Chris Michaels and the Sleep Token logo appear in one of several videos hyping the band’s new … More
WRAL
If you watch the news on Raleigh, North Carolina station WRAL, you might hear some unusual utterances woven into Chris Michaels’ upcoming morning forecasts. And if you’re a fan of the band Sleep Token, you might recognize the words as lyrics from the group’s new single “Caramel,” which dropped Friday.
Michaels, a pop-punk drummer and avid fan of the U.K. alternative metal band, has a special connection to the song — Sleep Token enlisted him to help generate buzz for it using his go-to professional tools, a weather map and weather data.
How did a North Carolina weatherman end up on the PR team for a massively popular metal band? Much to the meteorologist’s shock and delight, someone from the band’s team contacted him on TikTok after noticing that the self-described METALorologist has, for the past two years or so, occasionally snuck lyrics from rock and metal bands into his forecasts, just for fun.
Michaels has slipped in lines from Bad Omens, A Day to Remember, Dream Theater and Creed (“We would welcome some weather with ‘arms wide open’”) when talking about climate events from tropical storms to heatwaves. During one March forecast, he mentioned a “dark day for your solstice” and warned of “winds that started from within,” tapping lyrics from Sleep Token hit “Emergence,” which topped both the No. 1 Billboard Hot Hard Rock charts and iTunes earlier this year.
Sleep Token formed in London in 2016, releasing its first single “Thread the Needle” the same year. Its members wear masks to remain anonymous, calling themselves Vessel, II, III and IV.
Michaels was stunned to learn Sleep Token wanted him to collaborate on the “Caramel” rollout. “I almost dropped my phone when the person on the other end was talking about that,” he says in a behind-the-scenes video explaining how the experience unfolded. He ran the idea by WRAL, which signed off on it. It’s unclear whether Michaels was compensated for his efforts; he didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
Dropping ‘Caramel’ Clues
The metal-loving meteorologist posted his first “Caramel”-related video on March 27. In it, he stands in front of a monitor displaying the Sleep Token logo as “Emergence” lyrics play. The message “Prepare 3/29” flashes across the screen.
On the morning of March 29, Michaels followed up with another video, this time captioned “Developing. 3/31.” In it, he stands before the kind of map WRAL uses to show where storms will hit, only this time names of cities had certain letters blurred out. Fans quickly noticed that when combined, the hidden letters spell “Caramel.”
A third clue appeared on March 31: a map from the North Carolina State Climate Office showing the average last freeze in Durham and Goldsboro as April 4, the release date of the new single from the upcoming album Even in Arcadia, due in May from RCA.
The response to the creative rollout hasn’t been all positive. Some Sleep Token fans have accused Michaels of using Sleep Token for social media clicks, but far more have defended him and thanked him for entertaining them and getting them guessing.
“Though there was one more puzzle piece that we never got to show, I’m honored to have been a part of this project with a band who’s been one of my favorites since 2021,” Michaels said in a news story posted by WRAL. “To blend my two loves, weather and music, is something I will never forget.”
“Caramel” lyrics testify to the darker side of fame. Listening to them, it’s hard to imagine which ones might make it into Michaels’ forecasts. For Raleigh’s sake, let’s hope imminent forecasts don’t predict a “beautiful nightmare.”
