ROZES
Voodoo Room in House of Blues San Diego
October 15, 2017 - San Diego, CA
words by Andrea Hoffman
Press photos by Charles Thorpe
ROZES is a pop singer-songwriter from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania that began actively pursuing her musical career in 2014. Since then she has collaborated with The Chainsmokers on their three times platinum song “Roses” and released her first EP Burn Wild. She shows no signs of slowing down and is currently touring with MAX on the North American leg of his Meteor Tour. Make sure to check out her most recent single “Famous” and read below to learn more about her!
How did you get started in music and what made you want to become a singer?
I think I looked up to a lot of singer-songwriters like Adele and Amy Winehouse and kind of wanted to be like them. I started trying to dabble in my own music, playing talent shows and things like that at my high school and I don't know I just kind of developed from there.
Do you have any other musical inspirations that kind of helped you to become an artist?
I loved Gwen Stefani growing up, with No Doubt, P!nk, and all those 90’s girls, Spice Girls, things like that. Growing up I also loved Maroon 5, Coldplay, and John Mayer, people who really created for themselves at the time.
If you could have a dream collaboration with any other artists, who would it be?
Twenty One Pilots, I think at this point. I think they’re so cool.
That’d be so awesome, I would love to hear that. So, how do you think things have changed or progressed for you since you first started?
I guess it’s like I have a resume at this point so like I have the credentials to work with the producers that I’ve dreamed to work with, whereas back then I was kind of producing my own things with my own people. Now I have a little bit more options and grow room and I think I’ve grown a lot in my writing and going outside my box kind of thing.
You mentioned your writing, what’s your creative process like? I know it’s usually different for everyone.
It’s kind of different every time for me. Sometimes it starts on the piano, sometimes it starts on the guitar, or sometimes it starts with like a concept, or a scene in a movie, or something my friends are going through. But usually I sit down and I try to write the melody first and then I go into fixing lyrics and things like that.
Is there a song that you’ve written that was inspired by something you would have never thought might inspire a song?
I don’t think so because I think most things that I write about, even if it is a movie, it’s like something that triggers “Oh I’ve been through that before, I want to write about that,” or “They said that in a cool way, I’d like to do it like that too.” But I don’t know if there’s anything I wouldn’t have written without it.
Can you talk about any struggles that you’ve had as an artist in the music industry?
Yeah, I think that one big thing is comparing myself to other artists and knowing that my road is different than other people regardless of time or age and things like that. I also think that being a girl is one of the toughest things in an EDM industry that’s built around men, so that’s another struggle I face. But it’s all things that you have to overcome yourself and not really harp on too much because fans can taste negative energy.
Yeah I totally agree with that. You mentioned being a woman in the music industry and how it can be difficult. What kind of advice would you give girls that are looking to become part of the industry?
I guess my advice would be to learn how to do everything yourself, so when people aren’t there to back you up you know how to do it on your own. And kind of build your own team and everything yourself so that you have the people that you like on your team and that believe in the same things that you believe in. It makes the fight a lot easier.