The rise of rainbow frog biscuits

Five years ago, Amber Louise was just a girl from Loughborough. But thanks to a TikTok going viral, she is now rainbow frog biscuits a singer-songwriter who has gained over 1 million TikTok followers and 40,000 monthly listeners, all by being her authentic self.

Amber Louise is a self-proclaimed weirdo. She takes pride in it. The 23-year-old singer-songwriter has no interest in being your usual run-of-the-mill artist. You would expect as much considering her stage name is rainbow frog biscuits.

Nothing about her rise in popularity has been normal. She was working shifts at Argos in Loughborough during lockdown. It was nothing special, just your usual working day. While working, she served an old classmate who remembered she used to write songs and urged her to upload them on TikTok.

She didn’t think much would come of it, but she had nothing better to do. She went home that night, wrote and recorded a song in an hour and posted it on TikTok.

Her first TikTok - and it gained more than 300,000 views in 24 hours. The song was a story about her messy desk. 

“The first time it happened, I felt so weird about it, I was like ‘There’s no way this is happening to me’,” she says. “I had never seen numbers like it.”

The rest that followed was just as strange and even more successful. It ranged from songs about her cat being fat, her obsession with cow print clothes and a whole range of random but genuine things. None of this is fake. She had found a niche, all by being her authentic self.

The Leicestershire-based indie singer now has 1.2 million TikTok followers and nearly 40,000 Spotify monthly listeners. Her part-time job at Argos is long behind her and her dreams are a reality.

As easy as it would be to change as the follower count got higher, Amber remains determined to be herself, no matter how weird she might come across. “I want people to know it’s ok to be weird because being weird is way more exciting and cooler than being a cookie-cutter artist,” she says. 

“If you're not thinking what a weirdo about an artist, I am not interested.” she says.

Her quirks have always fuelled her work, and she has many. Her house, for one, was full of arts and crafts. Fairy lights dangle from the roof, her stairs are painted in a pattern and her doorbell is the tune of Beethoven’s Für Elise. 

In her free time, she crochets clothes for herself and her friends. Perhaps the most impressive of these quirks was that she can tell you the exact date based on what colour her hair was at the time. 

Her distinctive personality has always been her biggest inspiration for her music, but growing up, it was the source of her biggest hardships. “I was bullied relentlessly all the way through school so I knew what it was like to be that nerdy kid that no one likes,” she says. “So that’s how I would spend my time writing songs. Which is why I got good with it early, as a ten-year-old.”

Music was always going to be a large part of Amber’s life. Her mum was a piano teacher and an avid theatre enjoyer and her dad would often spend time with Amber listening to his favourite bands. It was an escape from the isolation she felt as a kid.

When she wasn’t writing songs, she would spend time performing at the Leicester Theatre Group. Spending her time in the arts helped build the foundation of her music career. “It was the first time I performed properly in front of people on my own. I felt the pressure, but not in an: ‘Oh my God, this is really scary’ way but in an ‘I can get used to this’ kind of way,” says Amber.

Her original plan was to take a year out working on music and then go to theatre school. But after her TikTok started gaining traction, and she started making money off the songs she was making, she knew this was the path she had to pursue.

If it's not broken, don't fix it, Amber decided so for the next few months after her first TikTok following bloomed, she followed the same routine. “I would make little songs, post them and check on my lunch break. I had never seen numbers like that on anything, it was crazy.” she says, still seemingly amazed by what had happened.

It was only up from there. In January 2021, London pop artist Tom Rosenthal followed Amber and pleaded with her to sign to his new label, Tinpot Records. She signed the contract, being the first artist attached to the label, and released her first single three months later as rainbow frog biscuits.

“They only know me as rainbow frog biscuits, some of them don't even know my name is Amber.”

She was no longer just a TikTok personality. She was an artist. It wasn’t long before she heard her name on the radio being broadcast to the Midlands. “The first time I heard my song and name on the radio was insane. I was like: ‘Oh my God - how do people get used to this when they are famous? How do you get used to hearing people say your name to whoever is listening in a whole region?’ I’m still not quite used to it,” she laughs. “It was very weird.”

Thanks to being called rainbow frog biscuit, she often makes an impression on the radio DJs who play her music.  However, she wants it to be known that there is no fun story behind her name. 

“I just wanted my TikTok name to be rainbow frog but it was taken and I happened to be eating biscuits at the time so I thought I’d just add biscuits at the end.” she says. Funnily enough, she was eating biscuits - chocolate digestives -  throughout this interview as well. 

It wasn’t just radio DJs her name and songs were making an impression on. Amber started to gain a following and it wasn’t long before she started selling out shows.

Despite her experience performing in theatre, the shift to performing as an artist was different to what she expected. “I think moving from theatre to an artist the jump felt weird because I’m not playing a character anymore, I'm singing my own words so I was being more myself on stage. When you're in theatre you're playing someone else but when you're an artist, you're putting yourself on blast.” she says.

Since her first show in 2021 at The Shed in Leicester, Amber has soared to new heights. She has performed at festivals across the UK, most notably Latitude and BST Hyde Park, as well as going on her own UK tour. It is something she hopes to do more of as she grows as an artist.

 "I want people who are like me to know it is ok to be weird.”

It’s not just Amber who was taken aback by what’s happened, her family too are amazed by what she has achieved. “My dad always comes with me to shows and he always loves it when there are artists he likes there. It’s weird for him because I will speak to them like they are my buddies,” she says.

“Once me and my brother spoke to Sam Ryder backstage at a festival. When we were walking away he said ‘ That’s so cool how do you do that and get used to it?’ I wouldn't say I was used to it by this point but I know enough that they are just people.”

Four years on from the post that changed Amber’s life, she still can't quite fathom the level she has reached. “I forget the size of my following and I'm not just a normal person to them,” she says. “They only know me as rainbow frog biscuits, some of them don't even know my name is Amber.”

“It’s weird now because I can't reply to some of those people because they will freak out in my dm’s. I’d love to sit and have a real conversation with these people, but I don't think that will ever be possible because they only know me from my music.” she says.

The responsibility that comes with being a musician is something Amber doesn’t take lightly. She wants to be the kind of artist she looked up to when she was younger. To be a reminder that it is ok to be yourself.

“One of my biggest goals is to make sure that the people who listen to me know that if they are anything like I was when I was their age, which they probably are because they like my music, then everything they are is ok,” she says.

“I’m a huge advocate for people who have been bullied in school for literally anything because I've been there. I want people who are like me to know it is ok to be weird.”

No matter where her career leads her, she is determined to remain grounded throughout it all and remain true to herself. “It’s always how am I going to stay famous instead of how am I going to stay authentic? You're going to stay authentic if the stuff you do is good,” she says.

“I don't think it matters how big I get, I will never feel high and mighty about my position 

because I don't have the right to. No matter how famous I get, no matter how much money I end up earning I will still be Amber from Loughborough.”