Wisp: The new face of nü gaze

Wisp appears on the cover of the Winter 2024 Issue — head to the AP Shop to grab a copy.

Back in December of 2023, a 19-year-old Natalie R. Lu took to the stage with dyed copper hair styled in coquettish pigtails. Slung over her shoulder was a Hello Kitty guitar, a big plushie dangling from its headstock, as if the guitar itself wasn’t cute enough. This was the debut show for the artist known as Wisp. Even in a 100-capacity venue, a dimly lit flamenco bar and live music forum in Los Angeles, she struck an assuming and shy figure. “You’re so pretty,” a voice called from the crowd. Lu smiled bashfully and said, “Thank you so much.” Moments later, the audience fell silent for what they were all there in El Cid for: her viral shoegaze hit — and the first song she had ever made on her own — “Your face.” 

Read more: These 10 bands represent the roots and future of shoegaze as we know it

Her genre of choice, shoegaze, emerged in the late 1980s. Its playful name was coined in the British press to describe bands like My Bloody Valentine and Ride, whose towering “wall of sound” and dreamy vocals were created using their tendency to gaze down toward their guitar pedals during performances. Its propensity to meld shimmering ambience, angelic choruses, and fuzzy riffs has made it a go-to for main character moments over the decades: a soundtrack for Gregg Araki movies and observing the world through bus windows. Though it has waxed and waned in favor, shoegaze has been the genre that could never die. Now, there’s a micro-movement of young musicians making what fans have dubbed “nü gaze.” Gen Z artists like Wisp are swapping guitar rigs for laptops and MIDIs — or in her case, Apple headphones — to blend emo intensity with pop-forward melodies. 

Things might still sound hazy, but they move quickly in the nü-gaze world. Lu — whose tongue-in-cheek Instagram handle is @Whirrwhoreforlyfe after her favorite shoegaze band — was a student majoring in computer science at San Francisco State University, near where she grew up, when she began Wisp. It happened almost by accident, such is the accessibility of bedroom pop (even when blended with excoriating metal). Her favorite band, Whirr, had been in heavy rotation, especially their album Feels Like You. Inspired, she stumbled upon an instrumental track by the alt-rock producer grayskies on YouTube and began layering her own vocal melody and lyrics over it in her room. That same night, she uploaded the track, “Your face,” to TikTok and SoundCloud.

By the next morning, it had gone viral. “I honestly just posted it for fun and for my friends to listen to,” she says, over a voice call from her sickbed in Los Angeles, where she’s now based as a full-time musician. Even in her gentle tone, she sounds mildly surprised by how quickly things escalated. 

There was an element of anonymity to Wisp’s early presence. At the point of releasing “Your face” to TikTok and SoundCloud, she didn’t have an artist name. She turned to Instagram, asking her modest 300 followers for suggestions via a Story poll. One user replied with “Wisp,” and the ethereal simplicity of it resonated immediately. “It just felt right for what I wanted to create,” she says. She still keeps in touch with the fan who suggested it. “We chat sometimes, which is really sweet. He even came to my Austin show on my last tour.”

The mystery extended to her visuals. In the video for “Your face,” faceless figures float underwater, gliding like mermaids. Another shot features a woman with a sack over her head. “It wasn’t something I planned intentionally,” Lu explains of the cryptic imagery. “I just didn’t feel it was necessary to show my face so early on. I wanted the focus to be on the music.” She cites inspiration from Cigarettes After Sex, an act that’s known for their music more than their image. “I didn’t want to be seen as a pop star or anything like that.”

Given the literal overnight success, “Your face” sparked a frenzy among record labels. Lu did, in fact, decide to go with the ultimate makers of artistry-focused pop stars, Interscope (Olivia Rodrigo, Billie Eilish, Lady Gaga). She was drawn to the genuine, hands-on approach of her A&Rs, Sean Lewow and Max Motley. “They’re super sweet and down-to-earth,” she says. “I didn’t have that connection with other A&Rs I met.” Lewow told the LA Times he saw her work transcending the confines of any single genre.

But with success came scrutiny. Some in the rock community labeled her an “industry plant,” a term whose definition few can agree on. Others questioned her artistic contribution to “Your face.” After the song went viral, Lu purchased the rights to the instrumental to release it on streaming platforms, a move that stirred debates on Reddit. Critics wondered whether she could claim the track as her own creation and whether her signing off the back of the single song was an indicator of a woefully unhealthy industry. Lu, a die-hard shoegaze fan, felt compelled to address the discourse directly, commenting on Reddit: “I’m really transparent about how that song came together, and I’m working hard to make sure it doesn’t define my abilities as an artist.”

Months later, she reflects on the controversy with more clarity. “There were times I felt hurt about it, but not because I felt that it was a direct hit at me or the way I make art. I just didn’t want anyone to think I did the producer wrongly because that is not the kind of artist I am,” she says of grayskies. “I will, however, not let it affect the process and making of my album because I am confident in my abilities, and I know myself best. I hope to show people what I’m capable of creating.”

The move away from a more traditional route into rock music creation is at least in part why this discourse caught on. Nü gaze isn’t about grafting away experimenting for hours to create a wall of sound anymore. “We’re changing [shoegaze] into something new and something we think people our age would enjoy, especially because a lot of shoegaze bands are very male and middle-aged and male-dominated,” Lu says. The shift has injected humor and relatability into a traditionally somber genre. “A lot of shoegaze is very cryptic and emotional, but I feel like you can also have fun with it and make it your own,” she adds.

Her second music video, for the bittersweet roar of “See you soon,” reveals more of Lu. Though she’s not caught on camera from the front on, we see her wearing a white bow in her hair, wading through the sea, and lying down on rocks. “With bands, there isn’t a certain person that sticks out. Because Wisp is a solo project, it’s a lot harder to keep that anonymity throughout your whole career, which I’m totally OK with. I enjoy showing more of my personality.” 

She’s shy and reserved, and on the call, she’s a person of select words — and the few that she uses give little away. Despite her quiet nature, Lu’s self-contained energy resonates with her growing fanbase, appropriately called “Wispers.” Now she’s posting her whole face on TikTok and Instagram, and facing a couple of thousand people a night supporting Slowdive on their U.S. tour, earning more admirers who totally get her introversion. 

Growing up in the Ocean Beach area of San Francisco, Lu spent 14 years as a competitive ballet dancer, dreaming of a professional career. Though she left ballet behind, its influence lingers. “I’d love to incorporate ballet into my visuals or sprinkle it into some music videos,” she says today. As a classical music fan, she loved being able to express art through dance to her favorite songs. “I also loved the teamwork part of it; being backstage and talking to my dance mates and practicing together.”

Once into her teen years, she discovered a love for music that went beyond the classical. Bands like Panic! at the Disco, twenty one pilots, My Chemical Romance, and Sleeping With Sirens came into her life and she started curating rock playlists. Once she discovered ’90s rock like Oasis, she began a transition into becoming a shoegaze devotee. 

Now, Lu sees her role as both an artist and an advocate for the genre’s roots. “A lot of the OG bands are really loving the resurgence of shoegaze!” she says with a smile. “These older bands deserve it the most. It’s their time to shine and really take advantage of people finding out what shoegaze is because they were the founders of this music, and they really laid the foundation down, so they deserve it all. I feel like being a nü-gaze fan and being in this scene now, my main priority is just shedding light on other bands, too.” Through her work, she’s managed to meet some of her idols, including Nothing and Whirr. It’s been a joy for her to see that more niche bands like Alison’s Halo and Swirlies have since been taking advantage of Gen Z’s interest and have reunited to play shows. 

Currently, she’s deep in the process of crafting her debut album, a record that currently is a total mystery to her. “It’s definitely a very hard challenge going from writing singles to making a cohesive album just because the songs have to make sense together, and I want my album to tell a story,” she laments. Mostly, she’s been creating that with Max Epstein of Photographic Memory, who she worked with on a couple of songs off the Pandora EP. Even the album concept and title remain pending due to an ongoing process of experimentation. Themes of self-discovery and processing new experiences guide her writing. 

Her music is intended to sound like the listener is underwater, submerged by an element that’s hard-hitting and expansive. The aesthetic follows, born from a childhood growing up so close to the ocean and seaside. “I’m sticking to the ethereal, fairy tale-esque stuff [that] circulates around Greek mythology, the mermaids and the angels, and I really want to incorporate more mystical creatures into my music, which will be fun to experiment with,” she says. 

Recently she’s been inspired by Chappell Roan, a star who has stood up for herself impressively around the public. “I admire and respect her as an artist so much for expressing her boundaries and making it known that she is a normal person outside of music as well,” Lu explains.

For now, Lu is setting boundaries for herself: that means staying in, drinking hot drinks, and recovering from her cold. She’s turned 20 this year, finally free from the teenage blues, as immortalized in a particularly brilliant sold-out piece of merch: a T-shirt that reads “MYSTERIOUS 19 YEAR OLD SHOEGAZE ARTIST.” She doesn’t mind growing up into young adulthood, but at the same time, being 19 really worked out well for her, she says. “In my heart, I’m always 19.”

Story: Hannah Ewens

Photos: Eliza Jouin

Styling: Dakota Cosgrove and Eloise Moulton

Makeup: Nica Tan

Hair: Alex Shan

Photo assistant: Caroline Cavalier

Editor-in-Chief: Anna Zanes

Content Editor: Neville Hardman

Lead Designer: Rob Ortenzi