The goth-tinged alternative pop crafted by carolesdaughter emerged from Thea Taylor, a songwriter and multi-instrumentalist who had recently completed rehab as a teenager. With her first release on a major label, the 2020 single “Violent,” she earned a gold certification; the track, whose title belied its theme of relational toxicity, combined acoustic guitar with minimal bedroom production. Additional tracks that each amassed millions of streams followed, among them a version of Radiohead’s “Creep,” paving the way for her first EP, please put me in a medically induced coma, issued in 2022. Further singles such as “nobody’s favorite person, not even my own” in 2023 and “King Baby” in 2024 sustained her streaming visibility in subsequent years.
Born the youngest of ten children in a devout Mormon family in Oceanside, California, Taylor sensed her difference from an early age. Exposure to a Black Flag tattoo prompted her to explore punk, hardcore, and goth sounds; she cycled through five high schools amid ongoing substance use and repeated rehabilitation stays. Upon returning home she immersed herself in music, adopting the name carolesdaughter in direct reference to her mother. Early online traction came via raw pop-punk pieces including “my mother wants me dead” and “cold bathroom floor.” At eighteen she signed with Arista Records, a Sony imprint, and released “Violent” in November 2020. Within months the song climbed to the upper reaches of Billboard’s Hot Alternative Songs chart and reached the Top 30 on Canada’s rock tally, later receiving gold status.
The EP please put me in a medically induced coma arrived via Arista in April 2022. She then joined nothing,nowhere. on tour and completed her inaugural U.K. headline shows, while issuing new material such as the 2023 track “nobody’s favorite person, not even my own” and a reflective rendition of “Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas.” After a West Coast run supporting Jazmin Bean, carolesdaughter unveiled the single “King Baby” toward the close of 2024.
