In 2012 singer-songwriter Lucy Rose released her debut album, Like I Used To, to positive reviews across the board. Following this release Rose embarked on almost three years of intense touring before then recording album number two, and now, 34 months later, she’s released her highly anticipated second album, Work It Out. Now, in the midst of the festival season, Rose has announced her huge autumn tour. Does she ever get a chance to chill? “I like to do as many shows as possible!” Rose told us, prior to her set at this year’s Truck festival, ”but yeah I do have time to chill, there’s always the odd day off, and I get mornings when I can go for a walk and stuff.”
With festival season well and truly upon us, Rose has already appeared at a plethora of events including the mighty Glastonbury. “I’m really looking forward to Kendall Calling,” Rose explained, when we asked if she had any festivals she was particularly looking forward to, “and also Somersault, I think it’s only in its second year. Laura Marling and Bombay Bicycle Club are headlining, and it’s on the beach and there’s windsurfing, kayaking, yoga, rock climbing, it’s like an outdoors activity festival with loads of music!”
“This summer hasn’t been as busy as others, we’ve had really hectic summer schedules before! This one we’ve probably had a festival nearly every weekend, but it’s been quite chilled, and quite short drives. The longest drive was T in the Park, which was a good 12 hours up there! But yeah, so far so good!”
Rose somehow found time to write and record an entire album in amongst her relentless touring, and her second record Work It Out was released a few weeks ago. I asked how the reception had been so far: “Yeah, so far so good. I mean it’s hard to kind of delve into comments and read too many things, and I mean, I do read the things people post on my page and the nice messages I’m getting. Hopefully it’s the kind of record that will connect quite strongly with people, I don’t mind if its one person or two, but I hope people have a strong connection with it.”
The record is more developed both musically and lyrically, as you’d expect from two albums with three years gap between them. “The writing was just a bit different because there was a little bit more pressure that people were going to hear it,” Rose told me. “People kept saying that they couldn’t wait to hear new stuff so when you’re sitting at home writing you have to put that to the back of your mind that someone’s going to listen to it, because my first record I wrote very selfishly for myself, without even thinking about somebody listening to it.”
Alongside the album we’ve also seen several music videos, most noticeably the video for ‘Our Eyes’ where Rose dances in suits covered in of meat and chips, amongst other things. This is a refreshing change to other artists where music videos seem to be seen merely as an extension of a photo-shoot, so how much creative control does Rose have when it comes to her videos? “A lot. I’m quite controlling about everything, and the one thing I keep saying is I just want it to be very honest representation of who I am. My music is fully honest and delving into my darkest feelings and deepest emotions, and it feels like visually it should be as honest and real as it can be.
“Which sounds weird, as the suits [in the ‘Our Eyes’ video]are kind of ridiculous but I guess it was just an anti-caring what you look like kind of video. When you start to have the discussions of ‘oh you’ve got to look really cool and you’ve got to make sure you look really beautiful’, those conversations I find quite disturbing, as though people will be more attracted to my music because of how good I look in my videos, and I guess I was just doing an anti-that by looking as stupid as I possibly could.”
Although the outfits she wore in the video may have been questionable, Rose’s music is not. Each song is expertly carved, with intricate instrumental lines weaving their way in and out of Rose’s candid lyrics. Her set at Truck this year demonstrated what a powerhouse she is, with a huge crowd going just as crazy for both her new material and old favourites.
Self-proclaiming her 45 minute set as “her best gig of 2015 so far,” Rose gave the small army of fans a show to remember, and reminded us why she’s swiftly becoming a household name.
