Wallows

Los Angeles outfit Wallows blend an '80s-inspired approach with traces of post-punk, synth pop, and power pop alongside the more grounded textures of present-day bedroom pop. Their first full-length effort, Nothing Happens, surfaced in 2019 and reached position 75 on the Billboard 200, propelled by the alternative Top Ten track "Are You Bored Yet?" that featured Clairo. The Remote EP placed the group back on the Billboard 200 in 2020, after which their Ariel Rechtshaid-produced sophomore album Tell Me That It's Over climbed into the Top 50 in 2022. Model, recorded with John Congleton and issued in 2024, marked their strongest commercial showing to date by entering the U.S. Top 30 and the Australian Top 20.

Broader notice arrived for Wallows in 2017 once member and actor Dylan Minnette took a lead role in the teen series 13 Reasons Why. The trio had nonetheless been active for years beforehand. Comprising vocalist-guitarist Minnette, vocalist-guitarist and fellow actor Braeden Lemasters, and drummer Cole Preston, the band originated from a shared music class. Throughout their teenage years they performed under several different monikers and appeared on the 2011 Warped Tour, all while juggling Minnette's and Lemasters' emerging acting schedules.

After adopting the name Wallows, they put out several independent singles in 2017 and soon signed with Atlantic. The label issued their debut EP, Spring, produced by John Congleton, in 2018; it contained "Pictures of Girls," which reached the Top 40 on Billboard's alternative songs chart. Early the following year the single "Are You Bored Yet?" featuring Clairo rose as high as number seven on the same listing and appeared on Nothing Happens, released by Atlantic in March. The band performed at the 2019 Coachella Festival and subsequently sold out numerous rock-club dates across the United States and Canada.

Additional singles emerged through the first half of 2020, among them the alternative Top 30 hit "OK" and a rendition of the Beatles' "With a Little Help from My Friends." Remote, the group's third EP, followed later that year. Their next album, again helmed by Grammy-winning producer Ariel Rechtshaid (Vampire Weekend, Adele), arrived in March 2022 under the title Tell Me That It's Over and yielded the Top 25 Alternative Airplay single "Especially You." The set itself peaked at number five on the Top Modern Rock/Alternative Albums chart and number 49 on the Billboard 200.

Fresh tracks "Your Apartment" and "Calling After Me" preceded the May 2024 release of their third album, the Congleton-produced Model. It became Wallows' highest-charting project, landing in the U.K. Top 40, debuting at number 28 on the Billboard 200, and reaching number 14 in Australia. Shortly afterward Minnette, whose last acting credit had been the 2022 Hulu series The Dropout, announced his decision to devote his creative focus entirely to music. The standalone song "Your New Favorite Song" appeared in January 2025.