OSTON (Austin Wolfe) has always been able to tell a story. Growing up in the ski town of Park City, Utah, she spent her childhood writing songs and taking classical voice lessons, and the backbone of her musical education came from household names like Adele and Julia Michaels, artists who have been responsible for some of the most unapologetic pop in recent memory. Through working at a recording studio in Chicago in college, she was soon cowriting for other artists like UPSAHL (Arista Records) and Bülow (Republic Records), as well as branching out into the K-pop music scene, penning VIVIZ’s chart topping ‘MANIAC’ as well as songs for NMIXX, ITZY, JISOO and more. The infrastructure of pop music can feel a lot like mathematics, penning the chorus to the bridge to the instrumental and back all in under three minutes. But the best songs find humanity in the messiness around the edges, finding their way almost in spite of. On her debut album Isn’t It Sweet?, OSTON’s own voice surfaces front and center, in all its complex intricacy and imperfection.
It’s a record that almost wasn’t made: OSTON’s experience with early collaborators were those “who said I didn’t know who I was and thought they could find it for me.” Moving to Los Angeles (where she is currently based) in 2019, she was living on a blow up mattress on the living room floor of an apartment with someone she thought she trusted in the music industry, only to have that unhealthy relationship unravel. Ironically, that toxic environment led to the success of early self-released singles “Lie About You” and “Burton St.,” both songs about non-romantic entanglement that explore the darkness of codependency. Ultimately, having the courage to walk away (and finally discover herself) has sparked some of the most promising music of her career to date.
“I’ve always felt things very deeply that other people in my life seemed to be able to brush off and really struggled to understand why,” OSTON explains. This coming to terms with her own mental health was a catalyst for the album, a significant portion which was written after a decision to take prescribed medication to help with the anxious and intrusive thoughts she had while being alone. Embracing this newfound stability allowed her to find a vantage point through which she could see herself and the scenarios she had gone through more clearly, as well as a renewed sense of calmness following all the chaos. The thirteen songs of Isn’t That Sweet? reside within this worldview, where she was also able to establish her footing with a core group of trusted friends and musicians who allowed her room to just be herself. The growth of her self confidence allowed OSTON to more deeply consider her flaws with both piercing specificity and outsize emotion. “What makes us human is acknowledging our own mistakes – it’s what lets other people relate to you.”
Despite being surrounded by this supportive community as well as being in a healthy romantic relationship for the first time, Isn’t That Sweet? unpacks recognizing at a core level she was still deeply unhappy. Much of the album has to do with admitting that out loud, and the resulting vulnerability shines through intimate ballads like “Unstuck,” a late addition to the record that OSTON never thought she would be able to write but has become a crucial touchstone of the album. It’s a record that showcases all sides of herself, and even the tracks most directly dealing with complex heartache have their own charm and self awareness. OSTON embraces the dynamism that comes with being a woman, and all the trials, tribulation and rewards that come with saying “fuck it” more than once. Euphoric album highlight “I want it, I want it,” about “the craving of wanting to blow up your life and experience everything,” dares the listener to give in to magnified feeling while oscillating between the confusion and numbness that can be found on the other side if you ever stop. There’s both beauty and pain in this transformation. The soft hum of “Pancakes,” the first song OSTON wrote for the record, explores the contradictory experiences of “being happy in my partnership while realizing we are all going to die.” OSTON’s relationships often become a mirror to access her own sense of self, and her desire to come out of the shadow is its own type of both withdrawal and reclamation.
OSTON initially wrote the glitchy penultimate track “I used to like that girl” back in 2022, as a completely different song, and it demonstrates how much life has changed for her over the past four years. “Although it’s a reflection on what it’s like to be a woman in society,” she explains, “it’s kind of restored my faith in myself.” Ultimately, Isn’t That Sweet? is the improbably full whole OSTON has been searching for all along, the product of resilience and the recognition that the life you’ve written for yourself can contain multitudes. In the end, it’s just the beginning.
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