Sade Olutola is making music that sounds like OG Tumblr

Sade Olutola is the sonic equivalent of OG Tumblr

Bedroom pop meets Tumblr nostalgia in London’s Sade Olutola 

When I first meet with Sade Olutola, the 22-year-old is in her final week of The Artist’s Way, a twelve-week programme meant to foster creativity and reconnect with one’s inner child. It’s a fact I learned while stalking her Tumblr, the platform that’s become somewhat synonymous with Olutola’s journey as a rising bedroom pop artist. While many fellow children of the internet were self-proclaimed “Tumblr girls” at one point or another, the British-Nigerian talent is the real deal Tumblr user, even in 2026. It was there on the blogging platform, after all, that she first began growing an audience for her music, releasing grainy snippets of unreleased songs. Her penchant for nostalgia shows up in other places, too, like in the music video for her breakout single “2099”, which was shot entirely on iPhone 4. 

“I’m really drawn to the way that I viewed the world as a child, when everything was possible,” Olutola tells me over our video call. As childhood morphed into teenagedom, Olutola notes that things became more difficult for her, recalling how in high school,  she was a “lame kid” that “nobody fucked with.” Catching up with Olutola these days, however, it’s difficult to imagine that her sense of self was ever shaken.

Pairing blunt, confessional raps with spacey vocals, the rising artist has crafted a multidimensional sound that’s injected fresh energy into the bedroom pop genre, and is hard to interpret as anything but confident. Her debut EP Arrow Heart, released in February 2026, was welcomed with far more fanfare than Olutola  anticipated, especially after she’d become accustomed to none at all. “I completely removed myself from validation, because it was hurting my feelings that nobody gave a damn,” she says. “So receiving all of this was completely overwhelming for me.”

The result of that attention has manifested in a growing fan base, a festival run that has included All Points East, Reading, and Leeds, and most recently, a Tyler the Creator co-sign via her addition to this year’s Camp Flog Gnaw lineup. It’s a rapid rise for someone that, just a few months ago, was still working her day job at Western Union, living a “Batman”-like double life. So while Olutola may, yes, still be obsessed with capturing the magic of nostalgia and the past, it’s her future that couldn’t look more promising. 

Below, for our Autumn 2026 issue, the rising artist takes us through her inspirations, favourite albums and more.

The first track of mine you should listen to is

Sade Olutola: “2099”.

I’d describe my music as… 

Sade Olutola: Honesty meets young Black female.

I made my first song after…

Sade Olutola: I saw Willow Smith perform on MTV.

The moment my career changed forever was when…

Sade Olutola: I uploaded the TikTok of “2099”.

I make my best music with…

Sade Olutola: [My producer] Luca Santamaria. I don’t think he knew what to do with me in the beginning.  He’d been working with a lot of rappers but had to push himself to figure out how to make weird, quirky rap-pop music, and I’m very grateful for that. Through that, he’s built our sound, really.

I get inspiration from…

Sade Olutola: My real-life experiences. I don’t think I’ve ever written a lie before, which is really embarrassing. When there’s something in the back of my head that I’m scared to address, it will always, always come out in a song.

When I’m not making music I’m…

Sade Olutola: Painting, incessantly blogging on Tumblr, sketching.

The best advice I’ve ever been given is…

Sade Olutola: Trust your gut.

My favourite three albums of all time are…

Sade Olutola: Multiply by Ed Sheeran, Midnight Marauders by A Tribe Called Quest, and Beyoncé by Beyoncé.

My dream collab is…

Sade Olutola: Willow Smith. I think I would die.