What a world. You'd legitimately have to be living under a rock to not have heard of Hailey Welch by now, AKA "Hawk Tuah Girl." She's already signed with a management company named The Penthouse — not to be confused with the adult-themed magazine, although it
is hawk tuah appropriate — and is getting offers left and right for all sorts of future endeavors. Thanks to a lengthy interview that released on Saturday, we have a little more insight on what's on the horizon for Welch. Her manager
Jonnie Forster sat down with The Hollywood Reporter for a good old-fashioned, transcribed conversation in
print . Kind of a novelty these days. It's a lot of information to parse through, but you wanna know how desperate people are to get a piece of the hawk tuah phenomenon?
American Idol called up Welch's team after seeing her
perform on stage with Zach Bryan , asking if she'd be part of the competition. Here's what Forster had to say in response to
American Idol 's email:
"In the email was, 'We saw her sing at the Zach Bryan show, and she had such an amazing voice. We’d love to see how we can get her on the show.' I emailed back, 'She can’t sing at all. Did you even watch the performance? Because she couldn’t carry a tune in a bag.'" Can't quite track down the footage of her angelic voice but I remember not being impressed by it. Who cares? Welch gave the people what they really wanted: Her viral two-word onomatopoeic phrase: https://twitter.com/nojumper/status/1807455705517244501 I've never heard the phrase "couldn't carry a tune in a bag" in my life and I don't know that it even makes sense, but it's so funny. The
THR interview stated that Welch made about $20,000 for an appearance at Seminole Hard Rock Hotel & Casino. That comes after reports that
she'll make 30 grand in appearance fees in New York City . Forster explained that she might be interested in putting her buzzy client into
American Idol promotional material, and that Welch recognized her lane, not wanting to take away opportunities from performers in creative/artsy lines of work. That philosophy applied to the myriad movie role offers that came Welch's way as well. They were mostly horror films from small or indie companies. A producer was literally willing to change the end of their movie just to shoehorn Welch into it. However, as Forster had to explain, "she's not an actress." A big reason why Forster decided to represent Welch is because after meeting her, she felt there was a genuine, small-town good human being worth investing in beyond what could've been just 15 minutes of fame. In fact, Forster revealed that Welch's company name is 16 Minutes LLC, suggesting that she isn't letting all the newfound fame get to her head. As for what Welch
does plan on doing going forward, some podcast ideas are in the works, of course. The key revelation from Forster, though, was her confirmation that a couple reality TV show concepts are in play to showcase her unique, winsome personality:
"There’s the docu format that would be, 'Here’s someone from a small town who’s now recognizable and thrown in the deep end. What’s the day in the life?' That’s the obvious one, and we’re vetting that out. The other thing that’s really of interest to her is traveling because she had never been on a plane before this. I go, 'Can you imagine if you go to Japan or France or these exotic places, and it’s like a fish out of water with you and your friends?'" Welch has said that she works in a factory in multiple interviews of her own before this. Forster got to meet her grandmother and indicated that Welch still lives with her grannie in Belfast, Tennessee. The town is a little over an hour south of Nashville. I feel like Welch is handling all this as well as she possibly could. It can't be easy to have so much exposure overnight for an offhand comment, especially when all these opportunities are rolling in. Must be overwhelming. But hey, sounds like she's in good hands with her management team.
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