Thanks to bands like Sleep Token and Bad Omens, the once-separate worlds of metalcore and BookTok — TikTok’s obsessive corner of romantasy readers and morally gray heartthrobs — are unexpectedly colliding. With their emotional lyrics, dark aesthetics and brooding masked or tattooed frontmen who could easily pass for fantasy book boyfriends, these artists are expanding their fan bases to include headbangers and fairy smut readers alike. Joining the ranks of Vessel and Noah Sebastian is Melrose Avenue‘s Vlado Saric, who’s learning to embrace his ever-growing popularity on this side of TikTok.

Hailing from Sydney, Australia, Saric vividly remembers the confusion felt when first compared to the likes of Rhysand and Azriel from A Court of Thorns and Roses, among others. He quickly learned that Rhys and friends are fictional characters and that BookTok is not, in fact, a cute little book club on TikTok, which he initially (and hilariously) assumed. Rather than shying away from the attention, Saric is leaning into it with BookTok-coded social media posts, a Melrose Avenue appearance at the Kink & Ink festival in Texas next April and the promise of a BookTok-geared project, set to be announced in the coming weeks.

PopHorror recently sat down with the pop-metal vocalist to talk about his unexpected BookTok fame (and whether he plans to read ACOTAR anytime soon), Melrose Avenue‘s first-ever U.S. tour and upcoming sold-out UK/Europe tour, his on-the-road fitness routine and more.

Traversing America

PopHorror: You guys have been home for a bit post-tour. What’s it like being back in Australia? Have you recuperated from America?

Vlado Saric: Yes! I think we’ve been back now for about four weeks. It was a very fun first tour that we did, and it’s so good to be back home, just recoup a little bit and let everything sink in of what happened that tour. It was just crazy that tour with Ice Nine Kills.

PopHorror: Tell me all about that tour. Were you a fan of Ice Nine Kills beforehand?

Vlado Saric: Yeah, I loved…what was the first song I remember listening to? “So to hell with good intentions…”

PopHorror: “Hip to Be Scared!”

Vlado Saric: Yeah, that’s such a killer of a song. That was the first song I heard and then I remember just listening to their whole album. It’s just so funny that we got offered to do the tour with them. It’s unbelievable for us. We’re just four dudes from Australia who love heavier music and yeah, it just happened. I remember when we got told, I was with Shawn [Mayer], our guitarist, and me and him almost cried when we got the news. We were like, “No way, that’s so cool!”

PopHorror: That’s awesome! What was it like traveling across the states in a van?

Vlado Saric: It was very, very fun. It was funny because we had like seven people in an RV, which meant we didn’t have enough room for everyone to sleep comfortably, which was fine because I’m not really a fussy sleeper, so I just slept on the floor pretty much the whole trip. But we did get people who came to our meet and greets and gave me blankets and mattresses for the floor. I was like, “Oh, that works!” But it was such a cool experience. I feel like we got to see so much of America that we wouldn’t have seen obviously beforehand. So yeah, it was very fun. But seven dudes in the car, it got quite jam-packed. Everyone was very tightly packed in the car.

PopHorror: I could imagine! As you were traveling, did you have a favorite spot that you went to or just anything about America that maybe took you off guard?

Vlado Saric: I wouldn’t say a certain place, I’ll say a certain store. We love Buc-ee’s! We just loved going to Buc-ee’s anytime we were traveling because we didn’t really get to see much of the states that we were in. We were just traveling every day pretty much after the shows. Every time we saw that big Buc-ee’s sign, we were like, “Yes, alright, let’s go get coffees and buy some cool stuff in there.” And I know [drummer] Jed [McIntosh] had a great time. He absolutely loves that store. He’s got so much merch from Buc-ees. He’s fully decked out now.

PopHorror: That’s the chain, it has a giant beaver or squirrel as the mascot, right?

Vlado Saric: Have you not been?!

PopHorror: I’m based in Philadelphia, we don’t have those here!

Vlado Saric: I didn’t know what it was before, but Jed loves that store. He’s never been before our trip and it’s just like a big gas station with clothes. It’s like a supermarket, but it’s a gas station. It’s very confusing and I don’t know what the deal is with the squirrel or whatever it is. But it’s just a really big, fancy gas station that’s very popular.

PopHorror: It sounds like a level up from Wawa, did you run into any of those?

Vlado Saric: No! What’s the mascot for that one?

PopHorror: It’s just a goose, not as fun. But it’s also a big convenience store with a gas station. While were chatting about the best places to get snacks, you embarked on a fitness journey while on the road. You didn’t miss a single day of training. What inspired you to do that?

Vlado Saric: Of course. Before tour, I was just like, “Oh, I want to get really fit while I’m on the road.” I decided just to train every day, even though we didn’t have a hotel to stay in. We pretty much lived in Planet Fitness because we’d be showering there, getting changed there, getting all that stuff ready there. I’d be training twice a day on the road for, I think it was 10 weeks we were on the road. I didn’t miss a day. I was doing 35 minutes of the StairMaster every day, plus doing weights.

And then I had to track my calories throughout the whole tour. I had to eat a lot of protein yogurt because we couldn’t really cook anything on the RV unless we really wanted to be bothered to do that. So yeah, it was a lot of shitty protein snacks on the road. And every now and again, we would go to like a Denny’s and I could have one little thing. I feel like it was a good thing to do because it just kept me 100% ready for every show, just level-headed the whole tour, which was great. I’ll probably do that every tour because I feel like I should be 100% the best I can be when I perform in front of people.

PopHorror: Do you feel like it helped you on stage?

Vlado Saric: Oh, God, yeah. And plus, that was a workout as well because I was jumping around like an idiot. It definitely does help with stamina and just vocals and stuff, moving around and not getting tired.

@melroseavenue_

What 12 WEEKS STRAIGHT of TRAINING EVERYDAY and EATING GOOD did for me 💪🏼🔥 I definitely don’t plan on going back to what I use to be EVER AGAIN 😌 #fyp #transformation #gym #weightlossbeforeandafter #alt #tattoos #training #music #emo #guyswithtattoos #throwback

♬ Reflections – Melrose Avenue

PopHorror: Can you talk about the fan reception when you got to America? Did you expect it to be so high?

Vlado Saric: No! I don’t really expect much from anything ever. I don’t like to set the bar too high in my mind because then I feel like I’ll never hit my goal. So my bar’s always very, very minimum. In my head, I’m like, “It’ll be nice if one person shows up.” And luckily, we had more than that. But they were very nice. I did meet a lot of BookTok people, which was very, very interesting. [laughs] One of the fans got me to do something [call her a “good girl”] in a meet and greet that went kind of viral. But yeah, it was very interesting to see the reception of BookTok. It was very cool to see the reception socially to in-person. It’s helped a lot that we do have a good social media following, so it was cool to see that reception.

Real-life Rhysand

PopHorror: Well, you segued right into my next question — when were you made aware that you were popular on this side of TikTok?

Vlado Saric: Honestly, I just kept getting these weird references to random characters and I didn’t know who they were. People were saying Azriel and Rhysand and I’m like, “Who are these people?,” and I’d look it up and it’s not anyone. And I’m like, “What is this?” So then people were like, “Oh, beware of BookTok,” and I was like, “What the hell is BookTok?!” In my head, I thought it was just a community of people that just liked books like an idiot. I’m like, “Oh, that’s so sweet, they have a cool little book club thing on TikTok.” I was very wrong. It’s just smutty books! I did see a lot of comments of people being like, “Yeah, I visualize you when I’m reading this book.” I’m like, “That’s a bit weird, but fair enough.” I mean, I don’t care. Whatever floats your boat.

I feel like it was just a weird thing I dived into and then there’s a big rabbit hole with that as well. I didn’t realize how big that community is. And it’s funny with metal music, it kind of aligns. We have Bad Omens, who are very BookTok-friendly, Sleep Token. It’s all very BookTok-genre. I’ve been telling this to the boys, I’m like, “We really need to work on some stuff that’s very BookTok-friendly,” and there will definitely be some stuff for the BookTok community to love.

PopHorror: I love that you’re leaning into it. Not every band does.

Vlado Saric: I think it’s great! If there’s something that could promote us in the way that we want to, why not? It’s hard to explain, but I just feel like it works so well with the music we do because it is very metal-friendly. If they already think it’s a good idea, we should try to discover it and see what happens.

PopHorror: And you guys are going to appear at what’s essentially a BookTok festival, Kink & Ink, next year in Texas. Tell me about that!

Vlado Saric: I didn’t even know it was happening! I thought it was just a normal show. And then I remember someone was like, “Oh, you’re coming to this book event,” and I’m like, “Oh, I didn’t know that.” I don’t really do all the getting the shows and stuff, that’s more my manager. So I’m glad he thought it was a good idea because I had been telling him nonstop to look up BookTok and just understand it in a way that could help us get some shows that would be good for us, and I feel like that’s a perfect show for us. It just kind of worked out.

PopHorror: Have you read any of the books where you’re compared to the characters?

Vlado Saric: I’m scared to read them! I know people have said which books to read, but I’m scared of what I’m going to read because people say, “Oh, yeah, I imagine you as this character.” I’m gonna be scared of what I’m reading. And I actually can’t read books without losing focus. I read a couple lines and then I realize I’m not actually reading them, I’m just kind of saying it out loud. I’m more into audiobooks, I need to hear. That would be a much better thing.

PopHorror: Well, most of those books come in audiobook format…

Vlado Saric: But I feel like that’s going to be next level kinky! That’s what I’m scared about, that it’s going to be a bit weirder.

PopHorror: I recommend starting with A Court of Thorns and Roses since you’ve been compared to the one guy from that, Rhys. That’s like basic level amongst BookTok.

Vlado Saric: That’s basic level? What’s at the top?! I mean, I’m intrigued. I’m hoping there’s a good story line because if there’s not, then it’s just, you know.

PopHorror: I actually went into ACOTAR thinking I’d hate it, since I’d been reading Stephen King for years before my friend recommended it. But I was addicted, it’s a very good storyline. Highly recommend.

Vlado Saric: Who do you reckon is your favorite character?

PopHorror: Okay so I love the lead girl’s sister, Nesta. She has a whole spinoff book about her. She’s such a badass, learns how to kickbox and stuff, and ends up with this Jason Momoa-looking dude.

Vlado Saric: You’re like, “That’s me!” I need to check it out. I’ll give it a try.

@melroseavenue_

You know who you are 😂👀 haha #fyp #booktok #spicybook #booktoker #alt

♬ Booktok Reality – timbomoto_

The impact of social media

PopHorror: Aside from BookTok, many of your fans have found Melrose Avenue from social media, especially from the different Reels and TikToks that you do. I found you guys through that one series where you say which songs are turning 15 or 20 years old. I was initially like, “I hate this guy, always making me feel old!”

Vlado Saric: [laughs] It’s funny with those, I wasn’t intentionally going on social media to be like, “This is going to be my thing.” I just kind of fell into it and I realized other content that I do doesn’t do that well. I do blind reacting to songs that are older, so it just kind of worked out and I guess it’s helped a lot. I try to do as many as I can. I need to start doing a bit more because I do love doing it. But yeah, it’s good that I started doing that because it does help.

PopHorror: Do you remember what your first viral video was that made you go, “Oh, it’s working, I’m going to do more of this.”

Vlado Saric: I think it was like 2022, 2021. I did one of those ones, I did a blind react to I think 2000s emo songs. I was like, “Oh, shit, this is actually working very well.” And obviously I’m a musician, I love music, so I feel like it kind of aligns with what I do. I remember that I did a couple and it was hitting quite a bit of views. I was like, “Oh, I think I found my thing. This is something I like to do and I feel like it works very well.” That was my biggest thing I did throughout social media, TikTok and all that.

But then I try to veer out to try to promote our music. I’m in the music industry, which means I gotta help promote my songs and try different things to see what works with promoting our stuff. But it is very hard to do because anytime you try to promote yourself, people go, “Bah!” So you gotta make it trendy and stuff. It’s hard to find, but once you do get good at social media, it does help a lot with music.

@melroseavenue_

Damn this guy is VERY RIGHT 😂👌🏼 @ThatOneEdgyKid #fyp #emo #alttiktok #throwbacksongs

♬ original sound – ThatOneEdgyKid

Early influences

PopHorror: Circling back to those blind react videos, did you grow up with emo songs? Did you have bands like We the Kings, Good Charlotte, etc. in Australia?

Vlado Saric: We did, but I wasn’t really allowed to listen to it until I was, like, early teens. Well, I still wasn’t allowed because mum’s very holy. She’s like, “That’s the devil’s music.” I don’t know why. And then I remember I used to meet my friend, he got me into Punk Goes Pop albums. I was like, “What is this?! This is pop songs, but better.” That’s how I discovered most of the bands. I didn’t realize it was different bands at first, then I was like, “Oh, there’s different people doing it.” He showed me Breaking Benjamin, Parkway Drive, and I went through a rabbit hole of bands. I’m so glad I did and I’m so glad to my friend who showed me that. But mum hates this music, she’s not a fan.

PopHorror: So she won’t be listening to Ice Nine Kills anytime soon then?

Vlado Saric: Oh, no. I even told her the name and she was like, “Oh, my God, Ice Nine Kills?” That’s not really a good selling point to my mother who I’m trying to get into the music. And obviously Ice Nine Kills’ stuff is so much heavier than our stuff. So I was like, “You know what, I’m not even going to bother showing you, Mum. It’s just stuff I like.” Maybe not for her.

PopHorror: Can you talk a bit about how Melrose Avenue found their sound? It’s in the middle of being a little heavy, a little pop, and that’s merging different worlds of fans for you guys.

Vlado Saric: Yeah, I feel like Punk Goes Pop did help a lot. That was my reference when we first started. I started writing songs with Shawn [check out our interview with Shawn Mayer here], who did heavy music. In Australia, it was hard for me to find people that did heavier music production-wise near me. Shawn was a good friend at the studio and we just collabed. I remember saying we wanted to do something that was pop-metal because if you get it in the middle where anyone can listen to it, it’s just gonna broaden your audience. I was a big fan of Punk Goes Pop, so I was like, “Why don’t we just make songs like that? Catchy melodies and heavy sounds.” I feel like we found a good medium and I’m so happy with it because I love pop-metal. It’s just a fun little genre where you can just write whatever you want to.

PopHorror: My one memory of Punk Goes Pop is when Falling in Reverse did “Gangsta’s Paradise.”

Vlado Saric: That video clip is still in my head so deeply.

PopHorror: Who were some of your influences growing up?

Vlado Saric: When I was younger, when I started singing when I was 6, I was a big MJ kid. I loved Michael Jackson for some reason. I would have the whole get-up, the leather jacket, the hat. I think I still have the hat somewhere in the house. I don’t know, I just thought it was super cool. He would do the moonwalk and stuff and I tried it, but obviously I couldn’t do it very well. That was the first person I remember falling in love with musically. And then I got into a bit of Chris Brown when I was younger. I was going through a lot of phases when I was young.

But I feel like for me, the biggest turnaround point — because I don’t really fall in love with bands or artists, MJ was the first one — was Bring Me the Horizon. That was when I was 14. I just thought they were the coolest band. I was like, “Who are these dudes? They look so cool. What is this music?” They were the first ones where I fell in love with them. And then also Corey Taylor, Slipknot, he was another person that I just idolized. So those three were my mains. It was very hard for me to find those artists that I just cared to know about personally, like, “Oh, where are they from?” But it was those three that I absolutely adored.

True crime love

PopHorror: Melrose Avenue has toured with some really cool spooky bands like Ice Nine Kills and The Funeral Portrait [read our interview with Lee Jennings here]. Your music isn’t necessarily horror-related, but are you a fan of horror?

Vlado Saric: Oh, yeah! I don’t know why it haunted me so much when I was younger, but do you remember Paranormal Activity?

PopHorror: Yes!

Vlado Saric: For some reason, I haven’t gotten scared from a horror movie in a long time, but when that came out, I thought it was the scariest thing ever. I don’t know why. But yeah, I’m big into horror movies and true crime documentaries as well. I like real horror stories. I feel like that’s where it hits me the most.

PopHorror: They’re scarier sometimes!

Vlado Saric: I don’t know why, but I find it fascinating to learn about deranged people. I sleep to true crime documentaries and I wake up and it’s just the craziest shit going on. But yeah, definitely a big fan of horror, but more like true, real life horror.

PopHorror: There’s a really good series, I don’t know if you’ve seen it on Netflix, Worst Roommate Ever, Worst Ex Ever and a few others.

Vlado Saric: I’ve seen those ones! There’s some crazy exes. And Worst Roommate Ever, that was a wild one. I’ve watched all of them, which is absolutely crazy. They need to start releasing more crime stuff. There’s also one about a girl on a cruise, she disappeared on a cruise and it’s a crazy story. But yeah, big fan of true crime!

PopHorror: It’s addicting! My one friend got me into these true crime catfishing shows. They’re so interesting. One lady thought she was messaging with Johnny Depp…it wasn’t Johnny Depp.

Vlado Saric: I will never understand that. For me personally, I get so many messages about fake accounts of me and people going, “Oh, I’ve sent you $3,000.” I’m like, “What?” I don’t know why. The thing is, I can’t do anything about it. We try to report these accounts on TikTok and Instagram, but there’s hundreds and hundreds. It’s absolutely crazy. There’s so many accounts. I don’t know why people fall for it. I feel bad for them, but at some point, it’s like we’ve tried so many times to help people out and say, “These are our only accounts.” But somehow people still fall for the, “Oh, this is my private private account.” I’m like, “Why would you fall for that?” Crazy, crazy world we live in. There’s AI as well! I’ve heard so many weird AI voice messages and for some reason, I sound American in them. They send it to me and they’re like, “Oh, I thought it was you.” I’m like, “I sound American, what do you mean?” It’s terrifying.

The next era of Melrose Avenue

PopHorror: You guys have been teasing a new song on social media. Can you talk about what’s next for Melrose Avenue regarding this new era and new music?

Vlado Saric: We have a lot of collabs coming up with a lot of cool people. I feel like that’s definitely our next thing that we’re going to do, just to collaborate with as many people as we can because we want to broaden the people that we work with. We might try someone who does a bit of rap, someone who does a bit of this, someone who does a bit of that because genres should be explored in general. For us, we do want to keep a heavy sound, pop-metal. But the thing is, pop just means popular, so you can kind of mix it with anything and just make it metal. So for us, collabing is going to be our biggest thing right now, and touring as well. We have a lot of tours that we’re going to be doing and we do have one coming up in Europe, which is very soon.

PopHorror: That tour is almost sold out, right?

Vlado Saric: Yeah, I don’t know why! I don’t know how that happened. It’s almost sold out. We sold out in the first 24 hours I think, but then we had to upgrade it and had to keep upgrading the rooms. It’s so weird because we didn’t think that Europe would be big for us at all. I don’t expect much, but I don’t think anyone expected that. Yeah, absolutely crazy, but super fun for us that we’re going to be collabing and touring. But collabing is going to be a big thing.

PopHorror: Do you have a dream collaboration?

Vlado Saric: I’d say Corey Taylor. I would love to collab with Corey Taylor. I just love him, so I think it’d be very cool.

PopHorror: And circling back to the UK/Europe tour, have you guys performed there before? Or will this be the first time?

Vlado Saric: No, I’ve never been to the UK. I know a lot of us haven’t been to a lot of places because Australia’s very far from everything, so it’s hard to travel in general. I’ve only been to Croatia, Germany and I think Singapore, only a couple places. But with this tour, we’re going to be visiting so many things. So we’re going to all be on a trip as well while we’re performing to fans. It’s going to be such a fun experience. We’re super stoked for it.

PopHorror: Is there one place that you’re most excited for?

Vlado Saric: For me, it’s the UK because that’s been a dream place for me to go since I was young. I don’t know why I love the UK. I’m not sure about the other boys. I think a lot of us are excited that we’re doing France. That should be very cool.

PopHorror: Do you perform locally at all in Australia?

Vlado Saric: No, I used to do a couple of years ago, when music was going a bit slower for me, gigs at cafes and stuff right after lockdown. But I haven’t done something like that in a long time. Right now, I’m in a good spot where I can just focus on writing music, doing stuff socially and that’s about it. I’m glad I just get to focus on music now without having to do gigs in front of 10 people who aren’t even listening.

PopHorror: Is that what it once was?

Vlado Saric: Oh, God, yeah. I even used to busk on the street, which is like street performing, when I was 14. I used to do that quite a lot. So I’m used to people not paying attention to me at all. It’s a turnaround and it’s just so good to actually have people that are excited for music and yeah, it’s super fun for me. I’m in a very grateful spot.

PopHorror: Now that you’re forming a really strong fan base, is there anything that fans might not know about you that might surprise them?

Vlado Saric: Oh, shit, that’s a hard one! If you don’t know, I do a lot of live-streaming on TikTok, so I’m very open in general about my life. Actually, most people wouldn’t know that I live with my mum at the moment, which is super fun. And you know what? For me, it’s fine. I don’t know anyone that I want to move out with, and I feel like me and mum got a good thing going. She’s at work, I’m at home, and then she’s at home, I’m at work at the studio, so it’s good.

PopHorror: And you can play your music when she’s at work!

Vlado Saric: Oh, no, I still have to be careful. I can’t be loud in case the neighbors complain.

PopHorror: Does she listen to Melrose Avenue‘s music?

Vlado Saric: She actually came to our first gig that we did in Wollongong in Sydney and she was super happy about it. I didn’t think she’d like it, but some of her friends actually like this kind of music. So it was actually fun for her to come and see her friends enjoy it and I feel like she really enjoyed it, which was really cool. And it’s super cool now that she’s getting involved in it. Plus, she gets all the updates because obviously, I live with her, so she always gets the first news of everything. *gets distracted by cat walking past*

PopHorror: Tell the world all about your cat, they’re dying to know!

Vlado Saric: My cat is beautiful, her name is Mitsy, she’s a stray. I’ve had a couple cats through my life, but I’ve never had one at this age before. When I was younger, it just feels like a memory that’s been kind of lost. So now it’s nice to be an adult with a cat. She’s so cute.

PopHorror: Is there anything else you want your fans — especially BookTok — to know?

Vlado Saric: I will be doing something specifically for BookTok people very, very shortly. In about four weeks, we’ll have some really cool stuff coming out. We also have a song coming out at the end of this month, which is very soon. [“Black Heart” was released after our interview with Vlado. Check it out below!] Just keep your eyes peeled and you’ll see what’s about to come.

PopHorror: Awesome! And definitely check out ACOTAR, I think you’ll be entertained.

Vlado Saric: This is the thing, I have no reference. I’ve never read anything like this before. I’ve just seen a couple of things and I skipped all the storyline and went right for the…you know.

PopHorror: You’ll get invested without realizing it.

Vlado Saric: You know what? I’m keen to check it out, so I can actually be involved in the community.

PopHorror: Then you can have some reference to the characters that they see you as and be like, “Nope, I think I’m like this guy instead of that one.”

Vlado Saric: “I’m different!” I’m super keen, I’ll see how it goes.

Thanks for speaking with us, Vlado! Keep up with him at his official TikTok @melroseavenue_ and Instagram @melr0se_avenue.