Unmasking Edith Whiskers

If you spend as much time on TikTok as I do, it is likely you have heard the slowed, acoustic version of “Home” by Edward Sharpe and the Magnetic Zeros sung by Edith Whiskers. You might have heard the classic “Alabama, Arkansas, I do love my ma and pa,” or perhaps you have recognized the iconic whistling in the song. 

The first time I heard the song on TikTok, I was stunned. “Home” has been one of my favorite songs for a long time. Anytime I hear it it gives me an instant serotonin boost. This time was different; there was something beautiful, somber, and haunting about this version. It lingered in the air. I was in awe. Naturally, I wanted to know who this Edith Whiskers was, so I googled them. Simply googling “Edith Whiskers” turned out to be one of the most intriguing things I could have done. It was a happy accident. 

Upon hitting enter after typing “Edith Whiskers” into the Google search bar, I was met with an illustration of an elderly woman. Surely, this illustration wasn’t Edith Whiskers. Edith Whiskers’ had to have a real face, right? I typed her name into the Spotify search bar and was met with the same illustration. I figured I better read her profile. Something in her profile caught my eye, “Some have compared her voice to Tom Rosenthal but she maintains she’s got a far superior tone.” Immediately, I knew something was up. 

After doing some more digging, I came across a BBC article entitled, “Edith Whiskers: How an imaginary gran got millions of Spotify streams.” This was the article that answered all of my questions. I quickly learned that Edith Whiskers is the alias of musician Tom Rosenthal. 

Note: For the remainder of this piece, Tom Rosenthal will be referred to using he/him pronouns, but Edith Whiskers, Tom’s alias, uses she/her pronouns.

Edith Whiskers was officially born in 2020, but her story starts several years earlier when Rosenthal was covering the song “Home” for a friend’s youtube video. He sang both the male and female parts of the duet. The song was used in the video, but for several years it was unknown and just existed out there in the world. Then, in 2020, an Australian influencer used Tom’s cover of “Home” in a video on TikTok. All of a sudden more and more people began to use it. It became a trend to use the song with meaningful videos of family, friends, and adventures. And just like that, the song blew up.

Tom Rosenthal, who was already a musician producing his own original music, did not want this cover song to become his top streamed song, or the song that defined his career. So, on a drunken video call with friends, he came up with the alias “Edith Whiskers.”

“Home” was not the only song Edith Whiskers (aka Tom Rosenthal) covered, though. In fact, she has an entire cover album called Stop Stealing the Covers (2020). The album consists of covers of songs by Bob Dylan, The Beatles, Eiffel 65, and many others. Stop Stealing the Covers is equal parts stunning and equal parts ridiculous. Rosenthal’s sense of humor is apparent throughout the album, because along with the beautiful renditions of some classic songs, he also covers the song “Bootylicious” by Destiny’s Child and “Happy Birthday.” The musicality in these songs is as impressive and clever as the more serious covers. Everyone should listen to this witty, heartfelt, and reflective album. It is a cover album unlike any other. 

Since TikTok launched her career in 2020, Edith Whiskers has gained approximately 2,600,000 monthly listeners. Numerous people have contacted Rosenthal in attempts to become her manager or sign her to a label not realizing she is a fictional persona created by Rosenthal himself. She remains a fun mystery known to only a few. I highly recommend people take a listen to both the works of Edith Whiskers and the works of Tom Rosenthal. You will not find a tone more unique and special than his.

Article by Anna Armstrong

Design by Serena Wang