FEATURE: Spotlight: Sydney Rose — Music Musings & Such

FEATURE:

Spotlight

Sydney Rose

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THERE were quite a few…

interviews conducted with Sydney Rose last year. Even though she released a debut album, One Sided, in 2023, there has been singles since. I am not sure whether another album is due soon. However, she is not known to everyone and is being seen as an artist to watch out for this year. Prior to getting to some interviews, I want to source from the Songwriters Hall of Fame and their biography of a wonderful artist you need to connect with:

“Music will always be there for us—especially when we don’t have the words to express what we want to say. Georgia-born and Nashville-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Sydney Rose writes songs for those moments.

As she sings, it almost sounds like she’s whispering in your ear, giving you a boost of confidence, offering a little clarity, or just reminding you everything will be okay. The intimacy of her songcraft has resonated in the hearts and minds of countless fans worldwide, leading to billions of views on TikTok, hundreds of millions of streams, and critical acclaim. It also underscores her I Know What I Want EP [Mercury Records].

“Even if I can’t say how I feel with my own words, I know my favorite songs can,” she states. “When I listen to records or go to concerts, a song that speaks to me will be able to communicate what I’m going through. My goal has always been to relate to other people.”

It’s easy to relate to Sydney. Growing up in the suburbs of Atlanta, she cultivated a rich musical palette by listening to artists as diverse as Phoebe Bridgers, Bon Iver, Daughter, Conan Gray, and Cavetown. Along the way, she picked up ukulele, piano, and guitar. Building an audience organically on social media, she broke through with a viral take on “Turning Page” by Sleeping At Last. It gathered over 67 million Spotify streams, led to her first label deal at 18-years-old, and set the stage for 2022’s You Never Met Me EP. A year later, she unveiled her debut LP, One Sided, highlighted by “You’d Be Stars” [feat. Chloe Moriondo]. Along the way, she received co-signs courtesy of everyone from People to Olivia Rodrigo and Addison Grace who invited her on tour.

By the fall of 2024, she found herself now settled in Nashville without a label, yet undeniably inspired. So, she dropped the fan favorite voice notes EP.

“I wanted to return to my roots, which was recording a song as a voice memo on my phone and releasing it,” she says. “When I got dropped, I got back to who I am.”

In this creative space, she continued to write and record. While sitting at the piano one day, she crafted “We Hug Now.” Sparse chords shudder as raw emotion echoes through the cracks in her stark delivery, resembling the fracture of a formative friendship. Holding back tears, she muses, “I have a feeling you got everything you wanted and you’re not wasting time stuck here like me. You’re just thinkin’ it’s a small thing that happened. The world ended when it happened to me.”

“I was upset about this relationship I had with a friend,” she confesses. “I’d go to her Instagram and see her posts with other friends, and it seemed like she was having a great time. I know it’s not 100% true because of how people are perceived on the internet. I was feeling down though, and I know she wasn’t. I wrote about wanting to be friends again and go back to simpler times.”

A post of the tune’s bridge surged on TikTok, snowballing and eventually exploding on the platform. It inspired over 500K “creates” on Tik Tok, yielding 2 billion total views and reaching the Top 15 of the TikTok Top Songs Chart. It catapulted to the Top 3 of the Spotify US and Global Viral 50 Charts. Amassing 40 million streams and counting, “We Hug Now” notably cracked the Top 5 of the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Chart as she vaulted to #22 on the Emerging Artists Chart. In the wake of this success, she inked a deal with Mercury Records and crafted what would become the I Know What I Want EP.

Among many highlights, “5 More Minutes” hinges on a murmuring piano melody. Her emotionally charged vocals practically melt into the keys as she notices, “I got so old so fast, and I cannot go back.” It illustrates Sydney’s keen perception, acute empathy, and wisdom beyond her years.

Elsewhere, softly strummed chords underline her delicate delivery on songs like “dogs I pass on the street.” Right out of the gate, she sets the scene, “When I call my mom, I just try to be discreet, crying over dogs I pass on the street.”

“Every once in a while, I’ll write a song, and I won’t understand the significance of it until later,” she reveals. “I was moving to Nashville, and I’d never lived away from my family. I was so terrified even though I came here to do music, which is what the song’s about.”

Then, there’s “thank you for trying.” Written in her closet, the vocals barely crack a whisper over the airy endless hum of feedback. Gentle acoustic guitar murmurs beneath an admission, “It’s the way you exist, the way that you kiss, makes me want to tell you I’m sorry.”

“I’m so scared that when someone comes into my life and tries to love me, I’m going to push them away and feel undeserving of their love,” she says.

Piano twinkles through guitar on “listen to the birds.” In a delicate exhale, she urges, “Go and change your perfume, you gotta let go of that version of you...listen to the birds.”

“It’s very straightforward,” she goes on. “I saw The Milk Carton Kids at the Ryman, and I was super inspired. I thought, ‘Yes, I moved to Nashville, but I’m feeling all types of sad’. I needed to be reminded of home by certain things like the birds. It’s an uplifting song about moving somewhere new”.

I am going to move to an interview from Atwood Magazine spoke with an artist who wants to be as open, real and vulnerable as possible with her music. They spoke with the fast-rising Sydney Rose about the new E.P., I Know What I Want. I do think that she is going to be among the artists to watch closely this year:

“After being dropped by her previous label, she could’ve easily stepped back from the spotlight. Instead, she leaned in – to stillness, to honesty, to herself. Out now, I Know What I Want isn’t just a sonic evolution; it’s an emotional one. With over 40 million streams on the viral hit “We Hug Now,” and a new home at Mercury Records, Sydney Rose proves that there is strength in softness – and power in staying true to your voice.

The title alone feels like a declaration. Was there a specific turning point where you realized you “knew what you wanted,” or was it more of a slow realization through writing and performing these tracks?

Sydney Rose: The first song I wrote for the EP was “Dogs I Pass On The Street.” It was also ironically written on the first day I moved to Nashville. The idea for the EP title came from that lyric because I moved to Nashville because I knew what I wanted to do with my life.

Your songs often capture universal feelings – heartbreak, longing, self-discovery – but they feel incredibly personal. How do you balance writing for yourself versus writing for others to see themselves in your music?

Sydney Rose: I try to write mostly for myself because I know there are people out there who are feeling the same way as I do. I want to try to be as real and as vulnerable as possible. It’s the only way I can really feel connected to my own music. I think the more honest I am with my music, the more people relate to it.

What did your songwriting process look like for I Know What I Want? Did these songs come together in one chapter of your life, or were they collected from different moments?

Sydney Rose: They were written over the first year of me moving to Nashville. They all came from different moments, but all from the same feelings. I didn’t rush the process. I let it come naturally.

Who are some artists, past or present, that have shaped your sound or your approach to storytelling?

Sydney Rose: I take a lot of inspiration from songwriters like Phoebe Bridgers, Lizzy McAlpine, and Gracie Abrams. I love the way they structure their sound. And I love the lyrics that just cut right through the heart”.

There are a couple more interviews I want to bring in before rounding off. Ones to Watch spent some time with Sydney Rose earlier last year around the release of her E.P. If anyone has not heard it then I would recommend that you do so, as it is fantastic. A truly great songwriter who is rightly being heralded as a major talent, I am interesting to see what this year holds in store. Ones to Watch observed how “On her latest EP, ‘I Know What I Want’ this young artist doses us in melodic melodrama, sentimental and ruggedly interesting, it is a dose of sonic sunshine to pair with a rainy day”:

“How do you go about songwriting? Do you start with lyrics, melody, colors, abstraction? If you have a process, some people go all over the place.

It kind of is all over the place. I kind of have to feel a feeling very strongly to write a song. Maybe I'll go through a friendship breakup and I won't write about it until a year afterwards. I mostly will sit down at my piano or my guitar and I'll write a melody first and whatever that melody feels like to me. I'll add the lyrics to it. It's like a therapy session. I kind of sit down and sing whatever I feel and that's how my music comes about most of the time. Other times it's like I have an idea and I'll specifically try to write to a specific line that I have in my notes, but mostly it's just me sitting on my bed and pretending I have my therapist in my room with me.

You know, some of the things that always come up, I think with younger artists is this sort of dialogue of loneliness, living inside a vessel, inside a bubble. I'm much older than you, so is it technology? Is there like a sort of dual, parallel reality where everyone feels like they're not actually themselves and they're just sort of whatever version of themselves they need to be? Why does that always come up so much?

I feel like that's a great question.

I'm in this weird generation, where I grew up without a phone until I was in middle school and I had unrestricted Internet access and that was not great. COVID definitely messed up our social interactions. Like, COVID happened in the middle of me being in high school and that definitely gave me more anxiety than I ever had in my life. Going out and trying to make more friends is definitely more difficult, I feel like, than ever”.

“Getting on to your current EP, also, congratulations on your label signing! Where did this EP start? Is this a collection of songs over the years, or a place in time: tell me the story?

It's funny because I moved to Nashville in October of 2023 and it was terrifying. It was horrible. I didn't go to college, so it was the first time I was going to move somewhere that wasn't living with my parents.

So you went from outside Atlanta living with your parents to Nashville by yourself?

Yes, but I have roommates with me, you know. The EP started with “Dogs I Pass On the Street.” The week that I moved here, I wrote that song with Hannah Cole and it was just about moving here and it's so scary but I know I wouldn't be doing anything else with my life. I want to make music and this is what I want to do. And so I feel like that was just the theme of the project from the beginning, the title in that song.

And all of the songs I wrote throughout all of 2024. It's just themes of like, yes, this all sucks. I'm growing up and I want to go back home but I need to work and be doing this and I'm 20 and I need to see the world even though I don't like going out and talking to people sometimes. That's just been the whole vibe of last year and what the EP is about.

So is I Know What I Want somewhat ironic or or is it more like you actually finding your footing and knowing what you want? Or both?

I think it's both. It's also funny, the timing, because I had this EP planned before I signed with Mercury and when I was independent and before “We Hug Now” had a moment and before all that. I still knew that I wanted to be doing this music stuff and continue writing songs and putting out projects. It's really cool that this is the project that I'm putting out where I get to do my first headline tour. Where I get to open up for my favorite artists and stuff and it is what I want to do.

How many shows have you done, like how comfortable are you performing live?

I did a two week tour with an artist named Addison Grace in 2022. It was really great. And in December 2023, I did an opening spot for Leanna Firestone. So I've done a couple shows, but I haven't done my own shows yet. I did a college show in October, but nothing where it was truly like, this is a Sydney Rose show. I feel like I'm very comfortable with live performances. It's one of my favorite things to do, even though it's so nerve wracking. I love singing live for people”.

CLASH interviewed Sydney Rose back in August. The interview focused mainly on live performances and how she went from these small venues to playing some huge locations and spots. Including Hyde Park in London, it has been a crazy past year or so for the Georgia-born artist. She could not have imagined how quickly her career would take off. In terms of the venues and cities she wants to play but has not done yet, I wonder what is in Sydney Rose’s mind:

“Signed to a new label, Rose has not only been touring for the first time, but experiencing new locations and sharing her music with new audiences, too. Through music, Rose has stayed centred.

“I don’t feel nervous when I’m on the stage. I know what it’s like to feel like one of those kids in the crowd when I’m seeing my favourite artist. And so when I’m on that stage, I have to remind myself that these people bought tickets for me and they know my songs and maybe there’s someone out there who has a favourite song and I’m going to sing it tonight,” she says. “I love my music very much… I think singing it live is my favourite thing. Because I make these songs in hopes for people to relate to them.”

Rose says she has learnt a lot from her favourite songwriters (she cites Phoebe Bridgers, Bon Iver, Daughter, Conan Gray, and Cavetown) and has recently been listening to lots of The 1975, Taylor Swift, Lorde and 21 Pilots. But when it comes to writing, drawing from her own experiences is a must.

“I don’t really feel connected to a song unless I’ve written about something that happened to me,” she says. “That’s kind of how a lot of people are relating to my songs – because I try to be as truthful as possible.”

Like a lot of other artists in her genre, Rose writes about intensely personal topics. With her rapidly evolving success, she is now sharing those very personal songs with much bigger IRL audiences. When we start talking about how that feels, Rose opens up.

“I think I’ve been recently putting up these mental walls in my head… Before this tour and ‘We Hug Now’ came out, I didn’t feel like I really had a lot of eyes on me,” she explains. “And now that I do, I definitely put pressure on myself. When I’m writing songs… it’s just a little bit harder to be vulnerable.”

“It’s sometimes pretty difficult when I have to sing about something that really upsets me. But a lot of the time I remind myself that I’m performing for these people, and I want to sound good and perform well… I think [with] a lot of the songs that I write, I process my emotions and then I write about it later.”

‘We Hug Now’ comes up many times during our chat – that song and what happened with it has had a big impact on Rose’s direction.

“I put out a song about a friendship breakup, not knowing that it would be my biggest song and it would go viral on TikTok and all this stuff,” says Rose. “But I still try to take my music seriously and write from the heart… But, you know, it takes time and I’ll figure it out.”

Figuring things out for Rose includes lots more writing, ultimately with an album in mind (although there’s no firm plan yet).

“It’s very much not anywhere even near ready!” she says. “I’m working on some songs that are going to come out soon, and also giving myself time to not rush these songs. I can never ever force myself to write a song… I’m very much seeing where the wind takes me”.

The Holiday is her most recent single. That was released in November. I am curious what will come this year and whether there will be an album or another E.P. There are so many eyes on this brilliant U.S. artist. In terms of dates, she has some Australian gigs in the diary for March. I guess there will be festival dates and others added soon enough. Of all the artists being tipped for success and visibility this year, Sydney Rose is definitely…