Katie Rose

Charleston singer-songwriter Katie Rose tackles a topic that we’ve all felt on her new single Feel: that moment “when you realise that maybe you aren’t just like everyone else.” So Katie, just how are we supposed to feel?

The track opens with an airy, neo-folky and claustrophobic backdrop, as Rose posts rhymes that see her wondering how she should pick up and rebuild herself. This is ostensibly after having her heart broken, but, more broadly, after she’s come to the realisation that this sense of numbness might be a permanent feature of life.

The chorus sees Rose asking, “is this how I’m supposed to feel?”, as a stuttering hip-hop beat – that jigs and clatters, winds and purrs – digs its hooks into you. By its close, you feel a little desperate that, not only do you have an answer for our protagonist, but perhaps not for yourself either.

Much will likely be made of Katie Rose’s age (17) and that the topic of Feel is a slice of teen angst, the sort favoured by Fiona Apple in her heydey. That, though, misses the point. This is a song that taps into a sense of dislocation that can anchor anyone at any moment and, with its cool and sleek neo-folk meets hip-hop vibe, announces Katie Rose as a songwriter of real talent.

Verdict: Emotive and achingly crafted neo-folk meets hip-hop - Songwriting Magazine

The name Katie Rose might not ring a bell yet, but I would like to advise you to keep her in mind. The life of the 17-year-old upcoming artist from Charleston might be about to change as she just released her debut EP Everything Yesterday together with her band. Rose, who has been writing and performing music from a very young age, shows a lot of potential with a strong EP that touches upon numerous different aspects of singer-songwriter pop.


The EP opens with the infectious guitar pop tune ‘Everything Yesterday’ which is built around the repetition of the catchy hook ‘I’ll be happy when tomorrow comes”. She speeds things up with ‘Goodbye Song’, a track that starts out quiet but builds up to a rocky, drum heavy sound including a guitar solo halfway through, with Katie showing off the strength of her vocals. ‘Castle’ is the type of acoustic pop that would perfectly fit on the soundtrack of an emotional coming of age movie like Boyhood.

The highlight of the EP is the single ‘Wonder’, a song about being scared of falling, losing a friend and the moment she finally felt like she stood a chance in the music industry. It inspires young adults to follow the path they want to take. The vivacious instrumentation goes perfectly with Rose’s dreamy vocals and this track would work well on radio these days. She also impresses on ‘Feel’, a sound that was completely new to Rose as an artist, with a beat and a more electronic sound. “‘Feel’ is about being afraid of brand new territory, including sexuality – when you realize that maybe you aren’t just like everyone else”, she explains. Relatable to a lot of young people out there!

Katie Rose has a bright future with her ability to write catchy pop tunes and an absolutely beautiful tone in her voice! - A Bit of Pop Music

At the tender age of seventeen, Charleston native Katie Rose has already lived most of her life writing and performing on stage. On her debut EP, Everything Yesterday, she proves to anyone listening that she has a talent well beyond her years.2223

The first single, “Wonder,” begins in a delicate manner with Rose singing in a hushed tone along with a soft strings section and the piano on this ballad. She displays a vulnerability that is relate able to all listeners. “Wonder” is about the uncertainty that life sometimes throws at you and not knowing where you’re headed, but you are determined to make it through. Two minutes into “Wonder,” the musical arrangement of this track is an indicator of the hope that gets you through that struggle. It’s a very powerful song for such a young artist.

“Goodbye Song” is the quintessential break up song that is a must on any epic album. At the beginning of the song, it sounds as if Rose will be presenting her listeners with a sad love song, but after about thirty seconds, the beat kicks in and Rose’s attitude does a complete 180 with this rock track. With the ultimate sass of a girl who’s heart has been trampled on, Rose makes it clear that this ex-lover made a mistake and she is ready to move on. As you’re listening to “Goodbye Song,” you can picture a jaded teenager (or twenty-something, hell any age) singing into her hairbrush as she gets ready for a girls night out with her friends.

Rose ends Everything Yesterday with “Druzie (Along For The Ride),” a stripped down tune with a bluesy vibe and one of the best vocals on this album. Rose exhibits a wide vocal range on “Druzie” as she continues to show off her ability to channel a long list of emotions through each of her songs.

Katie Rose uses her years of writing and performing to produce a debut EP with a variety of styles and a lifetime of experience on each track of Everything Yesterday. This talented 17-year-old clearly has a lot to say and knows how to get her message across with beautiful songwriting skills. We can only imagine how much more talent is tucked away as Katie Rose grows as not only a musician, but as a person. You can bet that Wordkrapht will definitely be here to share her journey with our readers for many years to come. - Wordkrapht

Charleston, South Carolina, singer-songwriter Katie Rose was young when music first crept into her life—it all began with piano lessons when she was 5. Just a few years later, she scored a solo for her school play, and from that moment, she knew without reservation what course her life needed to take. By the time she was 12, she was attending the Charleston County School of the Arts for piano and was learning to play guitar in her spare time. And now, at the age of 17 (after a brief stint in the duo Katina Rose), she's looking to release her latest record, "Everything Yesterday," and discover the joy and freedom that come from following your own path and throwing yourself completely into each new step.

With recent single "Wonder," Rose manages to take a pop ballad and turn it into a glorious emotional catharsis full of gorgeous string arrangements, courtesy of Jay Clifford. The song is her repudiation to the often-tedious and broken-down feelings that come from working your way through heartache and a good deal of internal rumbling. There's a sense of spatial awareness, as if the faint echoes and generous room within the song are Rose's answer to the constricting events of her life. But even when she's staring at these moments head-on and the music is rising to a stirring climax, she still manages to make everything seem completely inclusive and dependent on the smallest details of everyday life. - Nooga News - Notes From Left of the Dial

“Wonder,” the new tune from Charleston, S.C., songwriter Katie Rose, is certainly named accurately. Clean, crisp production brings out the best in Rose’s curious, beautiful voice and Jay Clifford’s gigantic string arrangements. “Wonder” is a special pop tune that comes from her August 18 EP, Everything Yesterday. Check it out (repeatedly) below - Magnet Magazine

You know those pristine springs that are fed by glaciers and promise nature’s perfection? That’s the purity of the creative well from which Katie Rose ladles her inspiration. Her songs are crisp vignettes of sparkling sound that glisten with a refreshing, heartfelt beauty. Her immaculate voice is proof positive that she was born to tell stories through song and, in doing so, make the world a brighter place.

Her album, Everything Yesterday, was recorded at Ocean Industries Studios with producers Jeff Leonard and Eric Rickert and released just this past summer to critical acclaim. The lead single is a spectacular opus called “Wonder” that features Rose’s flawless goosebump-inducing vocals and a sweeping string arrangement that was composed and recorded by Jay Clifford (Jump Little Children). The full track listing is “Everything Yesterday,” “Wonder,” “Goodbye Song,” “Castle,” “Take Me Away,” “Feel,” and “Druzie (Along For The Ride).” Besides singing, Katie plays guitar and piano and she is the primary songwriter on each of the tracks.

Like many great projects, the writing of Everything Yesterday was catalyzed by a maelstrom of intense emotions. This album was the result of a breakup. But it’s probably not the kind of breakup you’re imagining.

Previously, Katie was in a duo with another girl who had a similar dream. They called themselves Katina Rose. Bound together by remarkable harmonies and a strong friendship, the pair embarked on a 9-month national tour. When they returned home, however, Rose discovered how cruel life could be. Just when everything seemed to be coming together for the young talent – who had been training to be an artist since she was 5 years old – Katina Rose was no more. And Katie was devastated.

“The duo was a very big part of my life,” Katie told AXS. “It happened during those years when I was supposed to be finding out who I was and who my real friends were. After it ended, I realized that I had missed out on so much of being a teenager and I felt really lost.”

To cope, she started writing everything down. Katie wrote about things that every teenager goes through – those impactful, relatable things. She also wrote down all the silly stuff, too. Everything just came pouring out.

“Sometimes you have to write some angry songs just to get them off of your chest. And that’s what I did – it’s better than actually getting really mad at somebody. That’s the great thing about being a songwriter, I can just write it all out in a song – it’s my therapy.”

It’s important to note that Rose’s experience didn’t produce an album populated by “poor, poor me” songs. She’s a master of her craft. Typically, the artist starts with a lyrical idea that she deftly fashions into an insightful expression of universal appeal, which makes her a creator of poignant and shimmering pop gems. Katie’s music lifts her fans up and makes them feel alive and eager to take on life.

As for where that ability comes from, Katie reasoned it stems from the wide variety of music she listened to growing up. “I was raised on a lot of Sugar Ray, classic rock, and just a whole weird mixture of all different kinds of music. There are times when I remember sitting in the car with my mom and my older sister and she was just belting out the entire soundtrack to Moulin Rouge! But then I also remember listening to The Eagles albums with my dad, so my musical taste is really a broad mix of all kinds of things.”

“My hooks are kind of built off of feelings that I get from watching Disney movies,” she added. “I know, that’s a little weird, right? But I’ve always adored good Disney movies, and you know that feeling you get, that full feeling when you hear a really good hook in a Disney song? That’s what I try to accomplish with my hooks.”

Also, it’s important to note that Everything Yesterday covers a wide range of topics. Katie Rose didn’t write an album of songs that were all focused on getting over her breakup. She moved on. “It took a little while but, I feel so much better. I started making new friends and I reconnected with old ones and I just did the music that I wanted to do.”

The first song that Katie wrote when she was starting to feel positive again was the incredibly potent track called “Take Me Away.” It’s charged with an infectious upbeat energy that makes it impossible not to dance to as you are blissfully singing along. “I just said, ‘I’m tired of all this, I’m writing a happy song,’ and I did,” she laughed.

One of the many hooks sprinkled throughout this phenomenal song is the perfectly placed, exuberant shout. “I got to do that with my bandmates. We all stood in this huge room and we just shouted ‘Hey!’ at each other. It was so much fun to record!”

Another standout song is the curious old-timey track called “Druzie.” It is a stirring proclamation of love that is adorned in poetry, which comes complete with a nostalgic crackle and pop of vinyl at the track’s opening.

“I actually wrote that song for my parents because they are huge supporters of everything I do,” she informed. “And they are so in love! They have this weird couple name called ‘Druzie' because my dad’s name is Drew and my mom’s name is Suzie. They’ve had it forever and it’s kind of weird, but I just took it and I wrote a song based off ‘Winnie the Pooh’ because ‘Winnie the Pooh’ was one of my mom’s favorite things.”

When asked if anything important about her that we needed to know, she replied, “It’s not about me, I’m not the important one, it’s about the songs. When I was writing this album, I just wanted to make sure everybody could relate to at least one of the songs, because that’s why everyone listens to and writes music, so you can have something to relate to. When all else fails, music is there. That’s the biggest thing for me.” - Allen Foster, AXS