Happy Birthday by Finn Wolfhard // Album Review

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The concept for Finn Wolfhard's debut solo album, Happy Birthday, was born from the challenge he gave himself in 2022 to write fifty songs by the end of the year. This nine track album ended up becoming a brief and curated glimpse into the music he made during that time. 

"I started realizing a general theme in a lot of the other songs involving my identity, anxieties, nostalgia, childhood and loneliness. All of that was a part of a bigger puzzle. I knew I wanted to make a record, but I didn't know with which songs," he said in an interview with NME.

Finn is best known for his role as Mike in Stranger Things, as well as starring in two Ghostbusters reboots and It, among others. Alongside his acting work, he has always been making music. In 2018 he released an EP with his band Calpurnia, and later was one half of the psych‑rock duo The Aubreys. Happy Birthday marks Finn's first solo music release and is largely a reflection of the continued creative growth and experimentation that has driven his work as a musician from the start. He makes it clear throughout this album that music isn't just a side project for him, but rather a real outlet for sharing his voice and perspective. 

This album is ultimately a blend of all the different styles of music that have shaped him over the years. Everything from more folk-leaning moments like "Choose the latter" and "Objection!" to the grungy garage rock tracks like "Crown" and "Eat". He shifts from something sort of Beatles-esque at times, to more niche psych and indie rock influences that are threaded throughout. It's eclectic and messy at times, but that's a part of the charm too. 

At its core, Happy Birthday is a coming‑of‑age story. So much of the album circles around that restless feeling of being in your early twenties and having sense that you're somehow running out of time, even as you're still trying to take your time to figure everything out. It's a very universal experience that he captured so well through the raw and unrefined lyricism. He keeps returning to being paralyzed by the fear of choice and the pressure of having to make every decision on your own for the first time, which is a feeling that sits heavy in the minds of so many young adults coming into their own independence. "Happy birthday what do you want? It's your birthday, stop wasting precious time, up up and away, that's where you'll be," he sings in the opening lines of the title track. "Happy Birthday, what have I done? It's my birthday and I waste precious time". 

Throughout the album, he's also wrestling with feelings of overwhelming anxiety and the fear of being boxed in or held back by expectations, whether from others or from himself. On "Objection!" he sings, "I don't have a type, I don't havе a style, I know I do, it's just a test, so I object and all thе rest".

Happy Birthday was entirely written and produced by Finn alongside Kai Slater, of the Chicago-based indie rock band Lifeguard. They recorded much of the album in Chicago and the distinct sound of the city undoubtedly shaped so much of the album. While he's still based in his hometown of Vancouver and continues to be closely connected to the music scene there, much of this album was also inspired by the Chicago music community. He was introduced to that world at a young age by his Stranger Things co‑star Joe Keery, who developed much of his own identity as an artist there during college. 

"When I'm back home, I strive to go to a bunch of DIY shows and see the bands out there. But the Chicago scene is so inspiring because it doesn't feel like there's much competition there - it feels like everyone's making stuff and plays on everyone's records. There's something really special about it," he said in an interview with The Quietus.

"Music for me has always been something that I can control. And while I'm really grateful for acting and for a long time, it really provided me that peace, it's just a different thing now that I'm an adult and that it's a career," he said in a press release to Dork. "I still enjoy it a lot, but when I am by myself and get to play guitar and write a song, it's a different kind of feeling I'm after."

That sense of independence is part of why it's so exciting to see him branch out on his own creatively, especially following his directorial debut Hell of a Summer in 2023. It seems as if he is going to be putting more focus into perusing music going forward, and Happy Birthday is truly the sound of a promising artist beginning to find his voice and claim a new level of creative freedom.


Thanks for reading!  I've written many more reviews of Finn Wolfhard's music, with Happy Birthday featuring on my annual lists alongside many of my favorite albums and songs of 2025. Check them out and more to come, always!

-Melissa ♡


Photo Credit: Emilia Voudouris, AWAL, Night Shift Productions



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