Hana Rosé blew us away recently with her stunning new single Me, Myself and I.
Redelivering the succulent RnB beats and vocals that have come to define the Rosé sound, the Melbourne-based singer returns with the ultimate self-love anthem.
Now she has written an enlightening discourse on the struggles of fame and purpose.
Hana Rosé divulges on her battle with fame and higher purpose ultimately finding resolve to discover the important things in life.
Words by Hana Rosé
When I first began pursuing music it was partly to live out my childhood dreams of being a star. I used to think I felt this destined pull to fame and performing, but I came to realise it was born out of a void of loneliness. When I was 7 my father passed away, my mum was working a lot, and my older siblings had all moved out. I just felt really insignificant and unseen a lot of the time, and so fame was like this Narnia escape I would dream of. I would pretend I was being interviewed by Oprah and the masses would give a shit about what I had to say, and I would finally feel important and loved. I would look at big stars as so confident and unapologetic and free and talented, and I put fame on a pedestal.
When I was 18 I would line up for concerts at 5am just so I could be at the front of the barricade of the moshpit and feast on their STAR energy as close as possible, and if I was lucky enough have them touch my hand! I would also try and stalk their whereabouts in town. For example, we waited outside Suncorp stadium to get a poster signed by JayZ when he was on tour with U2. I became addicted to celebrities. I got a matching tattoo with Rihanna. All types of crazy stuff.
Then at 21 I moved to LA and you can imagine – I was frothing. Mix that in with a state of naivety, rebellion and being completely lost after freshly leaving my sheltered religion of Mormonism – it was kind of a disaster recipe. All that glitters isn’t gold and all you have to do is look at the news nowadays to see how dangerous chasing a dream or honestly even just the hype (like me at that time) in a world like that as a young woman can be. And even though I am no longer religious, I can see in hindsight why the bible commands its people not to idolise or worship people or lifestyles. Now connecting this all back to me as a singer and artist, at that point although I had always loved singing and had auditioned for X-factor here and there I had never put in the work to create a career. I didn’t have the self-esteem, confidence direction or self-belief to do so. I didn’t know who I was. As I said I was very lost and honestly, I was kind of hoping someone there would miraculously save me and make me a star. I’d ask people in the industry to let me sing for them, but had never even written a complete song. I hadn’t put in any work. So why would anyone invest and work on me? So, thankfully after a few years of substituting the real world for an escape in glitz, glam and the drug of being amongst stars – everything came crashing down on me! I hit a rock bottom in 2015 that lead me to leave that life behind and I came home to Australia to buckle up and really build myself and pursue music seriously.
Still, when I began writing music the intentions weren’t exactly deep or pure. I just felt inspired to finally fulfil this dream and that after years of feeling lost, FINALLY feeling enough self-love, confidence and belief to do it! So, I started off with writing songs that embodied edgy, bold, fierce, sexy pop stars I had idolised for years like Rihanna, Beyonce, Gaga. My first single was Sex For Breakfast I thought it would grab attention and I’d be skyrocketing to the galaxies soon enough! Ha! But due to the lack of knowledge about how to market myself being an independent artist doing it all by myself, I didn’t hit far beyond my family, friends and co-workers. Through a couple more releases I continued to feel a little discouraged and confused, as things still weren’t clicking the way I thought they would. But through these trying lows of the journey, I began to realise that the fame and accolades are the very last reason I should be doing this! Through hard times, and writing stuff that uplifted me and helped me through my struggles, I realised that’s the essence of making a mark in music! It’s about channelling a message through your own experiences and marrying that with universal truths – which then becomes a timeless communication in the universal language of music. My ultimate goal in music now is not to be famous or validated by the masses, it is to create pieces of art where I can transmute my pain into a creation that will uplift, heal and help myself and others to transcend our challenges. That being said, I am not knocking my sexy R&B bangers as feeling sexy and celebrating life and freedom is also a fun part of music, it’s just that it’s not the only aim or intention I have now.
My debut EP Finer with time displays this journey, transition and diversification. In the initial tracks I wrote like Hunnids (In Da Air) and Birthday Suit I celebrate that inner confidence, sensuality and longing for the stage VS what I wrote in more recent times like Lotus interlude and Me, Myself & I which have a lot more depth and important messages.
With time we get deeper, through mistakes, trial and error, we become wiser, stronger, more compassionate, more mature! I am thankful that through my journey I am expressing deeper and more important shit that is alignment with my higher self and ultimate authenticity and I can’t wait to put more of this out in future albums because this is just the beginning of my evolution as a person and as an artist. So stay tuned but in the mean time stream you some Rosay and Me, myself & I and get ready for Finer with time Friday October 25th.
