The Collective was lucky enough to grab some dumplings with Will Tulp (AKA Will Tulip) to catch up and hear the story behind his latest single, “Somebody Else.” After complimenting the waiter’s shirt and asking me about my “rose, bud, and thorn” of school so far, we got into how Will Tulip came to be.
Will has been making music since middle school. “Every time I hit a new developmental stage, I’d create a new alias,” listing off previous names like “KITBASH,” “ThisisWWT,” and “It.” Every new musical persona is a milestone of his understanding of music production and of himself. “When I first started out, I always compared myself to real musicians, like what my friends listened to. I had this understanding that I still had a lot to learn before I could comfortably share anything.”
After a few years and several new aliases, Will arrived at the senior year of high school with a song that felt like an accurate representation of himself and decided to release it under his own name. But “every Miley Cyrus needs their Hannah Montana,” so instead of “Will Tulp,” he released the song under the name “Will Tulip.” The single, “Ooh Yeah,” was an instant hit on Spotify. “When I started posting my music, my goal was to one day hit 20k plays on a song just like the numbers some of my favorite SoundCloud artists were getting at the time. That’d be so cool to me. But after ‘Ooh Yeah’s’ lucky break, I realized I had new goals to set.”
Just like his aliases, Will’s style is constantly evolving. “I’m yet to make a cohesive pair of songs. Every song feels different from the last because they come from different places and inspirations.” As of late, he’s been influenced by neo soul artists like Lauren Hill, Floetry, and Solange, as well as Indie artists like Clairo, Remy Wolf, The Marias, and Kero Kero Bonito.
Released last week, “Somebody Else” is Tulp’s first published song since the start of quarantine. He spent the beginning of the pandemic tuning into business and music technology classes from his basement in Kansas City. As far as songwriting, “it wasn’t a prosperous time, feeling shut-off from the rest of the world. But I was always of the mindset that this lack of inspiration and everything I was feeling would come to an end eventually. You look back on your past and it’s all obstacles that aren’t there anymore, even if in the moment you don’t realize you’re overcoming them.” After a few months in Kansas City, Tulp came to a “boiling point for inspiration,” and headed back out to California to couch surf and reconnect with others.
Returning to Orange proved a successful source of inspiration and motivation. “I’m an amoeba of other people's energies and personalities,” he says, explaining that “Somebody Else” came to fruition thanks to the change in scenery.
When talking about music and art, Will emphasizes the importance of its communal aspect. “My favorite part of music is how people take it. When you put [a song] out into the world, it’s no longer yours. It’s everybody’s. When people ask me what my songs are about, I don’t necessarily want to give that answer out, or even have one for that matter. I always want to ask them: What do you think?”
As we finished up our dumplings, we discussed what Tulp plans to do next: “I want to take a more personal and deep approach... The songs that I’ve released so far don’t go to the deepest parts of my mind.” His newest single is his first step to that next stage, featuring more lyrical experimentation. As he explains, “I aspire to have more poetic music in that kind of way– intimate, personal, introspective and something with more layers than all the love songs I’ve been releasing up until now.”
In the week since “Somebody Else” was released, I’ve heard people humming the chorus all over campus, and have streamed it approximately 20,000 times myself. After splitting the last potsticker, we said our goodbyes. I walked home with five of Will’s favorite artists to listen to, three new book recommendations, and the confidence that Will Tulip has great things to come.
Listen to "Somebody Else" on Spotify & Apple Music, and head to Instagram to stay up to date with Will Tulip's music.