{"id":2068806,"date":"2026-07-30T00:00:00","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2068806"},"modified":"2026-07-30T00:00:00","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T21:00:00","slug":"wonderland-307","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2068806","title":{"rendered":"Wonderland"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\t\tWonderland<\/span>
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\n\t\t\tTOWA BIRD<\/span>
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Singer-songwriter, suit lover, and guitarist Towa Bird has amassed 1.3 million TikTok followers and the credentials of a generational rockstar. On her sophomore album, Gentleman<\/em>, chivalry becomes a state-of-mind.<\/h3>\n
\"Towa<\/figure>\n

27-year-old rockstar Towa Bird is really cool. The androgynous artist possesses an ease that can\u2019t be copied or manufactured: tousled curls falling perfectly onto her shoulders, poreless skin, pillowy lips and, more often than not, an oversized suit and tie, as though looking like a rockstar was her birthright. Staring at her now, you\u2019d be forgiven for thinking she\u2019d actually emerged from the womb clutching a guitar. <\/p>\n

The two have become synonymous. Since becoming the internet\u2019s favourite guitarist with her sex-laden covers of Tame Impala, Towa has amassed 1.3 million TikTok followers, signed to Interscope, released her 2024 debut album American Hero<\/em>, opened for Billie Eilish and her now-girlfriend Ren\u00e9e Rapp, who she actually met on tour, and earned admirers in everyone from Olivia Rodrigo, whose 2022 documentary she appeared in as a guitarist, to Tyler, the Creator. Not bad for someone whose rockstar awakening came courtesy of a probably-pirated Jimi Hendrix documentary on YouTube.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was like, \u2018Oh my God, this is exactly who I want to be. Everything that he does, I want to do,\u2019\u201d the British-Filipino artist recalls, sounding no less enthusiastic about the revelation years later. \u201cGuitar was always my one true love. I didn\u2019t really try any other instruments. This is the one that I wanted to play, so I made that decision quite young.\u201d <\/p>\n

As it turns out, making up her mind has never really been Towa\u2019s problem. At 11 years old, she and her father kayaked around their home island of Phuket, Thailand. Six days later, the pair had completed the journey, and she found herself a world record holder as the youngest person to achieve such a feat. More valuable than the bragging rights, though, was the lesson. \u201c[It taught me] you can do whatever you want, even from such a young age,\u201d she says. And while much around her changed \u2013 trading sandy shores for skyscrapers after her family relocated to Hong Kong \u2013 one thing remained constant: the six-string companion hanging over her shoulder.<\/p>\n

It was in 2020 when Towa started posting videos of herself covering Tame Impala, Arctic Monkeys and Harry Styles on TikTok. Before long, the clips had amassed millions of views\u2013 views which felt like proof that the life she\u2019d been imagining might actually be possible. \u201cIt almost required external validation for me to internally validate myself,\u201d she admits.\u201cI\u2019m seeing people are excited about it, and I\u2019m like, \u2018Oh, okay, maybe this doesn\u2019t necessarily have to be a dream. This is something that could actually be reality for me.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

On her 2024 debut, American Hero<\/em>, Towa proved to the world that off-screen and on-stage, she really could shred. A gloriously ironic title \u2013 there\u2019s her signature humour \u2013 from an artist who is neither American nor particularly interested in conventional heroism, over 13 tracks she explores love, yearning and vulnerability, with spark-filled tracks like \u201cWild Heart\u201dand \u201cDrain Me!\u201d pairing wiry guitars with smoky vocals, and introducing an artist equally indebted to classic rock heroics as they are modern pop instincts. But it\u2019s her newest record that truly sets her up as a generational voice to watch.<\/p>\n

We\u2019re speaking a week removed from what she describes as \u201cone of my favourite ever shows\u201d, a release gig for her sophomore album, Gentleman<\/em>, at Pasadena\u2019s Sid the Cat, attended by 500 lucky fans. Relief flashes across her face at the memory. \u201cI was on stage when the album came out [on 15th May], and that feels quite momentous,\u201d she smiles. \u201cIt was also the first time I was playing these tracks live, so there was a bit of nervousness. I was like, \u2018Oh my God, it\u2019s not in my body yet.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Having spent more than a year with American Hero<\/em>, Towa had become accustomed to its live demands. Whereas with the more self-assured body of work on Gentleman<\/em> it\u2019s nascent, yes, but also requires something else from its bolder material: confidence. Redefining what it means to be a gentleman, the 11 tracks\u2019 swaggering guitar tones span sex, queer identity and biting societal observations of the uber-privileged. \u201cThese songs feel like new territory,\u201d she says. \u201cIt\u2019s always really exciting \u2013 that level of discomfort whenyou\u2019re playing. It usually means you\u2019re on the precipice of discovering something cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Discomfort, as it happens, has become something of a creative philosophy for this record. The title Gentleman<\/em> arrived almost accidentally. Late one November evening, Towa typed the word into her Notes app, convinced it meant something, before promptly forgetting about it. Months later, back in the studio after a brief pause from touring, she rediscovered the note and found herself staring at the blueprint for the record.\u201c <\/p>\n

We wrote the single \u201cGentleman\u201d a couple days later, and I just thought it was such an interesting word,\u201d she says, absentmindedly playing with her dark curls. \u201cI love the duality between \u2018gentle\u2019 and \u2018man\u2019 \u2013 the masculine and feminine built into the word. I really connected to that through my fashion, my gender expression and my androgyny. There\u2019s something quite profound about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In abandoning old ideas of chivalry, Towa found herself asking a simpler question:What does a gentleman look like through a queer lens?<\/p>\n

Sometimes, it looks like sitting on the front row at Miu Miu in Paris in a washed blueberry-blue denim two-piece, with sky-blue sci-fi shades. Other times, it\u2019s a white tank top, exposing her midriff, with a punk-ish belt looped in her leather hot pants. On the Gentleman<\/em> album cover, it\u2019s seeing double, conjoining two Towa\u2019s in matching pinstripes. <\/p>\n

Across the music videos for \u201cGentleman\u201d, \u201cDirty Habit\u201d and \u201cDog\u201d accompanying the record, Towa oscillates between leather and lace, satin and straps, tousled curls and slicked-back hair. \u201cA lot of it is my personality and myself in there,\u201d she says. \u201cSomeone said to me after I finished the album, \u2018It really feels like a direct conversation with you.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Much of Gentleman<\/em> operates in that spirit across fun, dance-y tracks. It is Towa throwing things at the wall and seeing what beauty sticks: sex and intimacy, love and heartbreak, surrender and control. Vulnerability, too. \u201cPeople have been like, \u2018This is the way that we really know you,\u2019\u201d she continues. \u201cSomeone was like, \u2018You hit a huge swing and a home run with this. If I had to take your personality and visually translate it into a song, this would be it.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

She\u2019s talking about \u201cDog\u201d, one of her favourites on the record, a sinister six-string hum underpins the track before giving way to something far louder and far more feral. \u201cTell me I\u2019m so good \/ Tell me I\u2019m the best \/ I can be your dog, I can be your dog,\u201d she growls, detailing a sexual queer fantasy. Its companion track, \u201c69 BPM\u201d, sits beside it on the album because, in Towa\u2019s words, they\u2019re \u201csisters, not twins\u201d. For someone who describes herself as \u201cobsessed with the guitar\u201d, the ratio of song to solo feels just right. Which, in Towa\u2019s world, is about as high a compliment as someone can receive.<\/p>\n

It is also where one of her clearest influences emerges. \u201cThis is something that Miley does amazingly,\u201d she says. \u201cShe\u2019s not scared of doing long instrumental sections. She\u2019s so into instrumentalism. That was the same thing that I was trying to execute with these tracks.\u201d <\/p>\n

Mention Miley Cyrus and Towa practically lights up. Watching the Tennessee-born superstar throw herself into classic rock records and Led Zeppelin covers left an impression. \u201cThat voice is just timeless,\u201d she says, shaking her head in disbelief. \u201cShe can sing songs from, like, 1971 and somehow make them sound brand new? She\u2019s so sick, man. So talented \u2013 and can sing like a motherfucker!\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s such a legacy artist. She\u2019s built such a huge career already,\u201d she continues. \u201cBut throughout every era, she\u2019s so authentically herself. It never feels like, \u2018I\u2019m gonna try thisnow.\u2019 It\u2019s just Miley with rock and roll, Miley with pop.\u201d <\/p>\n

There\u2019s something Towa recognises in that freedom. Gentleman <\/em>finds her less interested in proving she belongs than in deciding what she wants to do with the room she\u2019s been given. And perhaps that\u2019s the strangest thing about finally becoming the person you spent years dreaming about. 15 years after sitting in front of a computer screen and deciding she wanted to be Jimi Hendrix, Towa no longer seems particularly concerned with becoming anything at all. With Gentleman<\/em>, she lets the world see her exactly as she is, without the need for change, the way she was born to be. Perhaps she really was the first kid to enter the world with a guitar slung over her shoulder\u2026<\/p>\n

WONDERLAND SUMMER 2026. GUEST EDITED BY MILEY CYRUS. SHOP NOW.<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

Photography<\/strong>\u00a0Mario Sorrenti
Chief Creative Officer & Styling\u00a0<\/strong>Alastair McKimm
Words<\/strong>\u00a0Aswan Magumbe
Hair<\/strong>\u00a0Bob Recine
Make-up<\/strong>\u00a0Diane Kendal
Set Design<\/strong>\u00a0Philipp Haemmerle
Executive Producer<\/strong>\u00a0Dana Brockman
Producer<\/strong>\u00a0Max Bonbrest
Casting<\/strong>\u00a0Alexandra Antonova for Samuel Ellis Scheinman<\/p>\n

Lighting Technician<\/strong>\u00a0Lars Beaulieu
1st Photo Assistant<\/strong>\u00a0Kotaro Kawashima
Photo Assistants<\/strong>\u00a0Paolo Afante, Kurt Mangum
Digital Tech<\/strong>\u00a0Charles Meyer
Fashion Assistants<\/strong>\u00a0Taylor Wood, Kassidy Taylor
Hair Assistant<\/strong>\u00a0Jeelan Aleem
Make-up Assistants<\/strong>\u00a0Eduardo Jiminez, Breanna Harmon
Set Assistants<\/strong>\u00a0Oscar Haemmerle, Xavier Mozejewski
Production Assistant<\/strong>\u00a0Din Morris<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/section>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t30 July 2026\t\t\t<\/div>\n
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Culture<\/a><\/div>\n
Fashion<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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\n\t\t\t\tTallulah Willis<\/span> <\/span><\/a>\t\t\t<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wonderland TOWA BIRD Singer-songwriter, suit lover, and guitarist Towa Bird has amassed 1.3 million TikTok followers and the credentials of a generational rockstar. On her sophomore album, Gentleman, chivalry becomes a state-of-mind. 27-year-old rockstar Towa Bird is really cool. The androgynous artist possesses an ease that can\u2019t be copied or manufactured: tousled curls falling perfectly […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,257],"class_list":["post-2068806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-wonderlandmagazine-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2068806","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2068806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2068806\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2068806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2068806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2068806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}