creative director for the album's visuals, calling the mud pit 'a necessity,' designing the 'Bottle' video to feel 'claustrophobic,' and shaping the 'I Won't Cry' visuals around the idea of 'the cleansing.' She's marking the release with a celebration at a Los Angeles car wash on Friday, saying she also wanted to 'stand on the car and be in a bikini and wash it.'
Wolf has been debuting new material live, including performing lead single 'Twiggy' with Hayley Williams at the Newport Folk Festival in July. The two also performed Williams' song 'Parachute' together in Los Angeles during night two of Wolf's Hollywood Bowl show on Tuesday. They first connected in 2023 when Wolf opened for Paramore. 'She's so fucking awesome,' Wolf said of Williams. 'I love her and respect her, and she's just the best singer and such a unique artist and very beautiful person.'
Wolf also made a cameo on Amazon Prime's hockey series 'Off Campus,' performing at a fictitious schoolwide block party. 'It was an amazing day on set meeting the cast,' she said. 'They all seem like they like each other, and they actually do. It was a fun set to be on. I'd never been on a set like that; it was cool to just watch the village work.'
Looking ahead, Wolf said her attention is now fully on 'Mud.' 'I was crossing my fingers that people would ride with me,' she said, 'and I really think they are.'
Photo: Raph_PH, CC BY 2.0, https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0, via Wikimedia Commons
