In 2020, rising singer-songwriter ROSIE released her viral hit “Never The 1.” The track was not only an introduction to her authentic and transparent writing but set her off on a journey of healing and growth.
That exploration produced breakup anthems like “To Get Over You” and introspective ballads like “Sad Sad Sad.”
This reflection is culminating Fall 2021 with ROSIE’s debut EP via Arista Records. The seven-track project takes on 5 different stages of grief, as well as transitional stages.
We chatted with the New York native about the single, the EP, and the journey!
Excerpt from the podcast:
You’re fresh off the release of your latest single “Sad Sad Sad.” What inspired this heart-wrenching track?
Well, the way I see it, it has a couple of meanings, but when I first wrote it, it was about me just coming upon my one year of taking antidepressants for anxiety and depression. The whole concept behind the song was just expecting the pain to go away when I had this painkiller. When it didn’t, and I realized I was still quote “Sad Sad Sad,” that’s the title of the song, I felt like it was something I needed to write about. Primarily, that was the meaning, and then as we kind of entered this pandemic and we started really understanding how long it was going to last – I never thought that it would get to a year of us being in this global pandemic, and then it did. Then suddenly the song took on an entirely new meaning. I think we all have something to grieve and we’re all sad about something and that’s what this song represents.
There’s a lot of people that this song has resonated with, whether it’s COVID-related or just mental health-related. What has it been like to see that you’re not alone in this struggle?
It’s been… you know, I’ve had a mix of emotions because on one hand, I’ve been so, so, so happy to see and watch this community grow of people who also are also open and transparent about their mental health, and who are there to support others like me who are going through their own mental health struggles. On the other hand, it made me really sad because I realized that there were so many people struggling. When I saw how many views my song got, I saw how many streams, it just, it made me really happy and sad both at the same time.
What was the concept behind the cinematic music video, and what was it like filming?
Filming was a really, really unique experience because I was actually comfortable. And for those of you who know me, you know, that I’m not necessarily comfortable in front of the camera, but for whatever reason, Kate Ruthenbeck is the, I hope I pronounced it right, she’s a director. She was in charge of everything. I give her so much credit because she’s the reason I felt comfortable, she was the mastermind behind the whole video. We shot it over two days and they were extremely long days, but they were extremely fun and, like I said, very comfortable. I’m so proud of the video because I feel like the entire team was as committed as I was and because they were all super supportive, again. I just feel really blessed that we were able to create such a concept and really not just think of it, but bring it to life. That’s the hardest part. When you have four locations and you have to travel across the country and it’s 105 degrees and you’re out in the sun all day and you haven’t tried on your wardrobe because COVID and everything else and, you know, you had never met before. Given our hurdles and limitations, I’m very proud of how it turned out.
Listen to the rest of our interview with ROSIE here!