The United Kingdom’s best-kept secret has come to the United States. Singer-songwriter Lucy Rose is presently on a six-week whirlwind tour, sweeping through the United States and Canada with singer-songwriter City and Colour.
Now 24 years old, Lucy Rose began her journey at 18 when she left her hometown of Warwickshire for London. She initially intended to attend University College London. Instead, she courageously leapt into her music career, spending nearly every day in London playing any open mic she could find, hoping to be heard. She received her big break when Jack Steadman of Bombay Bicycle Club noticed her. As her friendship with Steadman developed, Lucy Rose contributed backing vocals to several tracks on Bombay Bicycle Club’s album, “A Different Kind of Fix,” and toured the United States, the United Kingdom, and Mexico with the group in early 2012. She scored a record deal with Sony Records UK and released her album in October of that year.
Lucy Rose confessed that she believes she is old for the music industry, as there are 16 and 17-year-olds signed to her label. Despite her apprehensions, her writing and confidence have improved drastically since she began.
“When I think about the new stuff I’m writing, I have my confidence now. I’m going with bolder ideas, and experimenting with a new songs,” Rose said. She is self-aware and deliberately emotionally vulnerable in her lyrics. Many of her tracks address love, whether requited, unrequited or concluded.
Citing influences ranging from Joni Mitchell to the Arctic Monkeys, Lucy Rose’s sound on her debut “Like I Used To” is just as versatile. Unlike many other artists armed with an acoustic guitar, Lucy Rose does not fall into the trap of formulaic music. Instead, her tracks combine her sweet, soothing voice with instrumentals reminiscent of Laura Marling. Lucy Rose does incorporate the requisite quiet acoustic-folk strumming, but is by no means reluctant to use additional percussion, xylophones and electric guitar. She has no hesitation to call herself a singer-songwriter, a genre that has attained a bad reputation.
“Suddenly it has this bad rep like it’s lame or uncool. If everyone is over that, are people just singing songs that have no meaning for them?” asked Rose.
Her intent carries through on each of her tracks. The tender lyrics and acoustic strumming of 'Don’t You Worry' reassure a lover that she will “Stay here with you.” The more upbeat track, 'Bikes,' laden with a rolling electric guitar and punctuated by xylophone, describes an out-of-control journey: “We’re driving from the backseat / holding on too tightly / the colors, they merge / they scream and shout.” Each song, infused with emotion, does not bore in the way that the singer-songwriter label has come to imply.
In an age where YouTube views signify success, Lucy Rose is set to conquer. The music video for her first single 'Middle of the Bed' currently has nearly 1.9 million views. Several of her other songs have reached at least half a million views. Her success has also carried over to the stage in the UK; she has played a variety of UK music festivals, including one at which Bob Dylan also performed. She has also been featured in a variety of major publications including Nylon and Vogue.
Despite this success, Lucy Rose is still somewhat in a state of disbelief over her rapid rise to prominence. She described her initial songwriting process as “the songs written in [her] bedroom, thinking no one was ever going to hear them,” though always living with the “hope that one day [she] would be able to record them.”
Lucy Rose is now miles away from that bedroom and has not only recorded her tracks but released them on Sony Music Entertainment UK. She plans to record another album after her current tour is over and shows no signs of slowing down.
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