Young folk-rock vampiress Gretel Hänlyn—known by her stage name Gretel—returns with "Unbloom", a track that marked her reemergence after a one-year break from releases and a handful of shows in her homeland. The song stands as an ode to the beauty of loneliness and disorder. Gretel’s musical work continues to challenge expected ideas of femininity, embracing the deeply human nature of imperfection.
In the months leading up to "Unbloom", Gretel’s Instagram posts functioned as subtle Easter eggs—a dark violet tulip, her copper-red head submerged in a pink rose beneath the caption “I’m unblooming tonight”, and withered flowers decorating announcements for her London shows. She also shared handwritten fragments of the lyrics, scattered like clues. Gretel knew how to let anticipation bloom—and decay—at its own pace.
“I wrote a song about the beauty of being alone and letting yourself come undone”, she said in a video shared on Instagram about "Unbloom". In it, we see the Londoner wearing a comfy top and trousers as she sings and plays a black guitar—perfectly aligned with her gothic style—from the intimacy of her bed. A messy look, however, does not equal mediocrity. Gretel’s immaculate voice still haunts lines like “I can hear you / I can hear… / I just don’t wanna see you tonight”, followed by “petal-pulling in my mind”, which opens the door to the song’s unblooming pinnacle.
Gretel also shared on social media that the song “first came together in my bedroom when it was particularly messy and I was trying to convince myself that it was somehow beautiful and divinely feminine, rather than just getting my shit together and tidying it up”. This approach, along with the guitar work and gloomy, intimate vocals, recalls her earlier album Slugeye (2022), her first full-length offering, while clearly distancing itself from "Far Out (2024), a single that introduced a more polished, "disco-leaning Gretel dancing in gothic attire.
Rather than rehashing what has already been done, "Unbloom" feels like a synthesis of her style, her poetic worldview, and her understanding of growth as a non-linear process. The artist invites us into her unblooming, untidy garden to embrace our flaws and our nature: to love lazy days, unclean looks, and sleepless nights. As a woman, this stance remains particularly striking. Historically, society has imposed narrow expectations of femininity on girls, and Gretel shows no fear in questioning—and breaking—them.
What makes "Unbloom" continue to resonate is how naturally it connects with the songs that followed. Maybelline and Darkness, be my friend expand this emotional landscape, each offering a different shade of vulnerability while remaining rooted in the same intimate universe. Also, all three tracks exist in live versions as well—raw, close, and unfiltered—reinforcing the sense that Gretel’s music is meant to be lived in, not perfected. Together, these songs confirm that Unbloom wasn’t a moment, but the beginning of an ongoing conversation.
Photography by Ignacio Isaac Soto // Dev/Scan at Dichroic Film Lab
