ROZES - i don't know where i'm going, but i'm on my way EP

ROZES
i don't know where i'm going, but i'm on my way EP
2018
Spotify

If you don't know ROZES you might recognize her from the Chainsmokers breakthrough hit "Roses" the song compelled the DJ duo to massive stardom. The DJs work with Emily Warren and other female vocalists now, but it all started with ROZES and that song. Since then she has teamed up with other DJs like Cash Cash, but nothing has stuck quite like that first song. When the Chainsmokers started their meteoric rise ROZES was brought along here and there but soon became almost an after thought. The singer songwriter was not deterred, and continued to make music releasing this new EP i don't know where i'm going, but i'm on my way. You get her unique vocal delivery over more EDM beats on this album, clearly trying to chase the success that she once saw, but this time around the song feature much more lyrical depth. She is however still trying to play in the exact same modern electronic pop lane which feels a little odd. When someone wants to break the one hit wonder moniker they usually take a complete left turn, but ROZES leans in on this record. She goes for an EDM sound that is about three years behind, and the album suffers because of it. There are plenty of modern elements and some of them even work, but the vibe is far too locked into that build build drop idea. The lyrics are actually quite sad and poignant on songs like "Where Would We Be" as she postulates what might have happened if she never moved to LA to chase that Chainsmokers fame.

ROZES feels totally comfortable in this place though. The songs don't feel forced or like she felt she had to create EDM, it just feels like her natural inclination, which is kind of odd. She seems like she would be so much more of a singer songwriter type, which is what her early work was. Now she seems stuck in an EDM loop that she just can't escape. You want to root for her, but the music seriously sounds like it is pumping our of a Las Vegas pool party. The lyrics vanish amongst the big drops and you loose the story of a girl struggling with sudden success which didn't quite turn out like she maybe could have imagined. To me that is a much more compelling story, and doesn't need dance music to be told. Sure you could blend this sound in, and maybe even give the record a whole other cool dimension. Yet she instead allows the lyrics to tell her story, but you never get to experience them. You want to root for ROZES and hope she succeeds, but doing it on her terms is the only way that is going to happen. Leave EDM behind, everyone else is.

5.8 out of 10