If there's one thing that’s not missing from Rose Gray's debut album, Louder, Please, it's hooks, because each song will stick in your head and won’t leave. With highly careful production, elegant and youthful melodies and artwork to remember, it's one of those pop LPs that appear very occasionally and when they do, it's worth praising.
With influences ranging from Robyn to Kylie Minogue or Air, the artist has been immersed in this album for several years, until she managed to find the necessary ingredients to bring out all her potential. In the list of credits, we can find names like Justin Tranter, Sega Bodega and Zhone who have helped create the universe that Rose Gray had in her mind, where parties, nostalgia and the city are some of the key points for an album that can accompany you both on the beach and before a night of partying.
Nice to e-greet you, Rose. How are you feeling right now? I guess a lot of different emotions come up with the release of the album! It’s a really good record, congrats!
I'm feeling good! I spoke to quite a few friends who have already brought out albums and tried to get as much advice from them as possible. It’s much more exciting than I thought it would be actually. I've had quite a good reception to it and since putting out the record, so much stuff has fallen into place.
How do you define yourself when it comes to work? Are you a perfectionist and you go over your songs in circles and never finish them or are you guided more by feelings that tell you they are finished?
I wish that I could say I am a feelings person, but I’m definitely a perfectionist and have obsessed over a lot of the album for a long time as well, because I have sat on it for quite a bit of time, so I had time to change things. When I first start to write a song it is very much based on a feeling. I don't know where it comes from, just a place of truth and fun and not overthinking stuff, but when it comes to the production, like additional production and changing slight words, I definitely become quite obsessed with it.
Making pop music that is full of energy and personality is a very complicated task, but you do it so easily that you make it seem simple. Louder, Please is a very catchy album and it goes down very well, but there are left-field elements that differentiate it from others. Have you ever limited yourself in the studio to make the songs shorter, more accessible or do you like to experiment freely?
I definitely like to experiment. I love to listen to pop music and I always have. I really respect the structure and the science behind pop music, but I try not to overthink it. I worked a lot on the album with Justin Tranter, so when I'm in the room with someone like that, we obviously are going to write a perfect pop song because it just happens. But yeah, I like to be free in a way.
I've been looking at some of your Spotify playlists and there's one called Angel on the Dancefloor that caught my attention because it looks like I made it. There are artists like Robyn, Underworld, Everything But The Girl, Air, Caroline Polachek or Björk. Have your influences changed throughout your life? Is there anyone you've especially followed for this album?
I have definitely always loved my sort of pop girls since I was a kid. I was really lucky. My parents used to play trip hop, experimental and electronic music. Also, my mum is a huge Madonna fan. I think most mums are Madonna fans, right? (laughs).
In the album there's definitely a real mixture of my influences like, for example, Robyn. I think she makes such interesting pop music. It's very theatrical, there's strings, she speaks on songs. Her album Honey is basically an underground house record.
In the album there's definitely a real mixture of my influences like, for example, Robyn. I think she makes such interesting pop music. It's very theatrical, there's strings, she speaks on songs. Her album Honey is basically an underground house record.
Louder, Please is a project that fans of both Kylie Minogue and Robyn can enjoy. Like you, both make pop music that is very difficult to replicate and although musically they are not that far apart, both have very different careers. Kylie Minogue is one of the most famous figures of the genre of all time, she constantly releases albums and Robyn is one of the most acclaimed people, but she works at a different pace and disappears for long periods of time. With this, I would like to ask you a somewhat reflective question: what trajectory would you like to have with your career over time?
I think somewhere in the middle between them two would be nice. The acclaim and the respect are very important and I imagine Robyn makes a lot of music and has a lot of time and chooses between things, but then there's the inner pop girl in me that wants dancers and to sell out arenas.
Every time I listen to the album, with its Balearic, but British and carefree vibes, it transports me to summer, why did you choose January as the month for the release?
Yeah, interesting, right? (laughs) Being honest, I wanted to release it last summer because it was ready, but there were a few things that weren't quite lined up. I was very gutted when I found out that it was pushed back and back and back, but I don't know why, I just know that it was meant to come out in January. I think summer is crazy for everyone and there's so much going on, so much dance music as well. Also, I wanted to put out five or six singles. I wanted them to have their own moment.
What I am finding very interesting is that it is not winter everywhere and something's happened in Brazil with my album. Everyone's playing it on the beach, in the clubs. Here it's kind of funny because it's getting people excited for summer.
What I am finding very interesting is that it is not winter everywhere and something's happened in Brazil with my album. Everyone's playing it on the beach, in the clubs. Here it's kind of funny because it's getting people excited for summer.
Your musical style and aesthetic have changed throughout your career. Dancing, Drinking, Talking, Thinking is completely different to your debut album. I would like to ask if you still see yourself reflected in that earlier stage or do you think it has just been a way to get to where you are now?
Oh, I definitely still see myself in that music. It's been very interesting. Like everything I've put out, it's done a little bit better and more people have heard it. I think I've figured out what I like and what I don't like, but I'm still proud of that music.
You've had the experience of being part of both a major label and an indie label, which one do you think is more aligned with your values and where you feel more comfortable? Is there any advice you would like to give to someone who is just starting out in their career?
Technically I wasn't necessarily with a major label. I was attached, but it was more that I just got signed too much too young to people and got quite stuck. I have been on an independent label for this album, which has been brilliant, but one thing that people don't necessarily see when you're signed to an indie is the tiny, tiny budgets. There's so much that I want to do that I haven't been able to do yet because I can't afford it.
As for the advice, I would say just take your time. I don’t regret anything, but I just wish that I'd not rushed to have a career so early. I could have been making music, but I didn't have to just be going at it from so young. Some 17-year-olds know who they are, but I didn't know what music I wanted to make, so take your time and find an amazing manager who cares for you like family.
As for the advice, I would say just take your time. I don’t regret anything, but I just wish that I'd not rushed to have a career so early. I could have been making music, but I didn't have to just be going at it from so young. Some 17-year-olds know who they are, but I didn't know what music I wanted to make, so take your time and find an amazing manager who cares for you like family.
Many artists undervalue the image that accompanies the music, but this is not the case for you. The album cover has gone completely viral, especially on X (prev. Twitter), and it was the reason I found the album. How did it come about, did you have a premeditated idea that you wanted to capture or was it something spontaneous?
It was actually shot in Barcelona! I had become obsessed with this idea of me on a beach with lots going on behind me and that lighting, like harsh, but so slick. I was dreaming about this artwork. I came across this photographer called Yana Van Nuffel, who does these beautiful shoots on beaches and stuff. So, me and her were talking for months and then I put it to my team and they were like: “We can't afford to go to Barcelona” and I said: Well, why don't I just go with friends and Yana comes and captures it? Even if we end up paying for things ourselves it'll be worth it.
We ended up flying to Barcelona and we did three days of shooting nonstop. That beach day was raining when we woke up and I was like, we've flown to Barcelona for sun and it's raining. We got to the beach and I was crying, I felt crap, but then the sun and the sky were perfect. I kind of instantly knew that we'd created something quite special.
We ended up flying to Barcelona and we did three days of shooting nonstop. That beach day was raining when we woke up and I was like, we've flown to Barcelona for sun and it's raining. We got to the beach and I was crying, I felt crap, but then the sun and the sky were perfect. I kind of instantly knew that we'd created something quite special.
It did strike me that the photoshoot was taken in Barcelona. Had you been there before? Why did you think it was the perfect location?
There are beautiful beaches, there are great clubs and there are sexy people and it just worked! We also went out clubbing and I shot loads of stuff in a club called Moog. A lot of places didn't make sense, but Barcelona did.
The LP starts and ends in a rounded way with the energetic Damn, where there are allusions to other songs on the album, and Louder, Please, a practically instrumental cut that closes the mood in the best possible way. When did you decide that the album was finished? How did you decide the order of the track list?
I decided that it was finished because I had to start thinking about getting it mixed and mastered. So, I naturally just started putting tracks together and seeing what worked. I had written so much for that album. There are probably 10 other songs, which if I had my way, would have been on it, but no one puts out a 22 track first album.
I decided to start with Damn because it sounds like an explosion of all of my thoughts and like you picked up on, it alludes to other tracks. Then as you go through the album, it becomes a little bit more cohesive as you get to Tectonic and Party People. Everything Changes (But I Won’t) is more relaxing and Louder, Please appears because I love interludes and instrumentals. I think I sung enough to give everyone a bit of a break.
I decided to start with Damn because it sounds like an explosion of all of my thoughts and like you picked up on, it alludes to other tracks. Then as you go through the album, it becomes a little bit more cohesive as you get to Tectonic and Party People. Everything Changes (But I Won’t) is more relaxing and Louder, Please appears because I love interludes and instrumentals. I think I sung enough to give everyone a bit of a break.
I'd like to talk about Party People, one of my favourites from the album, which Sega Bodega produced. What was it like working with him, did you have an idea in mind of what you wanted to do in the studio or did you start from scratch?
We started completely from scratch. If I'm honest, it was very impromptu. I just jumped on a train to Paris, didn't really sleep and we worked together for six hours. He's lovely and so talented. We actually did three songs. Sometimes you just make songs and you think: Oh, they're cool, but I got on the tube and I listened to all three of them and the main hook of Party People was so good. The other two songs are actually really cool as well! Sega is amazing and we hope to spend two weeks just making music together. We're going to make it happen.
Just Two is, in my opinion, another highlight with the subtle interpolation of Eiffel 65's Blue (Da Ba Dee). In the credits we can find none other than Uffie, which I found very curious. How did you come to work together on this song?
We met in L.A. We had a session years ago and we really got along, so we started hanging out together. She did a little show in London and I played before she came on. We became really good friends, honestly. When she comes to London, we try to do writing sessions together, so we did one and we wrote that. I really love her, she's like the coolest person ever.
Is there any person (music artist, visual artist, producer) you would like to collaborate with in the future?
I do feel very lucky because I feel like I've worked with quite a lot of my favourites. I'm obsessed with Doechii. I don't know how it would sound a song together, but I'm sure we could do something. Maybe something really rave-y.
I’m actually working with Danny L Harle and I’m excited because he's made some of my favourite modern songs. I'd be down to just do some sort of weird singing for Underworld too. Also, I mean I would love to work with Sofia Coppola on a music video for me, but it would probably cost like a million pounds (laughs).
I’m actually working with Danny L Harle and I’m excited because he's made some of my favourite modern songs. I'd be down to just do some sort of weird singing for Underworld too. Also, I mean I would love to work with Sofia Coppola on a music video for me, but it would probably cost like a million pounds (laughs).
What are you plans for this year and next? Any chance of a European tour?
There’s definitely a European tour. There’s going to be more dates. I'm also potentially supporting two different artists or bands that will be doing some big tours. I am booking European festivals as well. I'm excited, I think I'm going to be doing a lot of concerts this year!
