
Rose Gray Needs You To Get 'Louder, Please'
By Joan Summers
Jan 24, 2025It is the day before Rose Gray’s debut album Louder, Please drops, and she's gabbing to PAPER about Amy Winehouse dissing Dido in the early 2000s. Also about Robyn’s brand of wonky pop music and Charli xcx's inevitable appearance at the Oscars.
It’s her perspective on the genre that stands out, as we chat on the eve of her album’s release and in the week following it. Words that appear consistently in our notes concerning Rose Gray: brash, exhilarating, wonky. That last one is the ethos she ascribes to both her own music and that of her inspiration, Robyn. “I think she just writes perfect pop songs. There’s so much character in them as well," she says. "You know what? They’re not perfect pop songs. That’s why they’re so characterful.”
The same could be said for Louder, Please, which oozes with character. From the uncontrollable kinetic energy of “Wet & Wild” to “Party People,” a progressive house gem in the vein of Kaskade and Adam K & Soha, which oozes a melancholy and electronic grime also seen across other standouts like “Switch,” “Angel of Satisfaction” and “Hackney Wick,” the album’s confessional centerpiece.
These nightlife vignettes, which climax on “Hackney Wick,” are born from Gray’s own relationship to London’s underground rave culture, which deepened after a “bit of a false start with music very young.” She tells us: “I came out of the other side feeling like I’ve been dragged through crap. And I was not even in my 20s yet, so I worked loads of jobs and I was living for the weekends.” She laughs, and repeats herself for emphasis. “I started to live for the weekends, really."
It’s the sort of frank opinion of herself here that gives the album a singular tone, frenetic and opinionated and deeply inquisitive and diaristic about the club, itself pulled out of intangibility into something real, human even. Characterful. Her early “false start” in the music industry gave her a life she’d not have been afforded had it all clicked into place as a teen. As she sees it, that life was precious and necessary. “I think some artists are just born ready, and they have life experience. I don’t know where they get it from, but they have it. And I wasn’t really like that. I needed to grow up, I needed to have things to write about.”
For more on Louder, Please, or Gray’s opinions on everything from Robyn's perfect pop career to Amy Winehouse and Dido’s feud to ‘90s Prada campaigns and Charli xcx's impact on British electronic music, read our full interview below.
How are you feeling about your new album?
I think I have ADD! Bringing out an album is the most scattered I’ve ever been in my life. But it’s good, it’s fun. Everything that’s happening is fun.
If you could pick one song off the album that you feel is either representative of you as an artist or of the project, what would it be?
I think “Party People." It’s a sad club anthem that is my ode to the party people I have met since I started clubbing. I have been fascinated with those characters that rule the night, and they do it with such grace and balance. I am a party person, but I have friends and people that I know that are just born to be in the club and socialize, and I’m quite fascinated by them as characters. That’s what the song is about, really, my love for party people.
You said it’s a sad song, too. Where does the element of sadness come into play with you?
Oh, deep! I sometimes find that people that love to party, we are maybe escaping something in our lives, that we maybe don’t feel seen or safe not in the club, or around our chosen family. I’ve partied a bit in New York, and I love the vibe, but I find that in London, I’m with my group, and we’re all dressed up, going partying. When you get into the club, you’re like, "Oh, I’m here now, thank goodness." I’m getting weird looks on the train from some guy who has never seen anything like my group of friends. And then you get to the club, and you’re like, "These are my people, I’m fine now."
It’s interesting I have friends who go to clubs and they’re like, Oh, I don’t like this, I feel so weird and alone. And then for some people, like myself, the second we step into the club, it’s like you’re connected to everyone in the space, and you feel the least lonely you’ve ever been in your entire life.
But there is a balance! That’s why I say it’s sad. I do find it’s a balance and actually, maybe it’s more sad coming from my point of view. I do sometimes feel like I’m quite a watcher. I don’t know if I’m always necessarily the person who is the life and soul of the party. I’m watching.
Do you think that being an observer has helped with the lyricism and creation of this project?
One hundred percent. I’m a sponge, and take things in. Quite an empath, so definitely been very helpful being like that. Songwriters are quite like that.
You’ve said you started going to these parties in London when you were a teen. What drew you to them in the first place?
Probably two things: my friend group, who’ve been my core little group since we were like, 16, 17. They all taught each other and took each other to different nights from there. And also, I sort of had a bit of a false start with music very young, and I came out of the other side feeling like I’ve been dragged through crap. And I was not even in my 20s yet, so I worked loads of jobs and I was living for the weekends. I had the best time on the weekends.
Talking about that false start, do you feel like going through this process again in your 20s, does the experience feel totally different? Do you feel more control, or ownership, over this?
Definitely, I also just didn’t really know who I was at that age at all. I think some artists are just born-ready, and they have life experience. I don’t know where they get it from, but they have it. And I wasn’t really like that. I needed to grow up, I needed to have things to write about. I’d probably lived an innocent life, a very happy, very great childhood. I was just writing. I don’t know what I was writing about, what was going on. But I’m glad it’s happened now. I think I’ve put in the hours.
In the industry, so much of making pop music is younger, younger, younger. You only have so many years to be a pop star. It’s an idea that’s changed a lot, but I still don’t hear many people say actually, it was good that I lived for the weekend for a while, and lived some things to write about.
I almost wish I’d not worried as much. I think I’ve always focused on music. I could have actually let it go even more, and just had a bit more fun. I have had to be very persistent, though, to get to a place where I can bring out an album. It’s been so many no's. In fact, it’s kind of a joke with my team, they’re like: “I don’t think many other artists would have swam through it all." But I’m glad it’s here now.
You’ve said you’ve been influenced by the likes of Kylie, Robyn, some of my favorites, even Ray of Light era Madonna. There’s a prevailing influence of people like Britney in pop right now, or Lady Gaga. I don’t hear many people talk about being inspired by Kylie, or Robyn. What drew you to their specific styles of pop music?
I have no idea why more people aren’t drawing from there. Blows my mind. But Robyn, I think she just writes perfect pop songs. There’s so much character in them as well. You know what? They’re not perfect pop songs. That’s why they’re so characterful. They’re not slick. Someone said to me they’re wonky pop. I think Chappell is a good example of what I would say comes under wonky pop. It’s not perfect, but it is just genius.
It’s very human.
Human, yeah! And the little spoken word bits, and then it goes into heavy, beautiful strings. But then she’ll also do something that’s a house beat and really electronic. And Kylie’s different. Kylie is perfect, and quite slick. But the thing I love about Kylie is that she’s very down to earth, and she seems very normal, very lovely lady. I read her autobiography very young, and thought, Wow, if I was a pop star, if I was an artist … I love how she comes across. I want to go to dinner with her. You can feel her warmness even when she’s being super sexy. She’s warm.
Do you have a favorite project from Robyn or Kylie, or song, that you either always want to listen to or has inspired you the most?
I really, really enjoy Honey, the whole record. I think it’s proper electronic. It feels quite British, actually. It feels like British electronic underground. I have this song, and it goes round on a loop in my head. “I saw you at the station … ” I think about that middle eight probably every day. I don’t know why.
Middle eights were a staple of pop music that have really gone by the way, I think, as songs have gotten shorter, records have gotten shorter. I don’t think I hear them as much as I do in those old, masterful pop records.
I just absolutely love middle eights. I think you guys call them bridges. I think it is where the song can just explode. It can even go like, really maximalist or really delicate and small, and you can just be really weird in it. I think I have a middle eight in every song.
Oh! “Be Mine” is the Robyn song, by the way, it just popped into my head. Besides that, there was another interview I read with you in Vogue that just delighted me, because you name dropped Dido in it. You said you wanted the album cover to be like Dido in a ‘90s Prada campaign. Where does your interest in fashion come from, because a ‘90s Prada campaign is pretty specific!
I was always, always that kid that cut out things from magazines. I really did grow up loving magazines. It was a big part of my early teens, making collages. The Dido Prada reference … I can’t explain exactly what it was. I can just see it in my head. It’s the effect, it’s the grain, its the kind of hair. I was actually more talking about my press pictures, because there’s one that I think is coming up for the album tomorrow, and it’s me in a vest, and it’s this sort of girl next door vibe. Almost like your hair is not fully done. But it’s fashion, and it’s Prada. It looks like Prada.
Dido is quite the deep cut here in the states. She never had huge records, but she did have the hit singles. She has an interesting eye for visuals and also a great ear for electronic music, even if she is known for stuff outside her more electronic work. And she has a pretty deep electronic catalog!
Yeah, my dad loved Dido. Do you want to know something very odd … When I went to performing arts college, it was when Amy Winehouse passed away. And I feel like when she passed away, I just became obsessed with her. And Amy said something a bit rude about Dido, and so I listened to her! So from the age of like, I don’t know, fourteen, I started thinking that Dido wasn’t cool. Have you seen this interview? Amy’s just like, “Dido, who the fuck is that?” It’s so funny.
It’s interesting too, because I think if maybe Amy had listened more, she’d have seen they have quite a bit in common with what they write their songs about, and who they’re writing towards. Heartbreak, love, loss.
Yeah, very smart lyrics, conversational. I love Dido! I would love to work with her. Didn’t Caroline Polachek work with Dido, right?
She did! It was Grimes and Dido on a song for her, on Desire. What a mashup! Such a mind to put those two people together.
I can see it.
I listened to Dido young. My mom loved Life For Rent, and I must have been seven years old, singing my heart out to that CD. Funny to think about, considering what the song is about. I probably didn’t understand it at that age, but I’ve always loved that album. “Stoned”, “See You When You’re Forty.”
Do you think that Dido broke into America with the Eminen crossover?
It definitely helped for sure. I think at the time, they called it Adult Contemporary. That was the moniker for the music she makes, which is funny, because it is just pop music. But they were like, what do we call pop music not made by 21 year olds named Britney Spears? I guess it’s Adult Contemporary.
It’s probably what my music is going to be called.
I mean, that’s probably my taste! I go back and listen to that stuff, and I’m like, this is sick. Natalie Imbruglia, Dido.
Nelly Furtado is probably under that.
Oh my god, and Norah Jones was under that also. What a voice, what a talent!
When I left my performing arts college to become a pop star at the age of 17, my headmistress just said: “Well, let’s hope you have a career like Norah Jones,” because she went to the same school as me. I remember thinking a couple of years later: “Well, clearly I haven’t had that career.”
There was a moment in America where you couldn’t walk into a Starbucks without 15 of her albums being prominently displayed at the cash register. It’s how she got known as coffee shop music, which I think is quite derogatory now. In college, why did you leave? Was there an opportunity that presented itself or were you gung ho to make music?
You’re not meant to regret anything, are you? But I do think maybe it was a bit premature to leave school. I was given an opportunity, I was working with a producer who wanted to sign me, and I think what I actually got wasn’t great, because I ended up signing to this person and then got very stuck. So I had to leave all my music and start again. I mean, I’m still very motivated now, but I think I was a very motivated child. As soon as that opportunity came, I was like, I am leaving to become a pop star.
In that same vein, in the Vogue profile I mentioned earlier, the headline boldly asks: Is Rose Gray the next big British pop star? When you read that, or see stuff like that, in this chaotic pop world, how does it feel?
I couldn’t work out if it’s a positive or negative. All I know is, it’s good press, absolutely good press. But it is interesting because I’ve been doing interviews where people are like, do you want to be a huge pop star? I almost feel like, of course, I want to be very successful, and I do make pop music. But I think when you become a pop star, it becomes that. Like you’re famous. I think personally, I’m a pop artist at the moment. I also don’t know if you’re allowed to say you’re a pop star?
I think that’s a thing that maybe gets bestowed on you, but you can say you want to be one until it’s been given to you.
It is very interesting. I think I have felt for about two years a little bit like an underdog. I’m aware of the music I’m making, and I’ve felt a little bit held back, but now I have this album, and I have got great people around me supporting me and interested in what I’m doing. I think I’m starting to feel a little bit less like an underdog, and ready to be taken seriously.
It’s also interesting to talk about fame and pop stardom too, because we were talking about Robyn earlier. I think she’s the perfect example of a pop artist who could probably have anything she wants in this industry, from producers to work with and the albums she makes. But she’s not so famous that she can’t just have a life. She’s not going to shut down a city when she touches down at the airport the way some people do.
That middle ground is a great place to be, I think. Very few artists do go that way, where you shut down an airport. I’m just trying to think of British pop stars. Dua, yeah, Charli now…
Yeah, Charli.
But Charli now.
It’s crazy, because there was such a recent moment where that wasn’t the case. Where she was famous to the coolest people in the room.
And she’s like, Hollywood now! She’ll be at the Oscars. I know she will, she will be on that Vanity Fair red carpet.
It’s like you feel proud, but also feel like we’re losing her. Like she’s going somewhere the rest of us can’t follow her.
I do love that sweet spot for artists where you feel like you could go out clubbing with them. Which is where I think I am. I do chat to all my fans, I’m probably chatting to them too much.
Last question: I think there is a moment right now where people are hungry for British pop and electronic music, JADE, Charli, etc. Why do you think that’s breaking through right now?
British pop has become very clubby, and very weird and fun. I think we’re quite good at dance music, I will say that. I’ve sort of felt it since COVID times, with like, drum and bass coming back, and even the wave of PinkPantheress, which feels ages ago now. But I do remember feeling that in the UK, it was working overseas, making dance music. I don’t know, there’s something in the air, something going on. I think we’ve got to thank Charli for opening it up. Even just with me, I’d play songs, maybe two years ago, and they’re like, oh, we don’t know if it’s pop or it’s electronic. And now it’s like, well look how Brat did. Definitely feels very open now, that maybe the industry behind the scenes is getting on top of it, understanding the power of electronic pop.
Photography: Vasso Vu
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