Once upon a time, there was an artist named hemlocke springs who dared to create fantastical worlds by weaving hyper-personal tales into exuberant, ’80s-inspired art-pop anthems. Now residing in the faraway land of Los Angeles, the singer, songwriter, and producer born Isimeme “Naomi” Udu was crowned a bedroom pop star in 2022 with her first songs ever “gimme all ur luv” and “girlfriend,” released while in graduate school for health informatics. Bestowed with early praise for those singles’ quirky melodies and bubblegum synths by DIY icons like Grimes and Steve Lacy — and dubbed one of Chappell Roan’s favorite artists — she swiftly went on to open for tours by fellow world-builders Doja Cat and Ashnikko (and shall sally forth with Conan Gray next). And her era-transcending catalog continues to capture new fans, with DOECHII going live on social media this year to walk her fans through “girlfriend,” saying, “This song is not even of this time. It surpasses this time. It’s incredible … She’s so good, she’s a rockstar, it’s crazy.” But now, hemlocke pushes her whimsical work to new genre-defying heights, revealing the next level of her theatrical artistry on her debut album, the apple tree under the sea. The apple tree under the sea is a fever dream of a concept album in which our hero, hemlocke springs, sets off on a journey of self-discovery — one that requires her to confront the chaos and repression of her past in order to claim the full, liberatory life she once didn’t even know was possible. Sprinkled with references to her Christian upbringing with Nigerian immigrant parents, the project begins with her coming across a red apple — a symbol of knowledge or “worldly” things, as hemlocke explains, and then tracks her inner transformation as she unpacks the traumatic memories and longheld beliefs that held her back from self-acceptance. “I grew up very religiously — Christianity is very pertinent in Nigerian culture and the Black community — and I was also obedient to my elders,” hemlocke says of her childhood years in Concord, North Carolina. “This album starts with a character going through the desert who says, ‘I’m going to do your will.’ They could be saying it to God or a man, but then they come across the apple. It’s about me being in this bubble, and realizing that being in that bubble was tougher than I thought, and then finally getting out and exploring who I really am.” hemlocke set out to create a larger-than-life, style-tripping, medieval-coded project after making the single “sever the blight,” where she sings of being locked in a basement longing for a lover like a princess in a tower (“Love is miles away / Will I still wait here for you?”) while the beat switches from baroque string plucks to driving ’80s synths. The song and its eye-popping video inspired NME to write, “This is creativity of the highest order, with an attention to detail and eccentricity few other new artists are doing in the pop space.” It fired up hemlock, too: “That song inspired me to broaden my horizons with the album, to get out of my indie-pop comfort zone and explore different genres. When I listened back, I felt transported to a new world.” Accordingly, hemlocke displays her most adventurous songcraft and playful vocals yet while co-producing the apple tree under the sea with close collaborator BURNS (Lady Gaga, Britney Spears, Charli xcx). There are choral sections, glitchy electronics, ornate pianos, rock guitar, Janet Jackson-esque drum breakdowns, and flourishes of strings and fairylike sonics — even the sound of hooves hitting cobblestone. To illustrate the disorientation she felt while emerging from her cocoon, she dramatically gasps and wails on songs such as “heads, shoulders, knees, and ankles,” which was inspired by a formative nightmare of fighting off an attacker: “With all the choler and vexation that he rankles / You’d think I’d have the strength to chop this little man!” As hemlocke finally commits to biting the apple — “I took the wrong turn down to Hollywood and now I’ll turn forever,” she sings over gothic drums on “(sense)is” — the album becomes a confectionary explosion of electronica. She revels in her newfound sexual liberation over squelching bubble sounds and sensual groove on “set me free,” and then declares on “be the girl!” that she’ll never return to her past self. “It’s not exactly bittersweet — there’s a feeling of euphoria,” Springs explains, “but the song also is saying that I’m still on this journey.” The oldest song on the apple tree under the sea dates back to seven years ago, when springs was getting her bachelor’s degree in biology at Spelman College. It was a completely different experience from her sheltered early life, when she grew up listening to her parents’ gospel music, singing in choir, and quietly learning how to make music on Garageband. Meeting new people — of different backgrounds and sexualities — was eye-opening, she says: “It was a very distinct switch from my upbringing, where I was banned from dating or having sleepovers.”  It was at Dartmouth, though, getting her master’s, that she began uploading the songs she’d made in her free time — then quickly deleting them out of embarrassment. That is, until 2022, when Grimes commented on “gimme all ur luv,” a self-production of glittery synths and yearning, offbeat vocals praised for “bringing the fun back into pop” (FLOOD Magazine). Then hemlocke’s effortlessly catchy second single, “girlfriend,” blew up on TikTok after she posted a teaser of her dancing awkwardly to it while dressed as Dionne from the 1995 teen flick Clueless. A perfect storm of nostalgia and endearing eccentricity, the song propelled her as an emerging artist who would eventually garner acclaim for her ebullient, eclectic debut EP, Going…Going…Gone! As Teen Vogue wrote, “Springs’ music is difficult to define, which, truthfully, is part of its undeniable charm.” The project foreshadowed her ability to mine complicated emotions and the knack for immersive experimentalism that she’s pushing to new heights on the apple tree under the sea. “Music was always my escape, it was nice to create that world for myself,” hemlocke springs says. Now with her debut LP, she’s fully writing her own story — dreaming up thrilling new narratives for her life and art by bringing that apple into existence and taking a huge bite.