Rachel Rose’s new single popped up on my TikTok feed, and it really hooked me, so I wanted to spend the day with some of her music and see what she has been doing over the last few years.
Rose writes songs that move through indie pop, indie rock, jazzier textures, pop, and piano ballads.
There’s a warmth to the music throughout all of the songs I listened to, whether she’s settling into a soulful groove, sitting at the piano or letting a full band carry a hook.
Rachel Rose’s voice is just as interesting as the music around it. She has a slightly deeper register that gives her vocals a texture I really like, but she can also open things up and sing much bigger when the song calls for it.
At different moments I hear little flavors of Sara Bareilles, Annie Lennox, Florence Welch and Tanita Tikaram. Not that she sounds exactly like any of them, but there are pieces of each that seem to surface depending on the song.
Open Season (2026)
Rachel Rose’s “Open Season” is a real smooth song with a cool vibe. It’s soulful and restrained, with a quiet vocal that can lift in the chorus, but this is definitely not a bombastic song. Rachel Rose lets the song sit in its own space, and I love the way her voice kind of slinks around inside it.
In a way, it makes me think of Suzanne Vega, particularly that laid-back, jazzy side of her indie pop. There’s a similar combination of musical sophistication and restraint, but also in the way the lyrics use metaphor and imagery without spelling everything out.
“Open Season” circles around objectification, hunting and the idea of a woman becoming a target. There’s something almost predatory in the imagery, but Rachel Rose leaves enough room for you to sit with it rather than telling you exactly what to think.
And it’s just a stone-cold groove.
All of Life (2024)
“All of Life” is a gorgeous, piano-led ballad with these delicate little touches in the background. There’s something that sounds almost like a mandolin or an acoustic guitar, along with what I think might be woodwinds. It reminds me a little of the atmosphere on Cowboy Junkies’ The Caution Horses. Everything is so tender, restrained and mournful.
Rose has this rich texture to her voice, but she’s also able to lift it into something fuller as the emotional crescendos of the song arrive. There’s so much feeling in the way she sings this.
The song almost plays like a eulogy for the end of a relationship. There’s this desire to somehow hold a moment in time, to keep the relationship exactly where it is instead of letting it move toward its eventual end.
It’s an incredibly heartfelt song, and Rachel Rose’s vocal is deeply affecting.
Up All Night (2024)
“Up All Night” moves into a more familiar indie pop and indie rock sound. This one has a hook and a really infectious sense of momentum.
I like the title because “up all night” sounds like it should be about a party or some late-night adventure, but the song turns it into something else. It feels like two people staying up and working through something together.
Rachel Rose does a lot with her voice here. She sings with this slightly uneven texture to the way she shapes the words before she opens her voice up and really lets it go. She can get surprisingly big without making the song itself feel oversized.
It’s a really catchy song, but there’s still something intimate about it.
Play Pretend (2024)
“Play Pretend” starts as an acoustic indie-folk song before the drums and electric guitar come in and completely change the texture. Suddenly it opens up into this gorgeous indie pop-rock arrangement.
It gives us a couple of very different situations circling the same idea. We don’t always give ourselves the grace to not know what’s next or even to just feel whatever we’re feeling without trying to hide it.
The way the music changes with the drums and electric guitar gives the song another dimension, turning that quiet folk opening into something much bigger without losing the intimacy of the writing.
Remember Me — EP (2023)
After these four singles, I couldn’t really stop there, so I also checked out Rachel Rose’s 2023 EP Remember Me.
The title track has a little more rock in it, with a dreamy quality running underneath. There’s something in Rose’s vocal phrasing that makes me think of Alanis Morissette, while the layered vocals give it this gorgeous harmony that makes you imagine what Crosby, Stills & Nash would sound like if they were just three Joni Mitchells.
It’s also really catchy. The choruses have this lift to them that makes the song feel almost like an anthem, and Rachel Rose sings it beautifully.
Lyrically, it’s looking back at a relationship that has ended, using a song they shared as a metaphor for the parts of the relationship you hold onto.
It’s a really solid tune.
“Worst Enemy” has another restrained indie folk-pop sound, with a classic singer-songwriter feel that makes me think of Carly Simon.
Once again, she uses multiple vocal tracks to create this huge, almost communal sound. The voices blend together so well that it feels like you’re in there surrounded by all of these voices, and I really love that experience as a listener.
Lyrically, “Worst Enemy” is about getting trapped inside your own head and not being able to get out of your own way.
“Back to the Beginning” is a little more conventional as an indie pop song, but it pulls together a lot of the different sounds Rose has been playing with. I hear a little Nick Drake in here, along with some of that Carly Simon feeling. There are brass instruments tucked into the arrangement, along with these little psychedelic touches.
Once again, Rose’s vocal is gorgeous. There’s an urgency in the way she climbs through the melody, and she keeps opening her voice up as the song moves forward, eventually turning into another one of those almost anthem-sized choruses without becoming overblown.
The lyrics are about resilience and moving forward after the things that knock you down. There’s a real sense of giving yourself permission to be patient, to stumble, to stop and start again.
It’s a lovely song, and I really like the way it keeps gathering momentum until everything opens up at the end.
“Hi-Fidelity” is probably the biggest stylistic departure of these songs. It leans much harder into pop rock, with a more danceable quality than the other tracks. There’s even a little R&B in Rose’s voice here, along with some of that Alanis Morissette flavor I’ve heard elsewhere. It’s more of a rocker, but there’s still something loose and atmospheric about it.
Lyrically, there’s a feeling of wanting to connect with someone and trying to break through all the noise and haze between you. There’s definitely a sensual quality to it, too. There’s something sexy and seductive in the way Rose uses her voice here.
And musically, it’s just fun to hear Rachel Rose let herself move into this territory. After all the folk, piano, singer-songwriter and indie pop sounds throughout these songs, this one has a little more swagger to it.
Rachel Rose can cover a lot of ground as a songwriter and singer. I love the little details in these songs, the soft touches of horns or woodwinds, the multitracked vocals and the way she can keep adding layers. There’s a lot going on, but it never gets in the way of the songs themselves.
That kind of sophisticated songwriting, along with her vocals, has me excited to hear what she does next.
Verdict: Great
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