Features : Rose Prince kicks off his career with pop/rap after-party party track “Freak”

It’s called “Freak.”

“It’s a song about the after-party,” he said. “I write the music that I want to listen to. I want to be able to turn on music and hear and feel the same energy that I have when I’m at an after-party and it’s, like, 3:30 a.m.”

Me and her just friends
But a friend brought a friend
She gon’ take off all my clothes
Not the rose on my neck
Wear the rose ’til the end

…Referring to the rose-design necklace that he frequently wears. “It’s really the details that make it appealing.”

Rose Prince is a Bay Area Californian transplanted to Austin, Texas. He has been writing music since he was 12 or so, about 14 years now. He describes his first professionally produced song as “sort of early, mid-2000s electronic pop.”

“It’s like 2008 to 2014 Drake, Weeknd, Blackbear, right when the singing rapping genre was becoming popular, combined with this pulsing electronic rhythm. It’s almost like turning rave music into pop rap.”

Singing- rap is among the music that lands with him, and the after-party vibe is also him.

“Those are some of the songs that I like to listen to the most, because it is just line after line of what resonates with me.”

And that is the way “Freak” is delivered, line after line with the beat rolling along and the ringing melody punctuating the lyrics.

Got a stud
On her tongue
She can’t seem to get enough
Now my homie need a bump
So he can drive straight

“It was a lot of fun to write,” he said.

“If you’re somebody who likes to sleep in until noon and lives for 5 a.m. and goes home when the sun is coming up? This is the song for you.

He added, “I am one of those people.”

His artist name comes from, wait for it, flowers.

“I know it sounds shallow to say that I’ve always loved flowers, but I’ve always loved flowers, roses in particular.”

Still, though, he doesn’t know exactly where the name comes from. It just kind of popped up, “and it felt extremely right.”

“I just remember that ever since it occurred to me, it was going to be my artist name.”

That is the approach he takes to his music. For instance, he issues a standing invitation to any fans hitting the Austin area: Look him up on Instagram, get in touch, get together for a TikTok video.

His artistry is about taking all kinds of music that he likes and turning it into a distinctly Rose Prince kind of pop. After 14 years, he has a lot of music that he is now working on to see what he wants to put out.

He plans to pull an EP out of the material he has on hand.

“Believe me,” he said, “I’ve written so many shitty songs, that I’ve spent a lot of time homing in on which are the songs I want to define and be associated with me as an artist.”

He’s also figuring out the business, deciding how to coordinate the releases, which ones to make singles, which to group with the EP, other stuff.

Like, “Oh, man! This one has a really great first verse and chorus, but I don’t have a second verse or a bridge for it.”

“There’s a fair bit of production and polish that needs to go into a lot of it, too, but, absolutely, I have a pretty broad repertoire of songs that I’ve built up over the years.”

One of the songs he is working on has violins and horns and a lot of classical elements that he’s “turning into a pop song.” His style is to take a lot of different styles and puts them together.

But I would say it all falls under the umbrella of pop music because, thematically, it’s what popular culture can relate to. It’s emotions, breakups, love, sex, depression, despair — you know, reflections on society that is in a sort of standard verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus type format that’s what I consider pop music.”

His next song, in fact, is a breakup song about someone who left the singer but is back and wants to get back together but it’s not going to happen. “That kind of song.” It’s called “You Wish.”

“It’s more of a guitar, indie punk style,” he said.

He wants “to be the next pop sensation, basically.”

And he’s starting with “Freak.”

“It’s like 2 a.m. and the bars close, but the party doesn’t stop. ‘Freak’ is about the ideal night.”

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