Conducted and written by Sarah Wren Robinson, Hazel Krizman, and Caroline Morrelli (T3L3PH0N3’s Sister)
Most teenagers have a hard time figuring out who they are. T3L3PH0N3 is not like most teenagers. He is loud, chronically online, and completely uninterested in sanding down the edges of his personality to make anyone comfortable. His music — a mix of electro-pop, rap, and chaotic internet references — feels like a direct extension of him: unfiltered and self-aware. T3L3PH0N3 makes no attempt to clean up his music; if something shocks you, that’s your problem. When his single “Harajuku Hennessy” was released, we knew we had to sit down with him and pick at his brain. We hung up the ph0n3 just as confused as when we started, and that’s probably how he likes it.
Sarah Wren: Could you tell us more about your newest single is Harajuku Hennessy?
T3L3PH0N3: So first off, I’ve never drank Hennessy. The fashion district in Japan is Harajuku, and it’s so cool. Gwen Stefani talks about it on her album Love. Angel. Music. Baby, in the song “Harajuku Girls”. That song has one of my favorite lyrics of all time, which is:
“Style detached from content. A fatal attraction to cuteness. Style is style, fashion is fashion. Girl, you’ve got style.”
And that is something I live by. After I went to all the J fashion events in New York, I kind of became a part of that scene. Almost all my mutuals on Instagram dress in Decora, Kawaii, and J fashion. So I wrote the song, and it was like, you’re drinking Hennessy in Harajuku while you’re wearing your best fits. It’s just cool. “Harajuku Hennessy” has a nice ring to it.
The opening line is “he looks better in a skirt than any girl I’ve ever seen.” To me, that was more just about like rock singers in general and how I think men in skirts…something we as men need to do more. And I think that stopping misogyny is really important because, why does misogyny exist? Like, just stop it. I feel like women are just other people. Just don’t do it.
SW: Thank you…
T: Yeah, it’s so dumb. Like, just don’t do misogyny. Oh, by the way, do you know what the pink tax is?
SW: Yes.
T: So one thing that I never understood about it, the pink tax are the better products usually. Because the men’s body wash is so much cheaper, but it smells like ass. The women’s soaps will be like “cherry blossom”. I’m like, “Oh, that smells amazing.” Then the men’s soap, it’s like fucking “bear sweat” and “bee piss,” and I’m like, “I don’t want that.”
SW: Also, speaking of that…
T: Speaking of what, bear sweat?
SW: Where do you find people to feature in your music?
T: Just the internet. That’s how I find cool hyper-pop people to work with. I think my favorite person to collab with is Sc4rlet Lux. I think another great person is priceyxox. He’s on my song “Harajuku Hennessy”, and he’s British, so he’s Brit pop-ish, but also just like rap, and it’s just so, so cool, and just like so cunty.
SW: What about Sc4rlet Lux makes you like to collaborate with them so much?
T: Oh, because she’s easy to work with and she’s cool.
Caroline: How old is Sc4rlet Lux?
T: Huh?
C: How old is Sc4rlet Lux?
T: I don’t know. My guess is like late teens, early 20s.
SW: What inspired you to begin your music career?
T: Sixth grade was a really hard time for me. The artists that helped me get through it were MCR and Lady Gaga, especially 2009-2010 Lady Gaga, because of her use of autotune in that era. I like autotune in a Lady Gaga and Playboi Carti way for sure. And MCR is literally the best band of all time. Because they made “Thank You for the Venom,” which is the best song ever. And Gerard Way is a fashion icon…when he wants to be. When he’s on stage, he’s wearing the coolest shit ever. Off stage…not exactly. That picture of him in Australia might have been the worst outfit of all time, but he’s also worn the best outfits of all time, so that’s why I fuck with him.
C: Is there any internet culture that inspires your music?
T: Oh my God, yes. Like, definitely early 2000s weeaboo culture and OSU [a popular online rhythm game]. I don’t know if you’ve ever had the misfortune of going on 4chan; I don’t recommend it, but it’s great if you want inspiration for music lyrics because people say the most insane shit on there. But I think a big inspiration for me is YouTubers like MVPerry. Like all those old anime YouTubers.
Any raunchy anime is really inspiring to me, like Panty and Stocking, which is pretty much just anime South Park mixed with Powerpuff Girls. I really like how it’s making fun of American and Japanese culture. The creators just went to America, got drunk, and said: “Yo, I have a great idea for a show.”
C: That’s beautiful
T: I guess another part of internet culture is Reddit, but the most chronically online subreddits, like r/rupaulsdragrace. I’m more of a fan of seasons 7 and 12; my favorite is Adore Delano, whose music is genuinely great. Her and Alaska Thunderfuck are just iconic…
Do you know Divas Salute the Troops?
SW: No, I don’t.
T: It was on VH1, and it’s like all the 2010’s pop divas who would go to perform for the military. I think that certified my aesthetic. I was like, “I want to be that.”
T: But also very much like Slayyyter’s 2019 mixtape. I have the signed vinyl for that. I met her mom at a concert in 2022. My mom took me and my friend to go see it. I was really excited. Mom was not, and we played her music, and she wasn’t a fan. I mean, I love it, and I love Mom, but she’s kind of boring, but I still love her. She doesn’t want to play Uno. She doesn’t want to go to concerts. She didn’t want to be in the pit. So she paid a bunch extra to just like sit on the top, but it worked out because we saw someone well over 30 years old wearing a Slayyyter shirt. My mom was like, “That’s totally her mom”, so I showed her the drawing I made. I was like, “Are you Slayyyter’s mom?”, and she said, “I can’t tell you that.” That was her aunt, by the way. Slayyyter’s actual mom came up to me five minutes later and started talking about what Slayyyter was like when she was my age, since I was 12 at the time. It was great. Mom really did not like that concert, though. Slayyyter was screaming and being really cool and asked, “DOES ANYONE HERE LIKE SUCKING DICK?” so we were all like, “WOOOO!”, but you know how they give you wristbands at concerts if you’re drinking? They asked Mom, “Will you be drinking tonight?” and Mom said, “Absolutely.”
C: She told me about that concert after, and she was like, “Caroline. She went up on stage and went, ‘WHO WANTS TO TOUCH ME?’”
T: Everyone does. Who wouldn’t? She’s Slayyyter.
SW: Would you say your music style is influenced a lot by queer culture?
T: Yeah. The whole thing with that, though, is when I say queer culture, I think a lot of people think of different things. I think it’s very inspired by, like, Lady Gaga queer culture, but there’s a little of “slayyyy hunty mama, the house, the boots down” or whatever. There’s also more, just queer icons that a lot of people don’t know are queer icons, like Avril Lavigne. She might not even be queer, I don’t think, but just like people that the community loves. Hayley Williams from Paramore is straight, by the way, but I just assume she was Bi. But like, what? Like, I know I shouldn’t assume that, but like…
C: Did you hear Pedro Pascal is gay?
T: Well, yes, but Hayley Williams is straight. That’s like, what the fuck? There’s bigger things, Caroline.
SW: What would you consider your type of music to be?
T: MSI, one of my favorite bands, calls themselves “jungle pussy punk”. And I really like that. I guess I’m cunt pop, but also electro pop, but I guess also a little bit of hard techno, but I’m still a rapper. So electro pop rap, I guess. Okay. When I say I’m a rapper, though, people think that, like, I’m talking about “white rapper Eminem”, but no, I’m like Nettspend, Kreayshawn, quirked up white boy with a little bit of swag. I mean, although I do like Eminem, but no, like, I’m definitely more of a Kreayshawn.
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C: We want to know more about your writing process.
T: So, you kind of have to be in a room with me while I’m writing a song to fully understand it, but I guess the artist with the most similar writing process to me… I don’t think there’s anyone.
C: Could you explain your personal writing process?
T: Oh, yeah. So I find a beat, and then just whatever I’m feeling. I try to keep it “cutesy aesthetic” because… I need you to picture the world that I’m thinking of. The very aesthetic shit. I need you to picture that. When I’m writing, I just think, “How can I make this cool?” So I’ll make a Google Doc of what I’m trying to write.
C: So you don’t make your own beats.
T: I do make beats, but I don’t have any songs out with beats I made because I don’t think they’re really good yet. I want to get good at making beats before I put out a song with one.
C: So, where do you find the beats?
T: Uh, friends, YouTube, Instagram, SoundCloud. I’m very picky. So I have to put in the right keywords to find the producers I really like. A lot of my producers are from Russia, because, I don’t know why, but they seem to have a fascination with hyper pop and underground music. I guess there’s not much else to do as a gay teenager in Russia besides listen to underground rap.
SW: What reactions have you gotten related to your music from other people?
T: From my friends, really positive. From family, uh, I think when I try to play it for my mom, she just doesn’t want to hear it. So like, my song “Fxck Me Up”. She did not want to listen to that.
C: Have you stopped sending your songs to our grandmothers?
T: Yes. My favorite lyric in a song that I’ve written is “She smoked a Newport out her pussy.” In case you want to know the context for that, I saw a TikTok comment, and it was like, “When I was in Thailand at Pattaya Beach, I saw a lady smoke a cigarette out of her vagina,” and I was like, she’s my idol.
C: That’s not physically possible.
T: Yes, it is. It can give you cancer, but it’s possible.
C: So, no, that’s, you can’t inhale.
T: Yes, you can. Do your research on that. But, um-
C: I’m not doing my research on that.
T: Yeah, but no. So either that comment was lying, but either way, I put that in my song because it has an aura. That’s the opening line of the song, too. So I played the song for Mom, and she was like, “You made that?!?!” I like how she’s still surprised.
SW: So, what do you think is next for T3L3PH0N3?
T: Honestly, I really want to make a movie. It’s gonna be like Spring Breakers or like “Glitter” by Mariah Carey…or maybe the live-action Bratz movie. So it might not have good writing, it might not have likable characters, it might not have a good plot, it might not be a good movie, it might be bad, but if you just focus… if you just focus on the vibes and aesthetics, it’s peak.
C: Thank you so much for answering all that.
T: No, wait, we’re not… we’re done?
[This interview was 50 minutes long and has been edited down due to length and obscenity.]
