Hailing from Australia and now rooted in Los Angeles, singer-songwriter Blake Rose has been captivating audiences with his music over the last few years, amassing a dedicated following on social media along the way. Drawing inspiration from the dual forces of love and heartbreak, he unveiled his latest EP, ‘Suddenly Okay,’ on March 22nd. In a candid conversation on a bleak Wednesday afternoon, Blake shared insights into how his mother’s passion for Elvis Presley subtly influenced his musical style, his approach to songwriting that intertwines real-life experiences with imagined tragic tales, and the ongoing journey to balance his music career, social media presence, and mental health.
What is your earliest memory of enjoying music?
Oh, damn. I think one of my first memories is, I used to travel a lot with my family and do road trips, and on one of those trips, I forget where we were, but I picked up a didgeridoo. I found it really fun for some reason, so I played it a lot. That was really the first instrument that I’ve kind of learned how to play, which is definitely a weird one. But it was fun trying to learn it and I wasn’t too serious about it back then. It was just all fun and games.
Is your family very musical?
Not really. My parents would mainly listen to throwback radio and stuff like that. They weren’t really music fans where they’d have a record player and put vinyls on all the time, they are more just pretty passive listeners. My mum was a big fan of Elvis though and she used to play his sort of ‘Greatest Hits’ CDs when we were in the car. So, I do have a lot of fond memories of listening to Elvis with my mum, driving around on those road trips I was talking about as well.
Do you think listening to Elvis a lot in your childhood made an impact on your music and the way you write songs now?
I think subconsciously, yeah. I don’t think it’s woven into everything I do, he wasn’t that sort of artist to me in terms of inspiration. But I sometimes notice inflections or things that he would do cutting through when I’m writing very randomly out of nowhere. And I’m like ‘Oh, that must be from when I used to listen to these songs’, which is interesting. But yeah, I wouldn’t say he’s like the forefront of my inspiration as an artist.
Then who are those artists for you that you intentionally use as inspiration?
It started off with early Ed Sheeran, when I was in high school, he was the first artist that I listened to that really caught my attention and inspired me to write songs. Then over the years, it was like, Coldplay, Jack Garrett, The 1975, and random artists I would just listen to obsessively for months at a time. Some of them are not really that well known, kind of just pretty random artists that I found in rabbit holes on YouTube and just ended up getting obsessed with. Lately, I’ve been into a lot more indie rock stuff and starting to venture back into older music, such as the old Elvis records and stuff. And I’ve started collecting vinyls, which I don’t have a record player for yet.
What’s your songwriting process like? And what inspires you to write lyrics?
It’s a lot of personal experiences. But I also do like just writing stories that have nothing to do with me as well. A lot of my earlier songs that I released were honestly just made up. And I’ve found ways to connect to them, as I’ve grown older, which is weird. There are songs that I wrote where, at the time, I had no connection to it, but now I do. It kind of just feels like I was foreshadowing my life or some shit. But I genuinely am not a lyrical person. I usually start writing melodies first, and lyrics tend to form phonetically as I’m writing, and then I’ll catch on to certain lines and run with them.
Do you have a favourite song from those old ones you were talking about?
I think ‘Gone’ has a special place in my heart, but also from my first EP, ‘Sweet Caledonia’ is really special to me. I wrote ‘Gone’ about my parents and what it might be like to lose the love of your life because my parents are still together, they’re very much in love and both of them are alive. And randomly one day I was just thinking about how heartbreaking it would be if one of them passed away. Not for myself, obviously it will be heartbreaking for me, but how heartbreaking it would be for my dad if my mum passed away, or vice versa. And then I tried writing a song about it from that perspective. And with ‘Sweet Caledonia’, I think mainly lyrically and the way that the song moves – I just feel very proud of how those two turned out.
What’s your favourite song on your new EP?
I think my favourite one is ‘Never Let Go’, because it’s just a really fun, feel-good song and I haven’t really put one out like that in a little while. I’m really excited for that. I actually wrote it quite a while ago, a few years back with my friend Joel. And I haven’t gotten sick of it, which is crazy, because usually I get sick of a song that I write, within weeks. If a song survives months, it’s usually a good sign.
Is there a certain story behind your upcoming EP, was there a concept? Or did you just kind of write songs and they became an EP?
Basically, last year was a weird year for me mentally, with just a lot of shit going on. I felt like I just wanted to come back into this year with a project that was really representative of manifesting a future where I feel healed from the things that happened. I wanted to come back into the year and the first project to be mainly surrounding positivity. That’s what ‘Suddenly Okay’ means to me. The songs are pretty much exploring my experiences with love, and I’m doing three EPs this year, which are all under that same sort of theme. I wanted this one to be like, “Alright, I’m coming back with a positive attitude”. The tour is called “Suddenly Okay Tour” as well, and, to me, seeing fans and going back out on the road and being able to play for these people that haven’t or have seen me before, that’s what I feel will make me suddenly okay in that current moment. It’s interchangeable, but I mainly just wanted to bring positive energy into the start of the year.
When it comes to your sound, do you think it has changed a lot in the past few years? And do you think moving to L.A. has made an impact on your creativity?
Yeah, I feel like my sound has changed a fair bit. But it also hasn’t. I think definitely, if I listen back to old recordings like ‘Lost’ and ‘Gone’, that it’s way different. I think now things are just a lot more developed in general. Over the years I’ve gradually leaned more and more towards the more organic sounds. Especially with this new EP, everything feels a little bit more organic, for the most part, which I’m really excited for. I’m just really, really enjoying those organic kinds of soundscapes and I’m trying to bring that into my music a little bit. I’m very excited for this little next chapter of what I sound like!
And regarding LA., I think wherever you are in the world is inherently going to affect your creativity. I don’t know how L.A. has affected my creativity, but I think it has, in some kind of way. Sometimes, I think in some ways, negatively as well, which is something that I’m trying to manage and make sure it doesn’t overtake my process and consume me. I think, really, it’s just making sure you get out of the city as much as you can. Because it can be quite an isolating space, and especially the scene here is very much revolving around co-writing, and getting into sessions with people that you’ve never met before. And you’ve got to get to know them in a couple of hours, and then write a song from the depths of your heart, and trust them with all this stuff that you’re telling them, which is just an unnatural process. I feel like those kinds of situations, I try to avoid, but at the same time, you kind of do it because you’re exploring new spaces, and you might potentially find new collaborators that become a part of your world. It’s a bit of a balance, and it’s give and take, but that’s kind of where my head is at with Los Angeles at least.
What is your favourite part about being a musician? Would you say it is the songwriting process or do you prefer to be on tour?
It’s pendulum kind of, swings back and forth a bit. But I think ultimately, performing is my favourite part of all of this. Playing to the crowd, especially a crowd that’s receptive and is just into it is the craziest feeling. But I also really enjoy production and writing. It’s just depends on where my head’s at, really.
What would you say is your brand as a musician? Is there something you want to be known for or stand for as an artist?
My main thing is just the music. Honestly, I just really love making music that makes people feel things. I just want to be, like, a place that people can go to, to hopefully offer a form of catharsis. I want to continue to make music that people can move through emotions with.
On your social media, you come across as very relatable and humble, is that something that you consciously intend to portray or is that just who you are and you don’t really care about what you post online?
Oh, I’m mainly just being myself. I think the more that I care about what I post on social media, the more crippling it becomes. I just try to be myself and if people don’t like that and they unfollow me, then whatever. But a lot of people appreciate it, I’ve noticed. So, it’s really just me having fun, but there is an undertone for sure. Realising that by me just being myself, it encourages people as well to know that it’s okay to be a bit fucking weird sometimes. Some of the stuff I’ve posted on the internet is so questionable, but I don’t care if someone’s going to watch this and go like “Oh, that’s fucking weird!”. It’s okay to be a little weird. I hate social media, especially if it’s too serious.
Do you think social media plays a big role in your career, and do you think there are any gigs that you wouldn’t have gotten if it wasn’t for social media?
I think social media has played less of a role in my career than it has for a lot of other artists. There’s definitely a huge part of my career that social media has been a part of in terms opportunities and people finding me on the internet and reaching out. Of course, there’s always that kind of stuff. But I’ve never really been the kind of artist that’s had continuous viral moments online. To me, it’s more about slow and steady building, and just touring and playing in front of people, and streaming and letting people hear the music first. It’s not been the forefront of what’s building my career, I guess. I’m not a big fan of social media, I think it definitely negatively affects my whole creative process and my mental health constantly. I think it’s similar for people that use social media recreationally, as well as people who use it for business and for their careers, where you feel like your mental health is kind of dependent on your performance on social media. But I think, when you’re doing it as a job and as part of your career, especially a career in which you dedicate your whole life to, you then kind of attach your worth to social media, because that’s what the industry has attached its worth to. So, when you’re not doing well on social media, you’re not doing well in your head, because it’s your whole life, kind of just attached to an algorithm at this point, which is a super bipolar feeling. It’s really, really hard to navigate that.
Do you think social media affects your work in a negative way then? Do you ever feel disappointed if a post that you thought was going to be popular amongst your fans doesn’t do well? And do you find yourself questioning what you posted afterwards?
Every time I post, I feel that. I think it’s just the nature of posting something to real people that are going to see it and they’re going to have opinions. But I do think, for me, it’s also negatively affected my creative process a bit because I’ve started thinking about how songs might be perceived on TikTok, or how they might be perceived on social media in general, which is just the worst way to approach making music. And I try to actively take myself out of that, but sometimes it has just dug itself in there. And it’s not even something that I’m consciously thinking about. It’s a really tricky one for me because I know it’s necessary for building a career and all that, but it is so detrimental to the creative process. The only silver lining with all of it is the fact that I get to interact with people that listen to my music. That’s the only thing that’s keeping me from deleting everything right now, the fact that I get to log on and I get to see messages and comments from people and am able to respond and see who’s listening to my music. That’s the best part, for sure.
Do you have any advice for someone who’s just starting out with their music career?
I think speaking from personal experience, I found my stride through songwriting, learning how to produce and getting out of my hometown and into a city that was more of a hub for the career I wanted to pursue. In the beginning, I was doing covers and stuff like that. Then I started to look into learning and developing my skills as a songwriter, as well as learning how to produce my music. I really felt like I was starting to work towards something because, ultimately, I was making songs that you could put on and listen to. And it became part of who I am and my building blocks as the artist that I’m trying to become. When I started travelling to other places, earning my money by busking, I would fly over to Los Angeles and network and try and meet people. And then I’d fly back to Perth, do more busking and rinse and repeat. My ultimate goal was to try to just to bring a team around me, before I started putting music out, which I luckily achieved. I think my main advice, to sum it up, is to learn how to produce learn how to write, and just insert yourself into areas that are essential for your future music career.
Is there a specific goal you have set yourself for this year, not necessarily to do with music or your career, but just anything that you really want to achieve?
I think this year, for me, is honestly just really trying to implement a lot more discipline into my life. I’d love to come out the other side of this year, having a much more structured approach to my life. Not necessarily structured in the sense of, everything’s regimented, but more just like, “I have a general default baseline routine” kind of thing. I’d love to come out the other side of this year with something like that, not only just for productivity but also just to challenge myself mentally and help foster an environment for my mental health to flourish more. I feel like one thing I found is, when you’re not proud of yourself and your behaviours or tendencies, whatever that may be, and when you’re not proud of your day, it becomes a lot easier to look down on yourself mentally. And I think so long as you’re able to just get up and put one foot in front of the other and have some kind of routine you can try and follow daily, or as much as you can, that would help a lot with mental health. I’ve noticed that has helped me a lot. So, I’d love to try and really put a lot more effort into doing that.
Written by Vicky Madzak
GEM Magazine 