THE ROSE ENTERS NEW ERA WITH “BACK TO ME / ALIVE” | COMEBACK CORNER
BY BRENESSA ROACH | JULY 21, 2023
Today at 9 PM PST, South Korean Indie-Rock band The Rose (더로즈) released two singles “Back To Me” and “Alive”. The Rose is a four member band consisting of; Woosung (Lead Vocalist & Electric Guitarist), Dojoon (Main Vocalist, Pianist & Guitarist), Hajoon (Sub Vocalist and Drummer) and Jaehyeong (Sub Vocalist and Bassist). The group debuted on August 3, 2017 under J&Star Company with the single “sorry”. In May 2022, The Rose made their own label “Windfall” and they also signed to Far East Movement’s label “Transparent Arts”.
On October 7th, 2022, The Rose debuted under Windfall and Transparent Arts with their 10 track album HEAL. Just as the title says, HEAL is an album that was made for the listeners and The Rose themselves to heal from whatever someone is going through. This album is very soft-rock leaning and has a lot of beautiful lyrics.
In contrast “Back To Me” and “Alive” are a lot more rock and bring out a different side to The Rose. These two singles are pre-release tracks for their second studio album DUAL – which has no set release date yet.
“Back To Me” is an upbeat rock song that essentially reminisces about the memories of the past. The lyrics are talking about this someone (possibly a lover) that they had a past with and they can make this person feel all sorts of things but, the only thing they can’t do is make that person come back. We came to this interpretation based on all of the lyrics, but most importantly the chorus where they sing “I can make you mad, I can make you scream / I can make you cry, I can make you leave / I can make you hate me for everything / But I can’t make you come back to me”.
This song was teased on TikTok prior to the release. As well, The Rose even performed this song at Lollapalooza in Stolkhom which gained a lot of attention. Before this song even released, the chorus was stuck in our heads.
Additionally, “Back To Me” has an accompanying music video which in just a little over 10 hours, the video already has 580K views.
Of the two releases today, “Back To Me” is definitely our favourite one.
Listen to “Back To Me” by The Rose on Spotify:
“Alive” is another upbeat rock song, but it also has Electronic Dance/House music elements in it – which is a really nice blend and we weren’t expecting The Rose to do it. Even some of the vocals are mixed in a robotic style, which is really cool to see The Rose experiment with. The song has a very nostalgic feel to it and kind of makes us remember the rock songs in the late 90s, early 2000s.
This song is a darker song as the members talk about feeling lost and “losing their colour” (maybe this is a reference tot their personality or emotions). This interpretation of the song can be heard right in the first verse. I believe it’s Woosung who sings “Sometimes, I kinda feel like I’m broken / Lost my color or maybe somebody stole it / Gets so dark inside, I love these heavy emotions”.
“Alive” has a music video coming out on July 28th so, make sure to stay tuned for that.
Listen to “Alive” by The Rose on Spotify”
Overall, we love to see this new era of The Rose where they are experimenting with different sounds and elements. As well, they are shifting their healing, happy lyrics to lyrics that may sting, but are more relatable to the listener. We cannot wait to watch the music video for “Alive” and even more excited for the release of DUAL.
Check out The Rose on Spotify:
Check out The Rose on Instagram: @official_therose, @iwoosung, @parclassic, @gud0011 and @l_hajoon
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