REVIEW: ROSÉ releases her debut solo album 'rosie'
Published 9 December, 2024
As a member of global superstars Blackpink, Korean-New Zealand artist ROSÉ is part of a musical phenomenon that defined a generation. With two huge hit albums that peaked in the top 2 in the US, UK and Australia and performances at some of the world’s biggest festivals, not to mention their billions of global streams, Blackpink forever changed the perception and direction of Asian pop music.
ROSÉ has now taken her music career to the next level with the release of her debut solo album rosie. It showcases ROSÉ as just a powerful talent on her own as she is a part of Blackpink, with her co-writing and executive producing all 12 tracks on the album.
Lead single ’APT.’, featuring Bruno Mars, is undoubtedly one of 2024’s greatest singles, with an infectiously joyful sound, delicious melodies and a chanted chorus that happily lodges in your brain. And while there are other moments of carefree pop on rosie - including the more experimental electronica of ‘drinks or coffee’ and the R&B inflected ‘gameboy’ - the album has a diversity of sound that reflect the songs being ROSÉ’s most personal and candid to date.
A theme of the need for love, and the subsequent breakdown of love, threads through the album with second single, the lush ballad ‘number one girl’, opening the album with a plea to be loved, but also a more basic need to be seen and valued. ‘Tell me that I’m worth it / And that I’m enough…so what’s it gon’ take for you to want me?’
The rock-pop of ‘toxic till the end’ swirls through a story of a relationship that was doomed from the very beginning, while ‘not the same’ continues the theme of a relationship ending in toxicity and anger, this time wrapped up in a semi-acoustic soundscape that is beautiful in its softness and sweetness in contrast to its lyrics ‘Shame on me for trusting you once, trusting you twice…but you fucked up and you know that I’m right.’
While there are songs that focus on the ugliness of breakups, ROSÉ also leans into the heart rending side of the equation. ‘stay a little longer’, a piano-jazz ballad is an album highlight with ROSÉ’s emotive vocal speaking of a relationship that had to end but which she can’t let go of. ‘Make me wanna hate you so I don’t have to miss you…I can’t stand these four walls without you inside them.’
‘call it the end’ is another lush ballad, the kind ROSÉ excels at delivering on rosie, that struggles with a relationship that is in between - not together, but not yet over. ‘Do I call you my ex or do I call you my boyfriend? / Call you a lover, do I call you a friend? / Call you the one or the one that got away?’
The album ends on a high note with ‘dance all night’ which is the antidote to the hurt and confusion of the previous songs and encourages both herself and everyone to embrace life and the promise of a new day tomorrow. ‘If there’s anything I would change…I would dance all night / Not care about the heartache in my life / And I would not obsess over all the little things I don’t regret.’ It has a beautiful, chilled guitar-pop sound and is the perfect way to wind down the album, leaving you on a high.
rosie is a glorious debut album that takes you very much into the depth of your feels but in a completely relatable way that allows a deeper connection with ROSÉ. She may be one of the biggest artists in the world, but her ability to show vulnerability and share relationship stories that are really no different from what us ‘normal’ people experience is what makes her, and rosie, so special. Based on the quality of this album, expect ROSÉ to become even more dominant in the years to come - not only as a member of Blackpink but as a solo star in her own right.
rosie is out now via Warner Music Australia. You can buy and stream here.
Follow Rosé on Instagram and TikTok.
