Ponthier Is A TikTok Sensation Who’s Winning Us Over With Her Campy, Pulp Art-Inspired Visuals And Honest Pop Folk Storytelling.

Welcome to Song of the Day, where we hip you to all the new local releases you should be caring about. By highlighting one new North Texas-sprung tune every week day, our hope is that you’ll find something new to love about the rich and abundant DFW music scene five days a week.

Allison Ponthier — “Autopilot”
RIYL: my strange addiction.
What else you should know: TikTok once again worked its magic when it helped launch this indie folk singer into popularity. Ponthier was born and raised in Allen and studied jazz at the University of North Texas before moving to Brooklyn, New York in 2017 where she wrote “Cowboy,” the song to be the debut single off of her 2021 EP Faking My Own Death. From gaining over 700 thousand TikTok followers for her original songs, covers and stop motion animations to now being the opening act for Bleachers’ 2022 tour, Ponthier is speeding down the highway towards more success.

Today we’re featuring the B-side of her “Hardcore” single, “Autopilot,”which comes with tongue-in-cheek and highly stylized music video in which she has a whirlwind love affair with her car.

One thing that Ponthier really knows how to bring is visuals, an asset in today’s hyperactive and aesthetic-driven internet culture. She’s a talented artist with a clear understanding of how she wants her stories to be told. From cowboy aliens to a retro housewife marrying her car, her visuals are always something straight from a sugar-fuled pulp art dream.

She balances the campy aesthetic with her honest songwriting. “Autopilot” tells a story of the perils of time — feeling like it’s moving too fast for you to keep up and that you’re on autopilot rather than actually living. “And I can’t drive it if I can’t focus / And I can’t grow up If I’m not ready to die,” Ponthier sings with earnest sweetness, “I can’t stay between the lines / But not for lack of trying / I’m just stuck on Autopilot.”

While her previous releases were in the vein of folk (she collabed and toured with Lord Huron in 2021 and Ben Schneider  makes a cameo in this video), this track is much more pop rock. She still retains the folky twang in her vocals, but with a heavier drum beat, synth and fuzzy electric guitar, Ponthier has gone a bit electric.

Wherever the road takes her, she seems to be in full control.

No more articles