Katy Rose first made a splash with her hit “Overdrive” which was featured on the Mean Girl’s soundtrack (so fetch). After growing up in the spotlight and parting ways with her label, Katy is now taking control of her career and sound. Her striking music video for her new song “Bleed” is out now , and you can watch here!
We spoke with Katy about her musical family, her new music, and her favorite songs at the moment. Check it out!
How did you get your start in music?
All I had to do to get started in music was enter the world, really. My mother was a recording artist in her own right and was a professional background singer, and my father played/plays keyboards for bands and artists like Crosby, Stills, & Nash and Elton John. I grew up in a recording studio!
Who or what has inspired your sound and latest single, “Bleed?”
I’m always initially inspired by my own first person experiences and those I experience in the second person through my close friends. “Bleed” is really a song about not acting in an upstanding way. It’s about being selfish and lazy and staying in a relationship just because you don’t want to or trust yourself to be alone with your own thoughts. I’d say that it’s a dramatic rendition of one of my more personal stories. Musically, I really worked on bringing a modernized twist to some of the more ‘90s and early ‘00s sounds and production I grew up loving!
What is your favorite live show memory?
Gosh. This is a tough question! I think it’s a tie between opening for Pharrell in Paris and playing a very strange show at 1AM in a medieval bar in Zurich, Switzerland. There were about four very drunk and joyous Swiss men in the audience. During one of our last songs, they got absolutely ecstatic during a bass solo and began chanting “BASS LINE, BASS LINE” to the utter delight of my bass player and everyone else onstage. I don’t think any of us had ever experienced such specific and genuine love for a “bass line” during a rock concert. It was amazing and hilarious in a very “Spinal Tap” way.
What would be your dream tour and why?
In my dream world, I would tour the world with PJ Harvey, Fiona Apple, and Tori Amos forever! I knew Tori when I was very young, and she was a huge role model. Fiona inspired my early songwriting and life as a teenager, later becoming a dear friend. I love her a lot. PJ is the ultimate example of maintaining artistic integrity while forging on with a long and fruitful career. She is such a hero to me. What a full tour that would be!
Tell us about your writing process; any unusual quirks?
I tend to be pretty detached and dreamy, generally speaking. I’ve found that I really need a profound amount of solo, zoning out time every day. That’s usually when the lines and concepts and melodies come. It’s rare that anything I’d consider brilliant or worthy of further exploration comes to me when my feet are firmly on the ground these days. I sort of need to leave this realm to linger in contemplation on the interesting ideas. I hope that that makes sense! Haha
What’s your favorite song to cover?
I love to cover “Marianne” by Leonard Cohen, “Doll Parts” by Hole, and “High and Dry” by Radiohead. Those are kind of my go-to strum along songs for parties or quiet nights home alone. I’ve also recorded and released a few covers and play some live. I used to cover “Blister in the Sun” by Violent Femmes and “Voices Carry” by Til Tuesday. I also recently did a video and recording of The National’s PERFECT song, “Fireproof.”
If you were to create a “soundtrack to your life,” what songs would be on it?
Oh! This question is the hardest of all! I think that the answer to this probably changes about every six months, to be fair. Right now, I’d say that the top six life anthem tunes would have to be “Homeward Bound” by Simon and Garfunkel, “Crucify” by Tori Amos, “The Night Josh Tillman Came to Our Apartment” by Father John Misty, “Paper Bag” by Fiona Apple, “The Last Living Rose” by PJ Harvey, and “All is Full of Love” by Bjork.
Filed under: Creation Stories Tagged: bleed, Creation Stories, katy rose, mean girls, overdrive