Magnus Ferrell on His Viral Hit ‘Asleep Talking’ and Dad Will Ferrell Showing Michelle Obama His Music: ‘I Finally Felt Ready to Have a Spotlight on It’

By Anna Tingley

Anna Tingley

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Not every up-and-coming artist can say they watched Michelle Obama jam out to their music before landing on the charts. But two weeks after Will Ferrell proudly played his son Magnus Ferrell’s single “Asleep Talking” on the former first lady’s “IMO” podcast, the 22-year-old musician scored his first Billboard hit. 

“I did know he was going to do that, but I didn’t know when it was dropping,” Ferrell says of the viral moment. “We happened to be visiting friends in Oregon, and I was in the middle of nowhere when it happened. I was basically in this forest, kind of freaking out.” 

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