Finn Wolfhard Steps Out Solo: How His New Album Happy Birthday Shows His True Musical Self

We all know Finn Wolfhard from his acting. He is the kid from Stranger Things, Mike Wheeler, who leads the group. He also played the quick-witted Richie Tozier in Stephen King’s IT. These roles quickly made him a household name when he was very young. But Finn has also been quietly making music for a while, and now he is ready to show a different side of himself with his first solo album, Happy Birthday. This record is a mix of 90s alternative rock and bright power-pop. It truly shows Finn being himself, sharing parts of his past he kept hidden. He says this is the only real reason to make art.

A few years ago Finn challenged himself to write as many songs as he could in one year. He does not remember the exact number, but it was a lot. He admits many of these were just voice notes or quick ideas. He also says a lot of what he came up with "wasn't great." However, the good songs ended up as music for The Aubreys. That is the alt-pop duo he started in 2019 when he was 16. But there was also plenty of good stuff that just did not fit their electronic style. This music felt different. It drew more from 90s American indie bands like Eels and The Lemonheads. It also had power-pop and Weezer influences. Lyrically, he found himself in a new place too. He looked at different worries and fears and how he has grown through them.

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What started as a fun experiment quickly grew. Without it being the original goal, the songs became Happy Birthday. He recorded almost all of them on a four-track cassette machine. He wanted to keep things raw and honest. This album is the first time his own name is on the cover. He explained that this detail helps show the album's raw and direct nature. He talked to friends about it. They said "If you want it to feel more authentic to people, hiding behind a band name maybe won't be as personal, it might make it harder to connect." So he decided to just go for it.

He feels this is his first "adult" record. The last album he made, he was turning 17 or 18. Even though he is only 22 now, he feels this is a new chapter in his life. It made sense to use his own name. This album reflects how much life he has lived by the time most people his age are just starting out. "I look at it as a coming-of-age album," he shared. The title song "Happy Birthday" was written when he turned 20. It felt like a big moment. This solo album also feels like a big moment. It was a fun idea to think about.

The album might not be what you expect. It is lo-fi, modest, fun, and sometimes weird. It feels like it wants to stay in the world of music, instead of just using his famous name. Happy Birthday is an interesting work. It shows Finn in a way you might not have seen him before: as a true music enthusiast. It is almost as if acting got in the way for Finn Wolfhard. This is not even his first time making music. Besides playing in The Aubreys, he was also in Calpurnia. His first acting job was in a music video for PUP, a band from Canada. He played a younger version of the band in the video. He got this job because he could already play the guitar. "They wanted kids who knew how to play, so that it didn't look like we fully didn't know we're doing," he remembered.

Even at a young age, around 11, Finn’s connection to music was already strong. As a kid, he always enjoyed records around his house in Vancouver. When he was seven, he "began to feel obsessed" after his mom played him The Beatles’ Help! album. "I was obsessed with watching footage of The Beatles playing live, and with all their gear and stuff. It was something that I was always really fascinated with," he said. He would imagine being in a band and playing music on stage. Finn first tried bass guitar, inspired by Paul McCartney, before picking up the guitar. As he started going to theater camp and getting into acting, he realized it could connect to his other passion. The Beatles had also made movies with their music. He realized "Oh, you can do both! You can be funny and in a comedy, but also be writing these great songs."

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On the set of the PUP video, young Finn met Malcolm Craig. He would later become a member of Calpurnia. More importantly, Malcolm was also into Nirvana and newer bands like Arcade Fire. With Malcolm, Finn explored punk rock. They learned how to write songs and be in a band at music camps. The first time Finn performed on stage he was hooked. "I remember it being the greatest feeling ever. I didn't want it to stop," he recalled. "It was this really great moment, like all of my fantasies as a little kid had finally come true, and I was really doing what I wanted to do."

You do not have to talk to Finn for long before his excitement overflows. He talks quickly and at length about the album. The star is likable, energetic, and chatty. It is quite endearing. He wants people to feel like they are right there with him when they listen to the album. He kept the production simple. "When I listen to music, if I can imagine the musician recording it, that makes me feel more connected to it," he said. He thinks imperfections make him feel closer to the artist and the music. He explained "Because I can imagine that little scene of them messing up a bass part and being like, ‘You know what? Let's run with it.’ That makes it feel all the more human and relatable."

These songs feel "scrappy and fun" to him. He recorded on cassette partly because he wanted them to sound a little imperfect. He says "you have to be okay with the flubs sometimes." Sometimes a punch-in is not perfect, or an overdub does not hit just right. But he says "it becomes a part of the song." He believes some of his favorite songs have strange imperfections that add to their genuine feel. This allows some of the personal parts of the lyrics to come through. Finn enjoys it when happy-sounding songs have dark, sarcastic lyrics. Or the other way around. He likes "clashing things, where there’s sad-sounding melody, but funny lyrics," pointing to Elliott Smith as an example. Happy Birthday is similar. The title track has wavy guitar effects. It is an example of a happy title with sadder music. "Every Town There’s A Darling" with its choppy guitars takes the opposite approach.

There are parts of the album where he is just trying out different forms. He is also trying to say something more personal. Take the song "Eat." In it, Finn sings about his "relationship to anxiety" as a teenager. He talks about how it affected his eating habits. "It’s about the horror of getting really bad panic attacks when I was 15," he said. He would not eat for days. It was a common cycle: you feel anxious, so you do not eat, and this makes the anxiety worse. Because the body needs food to calm itself down. But when you are anxious, you have no desire to eat. So you are kind of working against yourself.

Being able to put something like this out there is a surprise about Happy Birthday. It must be nice to just be impulsive and express himself so freely. To make something that is truly his. Compared to being one small part in a big project like Stranger Things. He said "absolutely." It makes things seem simpler and gives him more control over his life. "I’m so grateful for how the show has affected people. The reason why people know me is from the show, and I love that," he stated. But he hopes to break out of that role. To show people he also wants to make music, write, and direct. To show people he is not just that kid. This is easier said than done. But he seems at peace with it.

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Happy Birthday is part of that journey. In a few weeks, Finn will start playing gigs again. These are his first in years since he toured with The Aubreys as a teenager. That was when Stranger Things was becoming huge. He said it was cool, but the audience's curiosity was harder to handle back then. He thinks it would be different now. He remembered a show in San Diego. An older drunk guy in the balcony yelled "Straaanger Thiiiings!" during a break between songs. "Which, by the way, I fully expected," Finn noted. "But I remember going home and being like, ‘Fuck, man. This is why people are coming.’"

He appreciates anyone who knows him from the show and comes to see him because of it. But as a 15 or 16-year-old, having an adult yell like that made him feel strange. He thought maybe he should step back and make music privately for a while. Not feel like he had to be a certain way for someone. Part of his growth as a more confident solo artist is untangling this. Especially since Finn admits he can be hard on himself.

"I expect a lot out of myself," he smiled. "I can get in my head about a show that doesn't necessarily go great, or I feel doesn't go great, and I won’t enjoy it as much. Or not let myself enjoy it as much." He feels he is ready to enjoy things now. He was a teenager when he was touring. He struggled with many things and felt uncomfortable. Now he is more patient. If what happened in San Diego happened again, he would not be surprised. But over the past few years, as he has gotten older, he feels people will start to understand what he is about. What he wants to tell people. Or what he wants to get across to people. This is what makes Finn The Musician so likable.

When asked about his goals, he keeps it humble. He just wants to write and play, and enjoy himself while doing it. That is enough. One of the best things about Happy Birthday is what it is not. It is not the kind of music you would make if you were only trying to sell a lot of records. It sounds like dive bars, rehearsal spaces, demos, and voice notes. Where, as he says, the imperfections give it its character and soul. It is honest. Both in its personal lyrics and in how it was made. You can hear the happiness of recording into tape machines with a friend. The fun of solving problems as you go. He sees his audience as just him and his friends who would go to watch bands like PUP. With the money and connections he has, choosing to do what he has done is admirable. It says a lot about Finn. Given the chance to easily be a pop star, he has chosen to be a real musician.

"I feel like there's been actors in the past that are musicians and they are really talented, but they play more into it as an actor," he shared. "They'll sign to a major label, or they'll make a pop record. I don't judge anyone for doing that, but that's not something that I'm interested in." He probably could have done that if he wanted to. He could have made a super-produced pop record. If he wanted to go down that road, he could have explored it. But he is more interested in doing things he finds interesting. This is not defensive. It is enthusiastic. Whether he is talking about his own work, The Beatles, Sparklehorse, Weezer, or just picking up a guitar for fun, his energy is contagious. He hopes people like it. But more importantly, he likes it. And that is a good thing.

"The most rewarding and fun thing is making stuff that you would want to listen to, or making stuff that your friends want to listen to," he said brightly. "I'm not super-concerned with writing or making music so that it can reach the most people possible. Even with [Stranger Things] being over, I’m not super-concerned with staying relevant or in the public eye, or whatever career move that people would think that I would do." He explained that some of his favorite artists, actors, or musicians have made unique careers. They stayed true to themselves and did what interested them. "If I like it, or my friends like it, that's really the thing that that matters," he stated. Will Happy Birthday change the world? That is not what its creator wants. But becoming a lasting, cool, cult favorite? That is very possible. Stranger things have certainly happened.