Some songs are catchy, others are confessional — but every so often, a track comes along that feels like both a wound and a healing. With her new single Wallow, Melbourne’s TAMS/N OTWAY proves she is not just another emerging pop artist, but a fearless storyteller carving her own path in the genre.
Wallow was written in 2021, in the silence of lockdown, inside the four walls of TAMS/N’s sharehouse bedroom. What sparked it wasn’t a grand event, but a tiny defiant one: a bird pecking at her window, day after day. That persistence became a metaphor — for resilience, for freedom, for choosing not to sink into despair. From that moment came the line, “I can’t stay, if I do then I might wallow.”
The track transforms this image into something cinematic. Layering chopped-up bird sounds, pulsating synths, and eventually a cathartic saxophone solo, TAMS/N crafts a soundscape that feels both theatrical and raw. It’s a pop anthem, but one rooted in survival, in the fight to reclaim one’s voice from trauma and captivity.
Sonically, Wallow lands somewhere between Chappell Roan’s camp theatricality, Lana Del Rey’s melancholy glamour, and the unshakable punch of 80s power ballads. But TAMS/N isn’t mimicking; she’s distilling her influences into something distinct. The song balances intimacy and spectacle, with verses that lean into vulnerability and a chorus that lifts into defiance.
The standout moment is the saxophone solo — not just a musical flourish, but an emotional breakthrough. It feels like the sound of grief and strength intertwined, the exact moment a spirit cracks open to take flight. It’s rare for a pop track to carry that much emotional weight while still feeling danceable, but Wallow manages it.
What makes TAMS/N’s story compelling is not just the music, but how she makes it. A bartender by day and an artist by night, she is building her career independently, producing and writing her own material. Wallow was one of the first songs she fully created herself, starting with just two chords and building layer by layer from instinct. That DIY honesty gives the track a texture polished pop often lacks — it breathes with personality, flaws, and fire.
Already, she’s proving that independence doesn’t mean obscurity. With 16k followers on TikTok, her songs have been featured on The Project (Channel 10), embraced by influencers like Chrissy Chlapecka, and even championed by Wentworth’s Kate Jenko. On the Melbourne live circuit, she has sold out intimate venues like Some Velvet Morning and Open Studio, while supporting respected local acts. The momentum is undeniable.
At its core, Wallow is about breaking cycles — of trauma, of toxic love, of emotional captivity. It’s a declaration that pop music doesn’t have to be disposable; it can still be cinematic, powerful, and deeply human. The track feels empowering, sexy, melancholic, and defiant all at once — a moodboard of contradictions that mirrors the complexities of survival itself.
As TAMS/N prepares to release her debut album Whiskey Sour, Wallow sets the stage for what’s to come: bold, self-produced pop that isn’t afraid to bleed. Her goal of one day writing for film and television makes perfect sense; this is music that already feels cinematic, built not just to be heard but to be seen and felt.
With Wallow, TAMS/N OTWAY takes the smallest of moments — a bird at her window — and transforms it into a soaring anthem of liberation. It’s a song that refuses to drown in despair, instead choosing flight. Both deeply personal and universally resonant, it cements her as one of pop’s most fearless new voices.
If this is only the beginning, her wings are already catching wind.
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