Clark Rainbow is building a pop empire from her childhood bedroom

Her 2025 release, “beReal” sits at over two million listens on Spotify alone, and completely took over TikTok for months. Behind her dolly appearance and extremely-online persona, each of Rainbow's tracks holds weight in the real world. The track was created intentionally with drawn out atmospheric portions and muddy synths that glitter with mistakes, showing that an AI algorithm that looks for perfection can never replicate her work. “From a business perspective, it’s the best thing ever, you don’t have the liability of an artist” Rainbow says. “The most interesting part is the story behind it,” she adds.

Rainbow started learning the harp at five, and learned how to produce music after University from YouTube tutorial videos. Since May of 2025, she’s been writing, producing, promoting, and releasing each track herself. The nostalgic pop of “User97" sounds like the opening theme song of an old Nintendo princess game on a pink 3DS. “My personal experiences are a little strange,” she says. Rainbow's TikTok about the release simply reads: “song I wrote about getting catfished on discord LOL” as she lipsyncs in her room. Lyrics like “I don’t know who’s behind the screen / But I think I’m in love ‘cause it feels like a dream” clearly back up what she’s told me.

Her artist name comes from a Tesco book called “Fashion Angels.” Rainbow explains that you could draw and create the girl exactly as you wanted it, down to the hair. “I named it Clark, and I’ve just carried it with me ever since” she says. When performing live at nitecawr's Winter Ball, she was adorned in white full doll attire with a parasol to match. “There’s a game called Star Boutique, and I loved the babydoll fashion, I’ve never seen it in person” she says.

She operates behind an extremely online, closed off persona. Operating in silence for months at a time to work on her music and speaking to almost no one, she’s intent on making each track effervescent in her own way. “Not to be a massive recluse or anything, it’s just how I live a lot of the time,” she says shyly. She’ll come back momentarily to post a snippet on TikTok, or sweetly answer a few comments under her Instagram posts, then return to working on her sound.

“I keep having ultra-realistic nightmares where my computer gets stolen,” she says as she details plans for her new EP, Doll Online, released last month. One song, “please don’t hack me,” helped her to understand the anxiety about her nightmares. She’s only willing to share a small snippet with me: “Please don’t hack me / I have no money, just my mp3’s” is exactly what she’s telling the robbers in her nightmares. The track is as sweet and soft as any others, decorated with her signature bouncy synths and girly 2000’s dance sound, an interesting home for her to discuss her darkest fears. Music is her most important possession, she tells me, and she doesn’t want to be taken advantage of by any labels, fans, or anyone else.

“Performing my own songs is a little daunting,” Rainbow laughs when discussing playing live. Before Clark Rainbow, she sang opera and regularly performed in the choir, but this is all a new world for her. She explains that she wants to do a headline show in the near future. As for her new EP, she explains that she’s hoping to build on the nostalgic world she’s been creating. Each song is still so girly and personal, and she’s excited for it to finally release. “It was hard to keep it as an EP,” as she explains that an album is sure to come. “Each track is still going to be super personal,” she adds.

Rainbow's 2025 release, “Chainsaw,” centers around an abusive relationship. “You become so ingrained in the role that you play in the relationship, you forget who you are,” she explains. She tells me that fans sent in emails thanking her for the release of the song, telling her how much it meant to them. “It’s like a tiny cute kitten that finally brings out its claws,” we both laugh. A dramatic promise to heal after a toxic relationship, Clark is making a clear threat to anyone that could stand in the way of her personal identity again.

Beneath her dolly aesthetic, glittering synths, and frilly bows, is something far sharper. As we become more obsessive over polished perfection, Clark Rainbow instead opts for strange stories and complete vulnerability. As she releases each track on her own terms, she’s continuing to fight for complete ownership of her sound