About

Emily Montes, also known as Emily Rose, is a musician who rose to fame after her eponymous album Emily Montes was released in May 2020. The album features a series of 14 short and highly autotuned songs where the singer raps about being 5 years old, the COVID-19 pandemic and other life experiences. Montes' Bandcamp page notes that her debut "changed the scope of the hyperpop and meme scene forever," and the singer has been likened to other hyperpop musicians like 100 Gecs. However, there's also a theory that suggests Emily Montes is a fabricated persona created by a music collective named "Sunligh."

Background

On May 27th, 2020, Emily Montes released her eponymous album Emily Montes on Spotify, gathering over 1.5 million streams in over two years since its release. The album can be accessed via a July 16th YouTube ^[1] upload, with the first track (also named "EmiLy") gathering over 1 million views in two years (seen below, left). The most streamed track from the album on Spotify is "Take me away" with over 1 million streams. The track can also be accessed via YouTube upload,^[2] where it gathered over 240,000 views in two years (seen below, right).

Online Presence

On July 5th, 2020, Redditor^[11] DiscoSocialism posted a screen recording from Montes's album to the subreddit /r/PCMusic. The post gathered over 300 likes in nearly two years (seen below).

On November 22nd, 2020, Twitter^[10] user @crispypunani posted a tweet with a screen recording of the track "EmiLy," and gathered over 100,000 likes in nearly two years (seen below).

no because wtf is this? pic.twitter.com/tl16gdw45j

— ✯ (@crispypunani) November 22, 2020

Emily Montes and her album soon went viral on TikTok as well. The earliest known viral video to use her music is a post from TikToker^[3] @hangeenthusiast24 from August 22nd, 2021. The post gathered over 900,000 plays and 170,000 likes in over a year (seen below, left). Another early post using the singer's music is an August 30th post from TikToker^[4] @dj061608, who gathered over 190,000 plays and 30,000 likes in over a year (seen below, right).

On June 4th, 2021, TikToker^[8] @br00klyn_babyy posted a video of them playing an unofficially pressed vinyl of Emily Montes's album, gathering over 320,000 plays and 80,000 likes in over a year (seen below, left). On August 5th, 2022, TikToker^[9] @kebabinamm posted a video reviewing the album, gathering over 600,000 plays and 100,000 likes in two months (seen below, right).

Critical Acclaim

Montes was the topic of various pieces of cultural journalism in the months following her release, with Leo Krinsky writing for the Michigan Daily^[5] on October 7th, 2020, calling Montes's album "right in line with the trap-hyperpop sound that has been festering in the depths of the internet and is now coming to the surface of popular culture through artists like Charli XCX and 100 gecs" (seen below).

Kenna McCafferty wrote about Montes for Office Magazine,^[6] noting the singer's subsequent ban from TikTok and Instagram, likely due to her presence violating the age requirements for both apps. McCafferty also attempts to analyze as to why Montes grew to fame the way she did despite her age.

Spotify Hacks

Emily Montes's Spotify suffered from various hacks between 2021 and 2022, with people uploading overtly sexual and offensive music under her name on the music streaming app. On February 9th, 2022, TikToker^[7] @xenarcaa posted a screen recording of one such song a hacker posted to Emily's Spotify.

It is unclear as to whether Emily can regain use of her Spotify account, and as of November 2022, she is not active on any social media platforms

Internet Persona Theory

There has been considerable discussion on the internet about Emily Montes being an entirely fabricated persona created by a music collective named "Sunligh." A now-deleted Twitter thread from user @doctorhomosex^[12] claiming to be the musical creators behind the name "Emily Montes" was posted on June 5th, 2022 (shown below). The user claims to have created Montes and discusses the hacks and illegitimate tracks posted to the Emily Montes Spotify page.

The thread accuses a person named "Jade," with the deleted Twitter account @bur_dine, of allegedly posing as a legal representative for Emily to Spotify, thereby locking the user and other members of their collective out of the account. These claims have not been substantiated as of November 2022.

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References