The rising alt-pop artist leans into vulnerability, absurdity, and the messy reality of moving on.
At just 22, Malcolm Todd is learning that growing up in public means letting people see the parts you’d usually hide.
His latest single, “I Saw Your Face,” does exactly that. On the surface, it’s a breakup song. Underneath, it’s something more uncomfortable. It sits in that in-between space where you know leaving was the right decision, but the loss still lingers–an honesty that doesn’t resolve neatly.
The track arrives with a music video co-directed by Todd and Aidan Cullen, and it leans into that emotional contradiction with a strange sense of humor. There’s a visual motif that shouldn’t work but somehow does. Todd faces off with a giant onion, a tongue-in-cheek metaphor that doubles as a quiet commentary on masculinity and emotional repression. It is absurd, slightly chaotic, and unexpectedly sincere.
That balance between irony and vulnerability has become part of his appeal.
Todd enters 2026 with serious momentum. His breakout year saw him land his first entry on the Billboard Hot 100 and complete a sold-out international headline tour that stretched across three continents.
Earlier this year, he dropped “Breathe,” broke into Spotify’s Top 50 on its first day. It signaled an artist moving from viral discovery into something more sustained.
That trajectory has been building for a while. His self-titled debut album, Malcolm Todd, has quietly crossed over 600 million global streams, driven in large part by “Chest Pain (I Love),” a track that not only earned him his first Hot 100 entry but also reached platinum certification.
Before the album, there was Sweet Boy, his 2024 mixtape that has taken on a second life online. Tracks like “Earrings,” “Sweet Boy,” and “Roommates” have resurfaced on streaming charts, fueled less by marketing pushes and more by organic rediscovery.
“Earrings,” in particular, has surged again, climbing charts across multiple regions, including Southeast Asia, where it has found new audiences in countries like Singapore, Malaysia, and the Philippines.
This delayed momentum is rare, and it says something about Todd’s catalog. His music doesn’t just hit once. It lingers, then resurfaces when listeners are ready for it.
The numbers have translated into real-world pull. Todd’s Wholesome Rockstar Tour sold over 100,000 tickets in 2025, marking a shift from rising act to reliable draw.
Festival appearances have only reinforced that. Sets at Camp Flog Gnaw Carnival, Pitchfork Paris, Lollapalooza, and Austin City Limits Music Festival showcased a performer who understands how to scale intimacy into something that works for a crowd.
He has also crossed into mainstream visibility, making his late-night debut on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, with more major festival slots already lined up for 2026, including Outside Lands and Osheaga.
With his latest song, Todd is not presenting heartbreak as something poetic or polished, but rather as something awkward, unresolved, and occasionally ridiculous. The onion joke lands, but it also says something real. There is a version of masculinity here that is unraveling, not in a dramatic way, but in small, honest cracks.
And maybe that is the point.