Love Is Not Linear: ROSIE on Navigating Heartbreak in “Good for Me”
Love rarely is perfect. It can be followed by messy tears, heart wrenching feelings and a certain numbness. Sometimes, leaning into self-love is the best defense for overcoming hardships such as breakups and losses. Through that love, there’s a deeper introspection of realizing your worth and fully stepping into your own power; an alignment with the truest version of yourself.
Singer and songwriter ROSIE is truly a rarity, going through a depth of emotion and channeling it into her songwriting in hopes of listeners relating to her experiences and vulnerability. For as long as ROSIE has been writing, she’s been balancing the dark with the light, the good with the bad with grace and beauty. By turning personal hardships into lessons of growth and beauty, ROSIE pushes the unfiltered narratives in her storytelling aspects.
ROSIE’s storytelling skills and heart-wrenching instincts are stronger than ever in latest release “Good For Me.” ROSIE’s emotive vocals are captured best in “Good For Me,” the propulsive exploration of recovering from heartache. She says, “‘Good For Me’ is about my journey with self-love and how it took me loving and losing someone else to see that I need to find my worth within myself. The song taught me that you can’t feel joy without feeling pain too and that love isn’t linear.”
Guided by transparency, ROSIE had a moment of transparency throughout the creation of “Good For Me.” She sings with self-assurance and a dazzling gleam of hope in the bridge, “One day I’ll wake up and I’ll see that I’m enough like you always knew.”
“I really liked that concept because this whole time I'm in my head thinking I'm not good enough for this person and it's my fault, and then you hit the bridge and you realize you have this moment of like no, you always knew I was good enough,” ROSIE says. “You always said I was good enough. I felt this way, and one day I’ll feel about me the way you feel about me.”
There is a common saying of “there can’t be a breakthrough without a breakdown.” It’s more than heartbreak, it’s finding yourself over and over in the process of building yourself up from the ashes from the challenges and life lessons through relationships.
“The song is about actually finding yourself and finding your worth,” ROSIE says. “So I think one day I'll wake up, see that I'm enough captures the whole essence of the song.”
What you see is what you get with ROSIE— no filters, no Facetune, no makeup, no bullshit. The New York-native gained a massive online following over the course of the pandemic with her introspective songwriting and refreshing approach to discussing mental health. "I want to be transparent. Everything is exactly as it appears,” she says. “The scale of emotions that everyone feels is such a spectrum. The bad days are equally as important as the good days. Be strong when you're feeling strong, be vulnerable when you're feeling vulnerable.”
[UNPUBLISHED]: Thank you for sitting down and talking to Unpublished Magazine. You just released your single “Good For Me” and it takes an introspective deep dive into navigating relationships and heartbreak. What was the inspiration behind the song?
[ROSIE]: I recently went through a situation, I don't want to exactly call it a breakup, but I experienced a situation where I had to let someone go because of how deeply I cared for them. I've never been in that kind of relationship before and have had to end that kind of relationship before, and it's one thing to end a relationship because someone stops caring or because it's not mutual or because something's not working. But it's another thing to end a relationship because everything is working, and it's just not the right time or it's not the right place. So the point is that writing “Good For Me” was actually more of a therapy for me, kind of figuring out all of my emotions and I think at the end of the song, I really find that clarity of figuring out what I need and how to move forward.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Thank you for sharing. Since the song touches on heartbreak, what is some relationship advice that you would give to your younger self or wish someone had given you when unpacking heartbreak and emotions that come with it?
[ROSIE]: Really good question. The advice I would give is that you by being yourself is always enough. So if something isn't working out or if you get broken up with or something ends, it's not because you weren't right for them. It's because they weren't right for you and what you need.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Your songwriting touches on a lot of personal reflections and experiences in your own life. What is it like to create such intimate songs to share with the world?
[ROSIE]: It's really scary because I am known for being honest and I am completely honest about how I feel and those really are my genuine thoughts and feelings. I would say the most anxiety-inducing part was actually the process before putting it out, because the process before meant listening to it over and over and cutting the vocals and finding the right instruments and that is really draining because when it's about such a heavy subject that I truly am still going through. It was really exhausting. I found the release. I was like, ‘okay, I've done my work, I've put in the effort and now I'm ready for the world to have it.’ This is one of the only songs that I was actually less anxious putting out and more anxious creating.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What is your favorite lyric that stands out to you the most? Is there a specific message that kind of draws you in?
[ROSIE]: The lyric to me that feels really pivotal, like where everything changes is when I hit the bridge and I say ‘One day I'll wake up and I'll see that I'm enough like you always knew.’ I really liked that concept because this whole time I'm in my head thinking I'm not good enough for this person and it's my fault, and then you hit the bridge and you realize you have this moment of like no, you always knew I was good enough. You always said I was good enough. I felt this way, and one day I’ll feel about me the way you feel about me. I really liked that moment because it made me see my worth and hopefully listeners then when they hear it realize like it is so much more about heartbreak or not feeling good enough for someone. The song is about actually finding yourself and finding your worth. So I think one day I'll wake up, see that I'm enough captures the whole essence of the song.
[UNPUBLISHED]: “Good For Me,” has an empowering message and leaning into your own love and really relying on yourself. What are some ways that you show self love and care for yourself?
[ROSIE]: A good question and something I'm figuring out every day as someone who is never really in one place for a long time just because of my job and my career. I find that having a sense of home is my biggest form of self care. So, for example, no matter where I am in the world I always have my Hydro Flask, my water bottle and drinking water may seem like such a trivial thing, but it feels like a sense of home because no matter where I am in the world, I have this water bottle and I'm drinking water. I'm staying hydrated. It's the same with being active, just because I can't go to the same gym every day or do the same workout or whatever. It's more about knowing that wherever I am in the world if I can find a way to be a little bit active. I get back into myself and like my home. Another way I care for myself is just having support from loved ones. So I know again, no matter where I am, I always talk to my brother. I can always talk to my mom, my dad, my best friend. Realizing that for me, I'm my best self when I can surround myself with the people who make me feel the best and that I can kind of give back to, and so having my phone on me knowing that I can have support that's another way for sure – and watching The Office.
[UNPUBLISHED]: That's so funny that you mentioned the feeling of home. I always say it's so important to create safe spaces for yourself everywhere you go, and that's like a huge reflection of your inner and outer worlds right there.
[ROSIE]: My tour bandmates say ‘home is wherever your retainer is.’ That concept of wherever you bring your routine, like that's where your home is.
[UNPUBLISHED]: You just also finished up touring with Jake Scott. How's that experience been?
[ROSIE]: Amazing. The thing about Jake and his team is I think what really sets him apart is that they really truly are equally as good humans as they are talented. That's just something that me and my team really live by, like our philosophy is to just surround ourselves with good people as well as talented musicians. I can genuinely say that Jake, his tour manager, his musicians and his band – down to the very last person on his touring team – they're all such incredible people and it was really, really inspiring to see the team work like that and just to be so respectful and so kind.
[UNPUBLISHED]: Do you have any pre-show or post-show rituals to help ensure that you play your best show for the night?
[ROSIE]: Yes, I'm very superstitious and I have a whole routine. So first, I vocal steam which for any young musicians basically what it is is like a nebulizer so it just opens up your vocal cords and it steams them and hydrates them. Then always, always, always I'll do vocal warm ups. So I have a little clip on my phone and it's usually like anywhere from five to 12 minutes, I'll do vocal warm ups. Then this is where we start to get interesting, I have to meditate before I go on stage. I can't explain it to you, but whether it's like two minutes or 10 minutes, I will always meditate. Then this is actually scary because we do this every single night, before I go on stage, the last thing I do is I have rosewater and I spray it on all of my team, so tour manager, band photographer, ect… and then we have a handshake, it's super easy, but we pass through the handshake and we have to do the rosewater before we go on the stage. The last thing I do before I go on, I have this phrase which is that ‘I am coming from a place of love and gratitude.’ No matter what I do, no matter how I do on stage, I'm coming from a place of love and gratitude and therefore everything is going to work. I have an anxiety disorder. I'm very, very anxious and so I have all these little rituals that really settle me down and just always right before I go on stage just being like, I'm grateful that I'm doing this because I love it and therefore I'm the luckiest person ever, then going on stage, that is exactly my routine.
[UNPUBLISHED]: I love that because having a routine that embraces discipline, especially as an artist or creative, I just think that's such a powerful tool that will manifest itself in so many beautiful ways for your future endeavors and performances.
[ROSIE]: I think also what's really interesting is that there will be nights when I can't meditate or there will be nights where I you know I can't vocal steam, but because I have this ritual, if I miss one or two, it doesn't make a difference because it's like the point is, I have it and I have my tools there. Just because one night I can't use all the tools in my toolbox doesn't mean I didn't do my ritual. The other thing is by having a little list of things, maybe one night I don't meditate, maybe one night I don't do vocal warmers for more than two minutes, but I'll have the rest in place. It's okay that a couple of things are missing because at the end of the day like it's still there, I still have the general routine.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What’s your favorite song to perform live and why?
[ROSIE]: My favorite song to perform is “Next Life” because anyone who's like seen a live concert knows I have this little speech at the beginning and I basically ask everyone I'm like, ‘okay, can you help me out,’ because there's two notes and it happens every chorus. That's all you have to do. I explain that the purpose is to let go of everything you've been going through for three minutes. Nothing else matters. We're just going to exhale. What happens is when I raise my hand during the show, that's how you know it's time to sing, and so what happens is the song starts really quiet and as we build the crowd gets louder, louder and louder. You just hear the whole crowd screaming and it's such a special experience because I think my intention is to create a space where everyone can just be free of all their feelings and everything they're going through for a second and you feel it in the room, you feel the energy.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What is a fun fact that not a lot of people know about you.
[ROSIE]: A fun fact about me is that I grew up an athlete. The reason this is fun is because if you look up my legal name on the internet, you will find my own cross country scores and my track stats, and I have had people DM me be like ‘Rosie, you ran 800 meters.’ So a fun fact about me is if you were to find my legal name on the internet, you would definitely find all of my embarrassing numbers and stats.
[UNPUBLISHED]: How are you feeling in this current era of your career? You just finished touring, you just released a new single. What does the rest of the year look like for you that you would love to share with Unpublished Magazine?
[ROSIE]: We're wrapping up the year and truthfully, we have a lot planned for the new year. But the question was urging for the rest of year so the answer is I'm really going to try to prioritize writing for the rest of the year and I've been surrounded by people all year and I would really want December to be quiet, to just be more within myself and just sit at my piano for as long as I want. Sitting with my guitar as long as I want and just creating. I think that I've been in business mode, which is so important for the last 11 months out of the year, and we're entering the 12th month and I'm just so excited to just be by myself and write by myself and be back in my New York apartment.
[UNPUBLISHED]: What is your wildest dream as an artist? If you can have one thing happen to you, like a milestone or dream collaboration you hope to achieve in your career, what would that look like for you?
[ROSIE]: I love that question. I want to write a song and be the artist on the song and I want it to be a hit in the sense that it's top 40 or it goes number one, but I want this song to be one that raises awareness or one that makes people feel less alone. So it's kind of a two pronged goal because I want it to be number one. I want it to be a hit on the radio, but more importantly, I want to get a song to number one that is raising awareness or that has a higher purpose, so that's my goal. In terms of dream collaborators, I just really want to work with Taylor Swift. I think she's a genius. I would love to work with her and like Aaron Dessner and Justin Vernon.
