15 minutes with Rose Gray: Albums, thongs and perfect party girls

“I want to make music that’s for my friends.”

One of the greatest joys in life is when an album finds you at exactly the right place, at the right time. In January 2025, I was facing my first London winter while my Antipodean friends frolicked in the sand. I was cold, crying from homesickness and just like, really pale. 

A heron suddenly appeared in the sky (my Instagram stories) one day. Upon first listen, Louder, Please, the supernova debut album from English musician Rose Gray, felt like an IV-drip of hope, SSRIs and sun emerging from grey. That’s the power of a new pop perspective.

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I shared it with my best friends at home, and when they came to stay with me months later in the summer, we found new meaning between strokes of mascara in my Hackney Wick flat as we got ready to go out. That’s the magic of a chapter-defining album. 

Rose has been making music for nearly a decade and it seems her moment has finally arrived. Bursting with energy, highlights from the album include ‘Hackney Wick’ and ‘Party People’, two sides of a love letter to her East London home, and the joys of finding one’s identity on the dance floor.

Another personal favourite track is ‘Everything Changes (But I Won’t)’, where she sings about the evolving form of her long-term relationship with actor Harris Dickinson. ‘First’ is another standout, a confident spell of a song for washing away any self-doubt. Louder, Please plays like a conversation in the girls bathroom at the club – there’s sweat, introspection, lines and well, good old simple love. 

 

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We were lucky enough to catch up with Rose ahead of her opening show in Melbourne on Wednesday. It felt fitting she played at The Night Cat in Fitzroy, Naarm’s equivalent to parts of East London. A rising star to some but a cemented figure in pop if you’re in the know, Rose’s momentum is snowballing. From touring with Kesha to her first Brit nomination at the end of last year, she’s marching through, with a new album already in the works.

Our time together was brief but we managed to squeeze in; a dissection of the pop girls’ dedication to hot pants, the invisible puzzle of writing a debut album, and of course, a giggle over watching Heated Rivalry on the near 25-hour plane journey over. Luckily, there was only one moment lost in translation. “Thongs”, in the dear Antipodean accent, sounds like “bongs” when uttered to an English rose. Read more below. 

Yawynne Yem: Hi Rose! I feel like we’ve met because your face always seems to be on the billboards outside my London office. How does it feel being in Melbourne? 

Rose Gray: I love it. What a city. It’s really cool. 

Does it feel like East London in city form? 

Fitzroy, where I’m playing, feels like Hackney. I mean, it’s so warm here. Thirty-five degrees yesterday.

It feels special that we’re speaking just after the start of the Year of the Horse. I was at a Lunar New Year dinner last night, so it’s on my mind. What are you shedding from the Year of the Snake? 

I feel like I am shedding. I was having a really good chat with my mum yesterday about it, about leaving just any sort of disbelief or any sort of negativity that I sometimes have in my brain. I’m a Capricorn. A complicated Capricorn. It’s time to get on the horse, enjoy the ride. 

Do you feel like that worry has accelerated, especially with all the success you’ve experienced over the last year? 

It’s different. Now, I can see where my music can go and it’s really exciting that these things have become possible. I just have really high expectations now for my next record, for what I want and how I want my music to travel. I don’t want to be afraid of that anymore. 

 

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Louder, Please was my most-played album of last year. When you put art out in the world, it’s like sacrificing a baby – how do you feel about the album’s ever-evolving form? 

You described it perfectly. It does. It was like giving birth to something. It was years in the making. But I had a lot of fun last year touring that record and feeling like it’s connecting with people all over the world. It has been the most amazing thing to happen for my career. I think maybe naively, I didn’t have any understanding of what it’s like to bring out a record or touring, or how it all works. Everything last year was brand new to me. A deer in the headlights isn’t the right phrase, because I wasn’t afraid. 

What song from the album resonates with where you’re at right now the most? 

Ooh, I always resonate very deeply with ‘Tectonic’. It’s so fun to perform live as well. I really get to show my vocals off, and I feel like wherever I am it’s almost like I’m speaking to the audience. 

You also speak a lot about your collaborations, who’s been the most meaningful collaborator to you? 

Aw, you know what? I think the Shygirl collaboration really meant a lot to me. We’ve been friends and we’ve worked together for a long time, but we’ve never put anything out together. We just collaborated a lot behind the scenes. And obviously also Melanie C and Jade [Thirlwell]. 

Pretty surreal to have a Spice Girl on a track. 

She’s also just the best human ever. 

We’re speaking ahead of your first Australian show tonight. And I have to ask, are you going to get carried in? I watched you get carried into your London show by two of the hottest men I’ve ever seen in my life.

One of them is like my best friend’s ex boyfriend. I was like… ‘who is really tall and really hot?’ And he’s a firefighter. I was like oop. I had to ask my friend, I was like, ‘do you mind?’

Wow, so he literally could have saved us if there was a fire. 

They were very, very, very beautiful. 

How do you anticipate the Australian energy will feel tonight? 

I have a really good feeling. I mean, obviously it’s summer here in Melbourne. I know, and [with] friends that I have who are Australian, I am very aware of Aussies’ love for electronic music. My show is so clubby so I feel like it’s the perfect crowd. 

I think it definitely will be, especially the venue that you’re playing at. Fitzroy is just such a great area. 

I can’t believe the stage is in the ground as well. 

Are you going to be selling the thongs? You’ve got those amazing thongs as part of your merch designs. 

Bongs? No! 

Thongs! No, like the undies? 

I thought you said bongs. I was like, what bongs? I don’t sell bongs, ha. No, but I don’t have any merchandise with me. I’ve come with a very tiny crew. 

I’m also curious, you’ve got such great stage style. When you were curating the look, did you have any reference points or a feeling that you wanted to evoke? 

Well, it’s really interesting. I learned last year, and you might notice a lot of pop girls – we all kind of wear hot pants. With tights, and leotards, and sometimes you know, pads on our knees. It’s all very similar, because to move, like, when you’re moving on stage, you just literally need to wear stuff that’s athletic but cinching.

 

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You mentioned that you’re working on a new album. How do you balance artistic integrity with the noise of newfound success? 

I’m such a studio hermit. Playing shows and traveling is incredible. But I think I’m in that phase at the moment of [being] head down in the studio with a coffee. That’s all I’ve thought about for the last month and a half. It’s where I come alive. Writing music is my first love. To have an album as well coming, it’s been a new experience for me to have that understanding. When I made Louder, Please, I didn’t really know I was making an album until I had an album. I don’t know if that makes sense?

No, that makes complete sense. It’s kind of like accidentally completing an invisible puzzle, but of your life, right? With writing lyrics, how do you then create clear lines in your life where it’s just you for your friends and family? 

I feel like they just entwine. As a songwriter, I definitely write from experience and I write for my friends. That’s what I always want when I’m in the studio. I want to make music that’s for my friends. We’ve all sort of grown up together. We love our pop girls. We love electronica. Some of my mates also really enjoy more indie and alternative stuff. I always think about my friends when I’m making music. So they’re definitely entwined. And I also use all of their stories… 

Oh, I do that too, I’m always weaving their dating stories into my writing. 

There’s some stuff on my next record. People are gonna think I’m crazy. They’re gonna be like, what’s happened to Rose? I always ask for permission. I wrote a really heartbreaking song the other day about the producer and a very good friend that I was working with. It was her story. 

 

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I guess in some way, that’s kind of freeing for her. It goes back to what we were talking about, letting it out into the world. 

Yeah, I mean, that’s the thing about music. Once it’s out, she’s there for-ever. 

She’s formed. Okay, I know we only have five minutes left, so let’s run through some quick-fire questions. Tour scent?

I literally just bought a fresh one, Le Labo The Noir 29. 

Your favourite Australian party girl? 

Kylie Minogue. But also Grace [Stephenson] from Confidence Man. 

Wait, is she Australian? 

Yeah. Oh, she’s so Australian. 

I feel like I’ve had propaganda that she’s European. 

I think it’s because their music is so British, UK dance music. So, yeah, no. They’re very much Australian. 

Three words for the religious experience of watching Heated Rivalry on the flight over.

Hot, passionate and just sexy. 

I hope you had a privacy screen on. Now tell me: what’s your foolproof trick for getting a friend to come out last minute?

If it’s a Saturday night, come on… Sunday can be really chill, we can go to the pub and chill the next day. 

And then you find yourself in London Fields rolling into dirt…

And it’s the sun’s coming up, and you’re like, Well, why did I do this? 

What was the name of the last playlist that you made? 

I’ve got one called ‘shooty boom boom’. 

For those just stepping into your discography, what’s the perfect landing track?

It’s got to be ‘Party People’. 

That song’s taken on a whole other life of its own. 

She does, yeah, live as well. It’s very special. 

Have you ever cast a spell? 

For myself. I’m not really here for anyone else.

Keep up with Rose Gray here.