By Adam Moran, Special to the Journal
You might know Hemlocke Springs, an alt-pop star, from her hit song “girlfriend,” a TikTok hit that has garnered over 50 million listens on Spotify. Inspired by Kate Bush, she sings bedroom pop featuring synth with a very funky upbeat and high-energy sound. Both Hemlocke’s music and presence are whimsical, wacky, and wonderful. Every song is unique in its own way, with colorful costumes, art, and creative music videos.
This past week, she released her second album, the apple tree under the sea, which is a beautiful concept album that explores themes of religious upbringing, repression, exploring sexuality, and self-acceptance.
“the red apple”
Hemlocke mirrors the beginning of the Bible, the album starting with “the red apple.” This song is dramatic and intense, reflecting her relationship with faith. The lyrics speak of Hemlocke being tempted by devilry and confiding in El Shaddai, or God. He speaks to her in her mind to “Rid impurity of humankind,” calling to mind the way religion can be weaponized against homosexuality and anything seen as other. She sings of temptation, and how “lately red apples are tasty,” bringing back the image of Eve in the garden and the desire to be yourself. The whole song shows her struggle between her faith and the temptation to be herself, which is treated as sin.
“the beginning of the end”
This song swaps between a heavy rock sound with intense drums and an electronic beat to a more synth and electronic sound, with echoey vocals. This symbolizes her own exploration of herself and her identity as a queer person in college for the first time. When singing about her own thoughts, she is unsure in her lyrics, claiming, “I think, I think I know / No I don’t,” and “Maybe I just don’t understand.” The reverberating instrumentals and ambient effects echo that confusing feeling of reconciling these ideas. But, with the solid drums and bass, we hear Hemlocke become more confident when singing, “But if you wanna make me blow / I wish you would go,” demonstrating that even though she isn’t fully sure of her identity, she rejects those who don’t accept her for who she is. If they don’t like that she’s changing, then they can just leave. The song ends with the sound of beach waves, in a much more carefree beat, signifying the acceptance of herself without worrying about what people think.
“head, shoulders, knees, and ankles”
While the first two songs were slower, this song is immediately attention-grabbing and high-energy with a solid beat, discordant piano, and fast lyrics sung in a borderline manic tone, while telling a story of Cupid shooting a man with an arrow. The storyline of the entire song is based on a dream Hemlocke herself had, where a man is obsessed with this woman, an angel, and Hemlocke helps her, only for his attention to shift to her. The lyrics imply that the man has a foot fetish by grabbing at her ankles and squeezing her calves. Hemlocke wants to “chop his little man” but can’t find the energy to shake him off, the angel disappearing when she needs her. When the angel is gone, you hear something break, a short beat of silence, and whispering, and she begins to sing a ballad with calm and happy instrumentals that slowly fade out. This gives the whole song this dream sequence effect that makes us question the sanity of the narrator.
“w-w-w-w-w”
The song starts with the sound of a siren, slow, subtle drums begin, and the bass line fades in. Unlike her last song, it takes a minute before she finally sings, the vocals pleading and shaky, with an overall much more emotional tone than before. Hemlocke was inspired by a documentary called “Father Figures,” in which a daughter tries to understand her father’s relationship with a young woman, who she finds out is seventeen.
The song is a rejection of being forced into a predatory relationship and, especially, the stereotypical picture of a young woman making breakfast for her husband on a Sunday morning. It further rejects the life her parents might have wanted her to live, trapped in a marriage and serving a man. Hemlocke claims, “I would rather kill myself than look him in the eyes and say / I want your love” and, in the music video, we even see the apple tree visualized in the first music video dying as she repeats “I want your love.” This symbolizes the death of the bride’s personhood and identity by forcing them into a relationship at such a young age, while unfairly expecting them to be a perfect wife.
“moses”
There is a return to overt religious themes in this song, as Hemlocke compares the way she overcomes struggles in her life by charging forward blindfolded like Moses parting the Red Sea with her, “two hands so it would seem I’m chosen.” She does this to prevent dissolving into a pillar of salt, bringing in the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, in which cities were destroyed for the sin of homosexuality. In the first verse, she is doing chores, and giving up things like the clothes on her back, but still, no matter how much of herself she sacrifices, it’s not enough. Much like she had to give up parts of her own identity to please her religious family, for a purpose that she doesn’t even really believe in. She ends verse two tied up, praying, “Lord, I’m not the evil-doer in this foolish love affair!” Bringing back that idea of Old Testament punishment for the sin of homosexuality. The song ends with the chorus claiming that she will push forward until her dying day.
“sever the blight”
This song evokes fairytales with a light fantastical sound and yearning violin. She sings of being held captive and waiting for her lover to save her. The fairytale metaphors tie into the biblical themes we’ve seen so far from the Old Testament stories. She even brings in Snow White, who eats the cursed apple paralleling Eve. The song was inspired by being forced to live with her homophobic parents again, the title referencing her own isolation severed from society.
In the music video, we see a medieval woman whose husband trapped her lesbian lover in the basement. However, the song reflects more on the misogyny in fairytales, and the unbalanced relationship present. The damsel has no choice but to wait, while the prince can decide if he really wants to save her or not. Hemlocke is trapped waiting, and wondering if her lover is even coming, she wonders if “you’ll find a replacement for me.” In this case, the apple of temptation has already been bitten, but she doesn’t know if it will bear fruit. She has accepted herself, but she is still waiting for the acceptance of others. At the end of the song she is still waiting, singing, “Love is miles away/ Will I still wait here for you?”
“sense(is)”
The prelude for this song is fully instrumental, with wind chimes ringing and a melodious violin. There is a chorus in the background with the sound of people talking and boots marching. “Sense(is)” has an immediate funky beat with a heavy bass drum, and a crowd yelling in the background. The beat sounds similar to Britney Spears with a very dissonant and electronic vibe.
Hemlocke sings about becoming famous, taking the wrong turn down to Hollywood, and how she will always be looking for approval from her audience. She compares it to an empty cup that she’ll always be looking to fill up. The lines, “You laid me bare, so I had to take it / You left me there, so I let you go / You took your share, so I had to make it / You know it’s true, there was nothing I could do,” compare the feeling of being sexually assaulted to the way Hollywood takes advantage of artists. The dissonance of the instruments and the eerie way she chooses to sing add to the uneasiness of the song.
“set me free”
The bubbles and echoey effect give the impression the listener is underwater, and the marimba and other unique sounds add to the otherworldly effect. Combined with the low bass and strong beat, it feels like a seductive siren song, intent on ensnaring you. Hemlocke seems to be convincing someone to stay for a one-night stand. Her main chorus repeats, “Baby, I think you wanna set me free,” repeating that theme of freedom in sexuality. This is a complete contrast to the controlled feeling in “sense(is),” finding freedom in her own sexuality in this song. Although she is nervous, the strength in the songs represents the confidence Hemlocke finds in her journey to accepting herself.
“be the girl!”
Hemlocke closes out her album singing about the pressures her religious family put on her to repress her sexuality and pretend to be someone else. “Be the girl” has this movie soundtrack vibe while still maintaining the electronic sound. It’s very dramatic and clear with its storytelling, starting more intense and ending very carefree, with the vocals and instruments signifying her self-acceptance. She sings, “I can’t be the girl I used to know, even though I thought I could,” showing her own disconnection from this idea that she has to return to who she used to be, and who her family thought she was. Her acceptance of self is shown through the eating of the apple; taking that bite represents her own rejection of expectations and refusal to fake who she is.
As a queer person who still lives with their religious family, this album really resonates with me. I am a very maximalist person who is always trying to fully embody myself in whatever I’m doing, whether that’s my clothing, art, music, or writing. But when I’m with my family, I have to hide a lot of that. Being queer, being myself, isn’t acceptable to them, and so I’m constantly sacrificing pieces of my personality to fit their image of me.
I connected with this album in ways that I didn’t foresee prior to analyzing each song. Hemlocke Springs reminds me that I’m not the only person who feels like this and, while it’s isolating to cut myself off from these parts of myself, I’m not alone. I’m going to get through this one day, and I will be comfortable with myself and embrace that I’m weird and queer.
Hemlocke Springs connected all of these eclectic songs beautifully, through brilliant production, sounds that weave throughout the whole album, and the overall message. This album is an exciting and interesting experience, not only by telling a cohesive story but also by having a new surprise for the listener with each song.
The apple tree under the sea takes us on a journey with the temptation of the red apple, her queer identity, and the challenges of embracing her queer identity with an unaccepting religious family who pushed her to be someone who she is not. Learning to understand who she is took giving up the idea of being the girl she was before, which eventually led her to love herself. Hemlocke Springs is an amazingly talented artist whose music is anything but boring, and when listening, you always find something new to discover. As her second album, “the apple tree under the sea” really captures the maximalist self-acceptance we all want to have, and I can’t wait to see what she makes next.
Adam Moran is a pseudonym for a Pellissippi State student.
