Rose Gray has today announced details of her long-awaited debut album Louder, Please, which will see a release on Play It Again Sam on January 17th. The budding pop star, songwriter and DJ has also shared new single “Switch”, having teased the record with acclaimed summer bangers “Free” and “Angel Of Satisfaction”. With recent activity ranging from a hit collaboration with TSHA (‘Girls’) and performing at Glastonbury alongside Shygirl to launching her own club night – Rose presents Gray Selects – watch out for more from Rose Gray to follow soon.
From its instructive title to its unapologetic sound, Louder, Please is Rose Gray powerfully – but with quintessential, British politeness – backing herself (who she is, what she wants, and the artist she’s always had the potential to become). It’s a statement of intent reflected in the record’s breadth of collaborators, which span legendary pop kingpins Justin Tranter (Lady Gaga, Chappel Roan) and Zhone (Troye Sivan) to underground electronic heroes like Sega Bodega, Uffie and Alex Metric. Throughout Louder, Please pairs home truths with dance hedonism, summoning not just a transformative night out – the new faces and chosen family, ecstatic highs and crushing lows – but also telling Rose Gray’s story: a life lived through club music, and always to its fullest.
Louder, Please turns up the volume on the emphatic new single “Switch”, which celebrates the fluidity of relationships but also your firm sense of self. “Switching things up is hot and we don’t talk about it enough,” comments Rose. “Why must we be defined as one role in a relationship or personality type?” The album was previously previewed by first single “Free”, an anthem about those things in life which have no material costs and also truly matter. This summer, Rose foreshadowed the darker element of Louder, Please with “Angel of Satisfaction”, its pounding house and gothic camp exploring temptation after-dark, but also within the creative industries at large.
Confessions – and the occasional crisis – on the dancefloor have increasingly become Rose Gray’s calling-card. Quite literally born to do it (her birthday is New Year’s Eve), the Walthamstow-based artist has hustled behind-the-scenes with roles ranging from the cloakroom girl to roleplaying illnesses for medical students. Rose’s early releases – the Dancing Drinking Talking mixtape, plus the Higher Than The Sun and Synchronicity EPS – captured London living as its daily grinds fade into those no-regrets, coming-of-age experiences. They were met with widespread acclaim, sold-out headline shows, support across BBC Radio 1, and were followed by collaborations with the likes of Clipz and DJ Kungs (not to mention supporting and writing for Melanie C). It’s an outlook and refined aesthetic which Rose Gray takes to the next level on Louder, Please, which she has controlled from every beat up to its sun-kissed visuals: think Kylie’s ‘Slow’, meets Sexy Beast.
Introducing her debut album today, Rose Gray comments: “I’ve always been obsessed with LOUD music, from late night car journeys with my Popps as a kid to spending my teens glued to the speakers of clubs. The album title was born on the mic, a running joke where I was always asking for things to be louder (please). I’ve spent ten years writing for myself and others, exploring different cities and their parties – but I’ve always known that I was working towards a body of work that brought all that together, and represented all sides of me. There’s definitely something in my personality which loves the adventure, and is always searching for more: I’ve also had my heart broken, fallen back in love, and become a woman in the process. To me, Louder, Please captures the rave, the ethereal, my friends and our stories: it’s classic pop with its roots firmly in the underground. On a beach or in a club, I want these songs to find their homes in someone else’s life. So enjoy – but make sure you play it LOUD, please?”
Rose Gray – Louder, Please
Tracklist:
1. Damn
2. Free
3. Wet & Wild
4. Just Two
5. Tectonic
6. Party People
7. Angel Of Satisfaction
8. Switch
9. Hackney Wick
10. First
11. Everything Changes (But I Won’t)
12. Louder, Please
Stay tuned at Danceup Spotify Playlist and Listen to Rose Gray’s new music first
Photo Credit: Vasso Vu
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