Whilst dealing with the aftermath of losing her home in the tragic fires that devastated Los Angeles earlier this year, the reality TV star is rising from the ashes and stepping into her most exciting chapter yet, diving headfirst into her pop-infused music career.

Four months into the year, and 2025 has already made its mark on Heidi Montag’s life. In the first week of January, more than 300,000 people were forced to abandon their homes in Los Angeles and evacuate to safer areas, as wildfires aggressively swept through the Pacific Palisades neighbourhood. Montag, along with husband Spencer Pratt – best known for their stints on reality series The Hills, alongside a long list of Hollywoodian A-listers – lost their home to the fire.

Resilience is a word that often colours headlines in times like this — but Montag and Pratt might just be giving it a whole new meaning. Amid heartbreak and chaos, Pratt took to social media to rally fans to stream Montag’s 2010 debut pop album, Superficial, in honour of its 15th anniversary re-release. What they didn’t expect, however, was that in the days following his post, the album would shoot to the top of the iTunes charts — and her hit “I’ll Do It”, which you’ll definitely know by heart by now if you’re even mildly addicted to TikTok, has already racked up over 89 million streams.

Perhaps their fanbase really was that dedicated to the cause. Or maybe people found in Montag’s music a long-lost dose of pop nostalgia — a shimmering throwback to the golden days of the genre. One thing’s for sure: she’s never been more ready to embrace her popstar era. Posing for the lens of legendary photographer Markus Klinko — known for his iconic work with Beyoncé, Britney Spears and more — Montag sits down with Wonderland to talk about the fever dream-ish experience of watching “I’ll Do It” reach new audiences, finding strength in the midst of heartbreak, and what’s coming next. Keep scrolling…

How does it feel to see your track “I’ll Do It” reach such heights of virality on social media? What’s been your reaction to the love?
It’s unbelievable that after so much that we’ve been through, that everyone has rallied with their love and their support, to make “I’ll Do It” reach such heights. It started having a viral moment last year, in China, and went on TikTok and started having a moment. And after the fires everyone came with all of their love and support to make it as successful as possible, so i just appreciate every stream, every download, every video everyone has ever made to make this song go viral.

⁠After 15 years, what do you think has probed the single to go viral and have its era of resurgence? 
Definitely the support everyone was pouring out to us after the fires. People love “I’ll Do It”, it definitely had a viral moment last year in China, it had like a billion streams, people were doing a transition to it with the slowed down version and sped up version, so people just found the song through TikTok and really gravitated towards it. And then, as I mentioned, after the fires everyone just wanted to pour out their support and “I’ll Do It” was the song that everybody loved and chose, so it was just an unbelievable moment.

⁠⁠“Heidi is a quintessential 2000s pop culture icon. A lot of my own work from that period is now seen in art galleries and museums around the world. Therefore, when a friend introduced me to Heidi and Spencer during the tragic LA fires, it was immediately a priority for me to collaborate on this album cover. Heidi’s story is remarkably unique! Her meteoric rise to the top of the charts is completely unprecedented. I wanted to do these facts justice, with a shoot that would truly establish her an American Princess! Loosely inspired by Grace Kelly, I wanted to capture Heidi in way that she has never been seen before. Once on set, I could fully appreciate how charismatic Heidi and Spencer are in person, and all came together in the most organic way!”

– Markus Klinko

What is it about this era of TikTok that makes people crave that 00s pop energy?
I think in TikTok people are able to see the 2000’s energy and the pop energy and how different the world and culture was, the fun and fantasy of it, and escapism, the world has really changed from that time. A lot of the fame has been diluted and shifted a lot and Hollywood is very different. Now, there is social media, and the world is just very different now. I think people gravitate towards that culture, that maybe some people experienced, some didn’t, maybe some people want to re-experience it, it was just the essence of pop culture. That was the moment that was defining, and kind of the end of Pop as we knew it, and the world revolving around pop culture, with tabloids and TV.

⁠How did you enjoy shooting the album cover and working with Markus? What was the concept for the shoot?
It was such an incredible experience shooting with Markus, he is just a visionary, I love how he shoots, I love his professionalism and his passion for it. We were in contact with him after the fires, and to be able to move forward with my pop career, in the first image of me in pop, as a new born again phoenix rising from the ashes pop star. It was loosely based off of American princess, like the new American Princess, with loose inspirations from Grace Kelly, and just really embracing the new American Princess in pop culture. So he really wanted to capture the rise in pop culture in America specifically, and it really came out in such a beautifully organic way.

What can fans expect to see next from you?
There is so much ahead, this is really just the beginning of my pop career, I have a lot of really big performances coming up. I have Mighty Hoopla coming up that will be in front of 33,000 people with Ciara and Kesha, headlining under them, so that is a moment of a lifetime! I’ve just been booked for San Francisco Pride, I’m booked for Seattle Pride, San Francisco will be in front of 22,000 people and Seattle is also a huge festival. So I’m excited to start interacting with the crowd, with people who have been supporting me and the reason that I have the success that I’ve ended up with. 

It’s all because of everyone’s love and support, the friends and, well the family at this point… so for me that’s definitely the highlight, to hug people who share our story and who have supported us and continue to do so. This is just the beginning of this popstar era that I’m stepping into, and I’m just so appreciative because this is a dream come true and such a blessing. It’s a beauty from ashes, and I know it’s because of every person who has streamed and continued to support us through rebuilding our lives and our careers. We have a very long road ahead to be where we were, but I’m confident that we’ll be able to surpass that, and come into a new life and a new era so I’m just so thankful that everyone has been so incredible.

Photography – Markus Klinko
Styling – Tumas Zarskus
Makeup – Cedric Jolivet 
Hair – Scott King
Nails – Roxana Vasquez, Jessica De Leon 
Produced in collaboration with The Core Art Gallery