The Internet

Glüme wants it all.

Born and raised in Los Angeles, it all started with a Judy Garland biopic. When a six-year-old Glüme heard her parents arguing about money, she knew what to do. If the Wizard of Oz’s Dorothy Gale could become a star and buy her parents a house in the real world – Glüme could do it too. She stopped going to school, started taking dance lessons and started booking auditions.

Baby Glüme landed roles in 102 Dalmatians, Kingdom Hearts, and a Hayao Miyazaki film, but her airy voice and melancholic aura wasn’t exactly what the Disney Channel was looking for. “There were all these happy, girl power albums, but they were all written by men. Guys would say to me, you need to be more empowering, more uplifting. I don’t have any of that to say.”

Fast forward…Glüme hears Chromatics on Spotify Shuffle. Immediately, she knew that Johnny Jewel’s production was the only way the music in her head could be translated to the outside world. Her years as an actor had supplied her with enough connections to get a meeting with the president of Warner Brothers and Rihanna’s lawyer, but she couldn’t track down Johnny Jewel. Then, out of nowhere, Glüme wound up in the ICU for two weeks. After dozens of tests, she was diagnosed with Prinzmetal Angina, a rare heart disease. It felt like a door had closed.

“I didn’t like the vision of myself as a sick person. So I went on The Internet.” Between getting sick and living through the pandemic, her entire existence was online. She submerged into Instagram and dove headfirst into TikTok. Lying in bed for days, scrolling through her own profile, it resembled a real life. It looked like she was having fun. Laughing in parks and looking glamorous. “My online presence was my truth even though it was a lie. I have this self at home who is sick and then this self on The Internet that’s doing amazing. The world wasn’t working for me. But online, I could live the life I wanted to live.”