F

or the past ten years, Finn Wolfhard has been kept busy playing Mike Wheeler, a Dungeons & Dragons-loving nerd in Netflix’s coming-of-age sci-fi megahit Stranger Things. Leading a gang of plucky outsiders, he’s had to deal with growing up before TikTok and with a terrifying beast from an alternate dimension who wants to destroy the world. Filming for the show wrapped at the very end of 2024, and the final season of Stranger Things will premiere in November. In between that, Finn released his first-ever solo album ‘Happy Birthday’.

Recorded back in 2023, Finn intentionally held it back until he was done with Stranger Things. There were logistics to think about. “I wouldn’t have had time to talk about it or promote it at any other time,” he explains. “But this music also feels apt for where I am right now. That chapter’s ending; this new one is beginning. It felt like the right time.”

‘Happy Birthday’ isn’t the first music Finn has put out, with the outlet offering him a sense of “control” away from the day job of blockbuster movies and hit TV shows. He was a founding member of indie-rock band Calpurnia until their split in 2019 and formed The Aubreys with drummer Malcolm Craig the following year. “This album feels very different because I can’t hide behind a band name. This time around, everything falls on me.”

The whole thing kinda happened by accident as well. In 2022, Finn set himself a challenge to write as many songs as possible after a period where he hadn’t been all that creative. “80 per cent of what I did was bad,” he admits. “But that was the whole idea. I had to learn to be okay with that. It also allowed me to experiment.”

The songs that ended up becoming ‘Happy Birthday’ deal with nostalgia and the uncomfortable transition from childhood to adulthood. “They’re me talking about identity and who I am as a person in the world,” says Finn. “I was going through something. I had no idea why I was feeling a certain way, so I just wrote about it. I put the wallowing to good use.”

The plan was to put it out under a different name, but after showing the songs to friends, he was confronted by just how personal they were. “After that, I decided to put my own name on it.” Plus, coming up with a decent band name is tough.

Inspired by The Beatles, Guided By Voices, Teenage Fan Club and Of Montreal, aka “melodic, scrappy rock bands who write amazing hooks”, ‘Happy Birthday’ has a warm, lo-fi energy flowing through its nine tracks. Finn was also inspired by Alvvays and Feist, who make “music that makes you feel like you’ve won something.”

The album opens with the title-track, a big, scrappy ball of worry about wasting precious time, while the scuzzy power-pop of ‘Choose The Latter’ is steeped in anxiety. The album deliberately ends with ‘Wait’, a smirking guitar anthem that was recorded in a living room, surrounded by friends who weren’t trying to keep the noise down. “I wanted it to feel like the listener wasn’t alone and that they were surrounded by warmth. It was my way of saying ‘everything’s going to be okay’,” says Finn.

Despite not setting out to make a solo album that wrestles with coming-of-age crisis, Finn always knew he’d release these songs as soon as he wrote them. “I’ve always been a fan of music. I’ve always connected to songs on a deep level and that’s really helped me. This record is a quest to see what it’s like on the other side of that relationship. It’s me trying to share as much as possible.”

“I hope some of these songs stick in people’s heads. I hope that it makes them feel good walking around, being themselves. I don’t want to sound super corny, but I really believe music helps me get through life. It makes things easier, it makes things more fun, and it makes you feel better about the world,” he continues. “I hope I can provide a little bit of relief from that kind of anxiety.”

He’s looking to carry on that journey when he takes ‘Happy Birthday’ on the road. “The album does have this intimate feel to it. It feels like you’re listening to me at home, and it’s personal but live; I want to crack it open and make it sound like a big rock show. I want to take the songs from the bedroom and turn them into something you’d hear in a stadium in the 80s. I want it to feel like a big, fun celebration.”

In the two years since recording ‘Happy Birthday’, Finn has continued to write. “I’ve been carrying on the themes from this album, and I’m definitely going to do another solo thing.” He’s also written a lot more with Malcolm, so expect more music from The Aubreys soon. “I guess the plan is to just consistently keep putting out music.”

Despite the big questions that come with the end of Stranger Things, there’s no grand plan beyond staying creative. “I’m not that concerned with staying relevant,” he explains. “I’m lucky enough that I was part of this amazing show that gave me this incredible launch pad, but I want to keep making cool stuff. If it resonates with people, that’s great. But I think the stuff that people really connect to is personal. I’m excited about doing the things that I’m interested in, not the things that people think I should be making.” ■