Alessi Rose

rumination as ritual, the debut EP by Alessi Rose, arrives like a shot of adrenaline straight to
pop’s heart. The London-based, East Midlands-born musician makes genre-mash songs that
crackle with the torturous thrill of heartbreak, self-discovery and new romance, Alessi’s
disparate musical and lyrical ideas fused together by the sheer power of her self-taught
songwriting ability. Wise beyond her years but writing with the in-the-moment recklessness of
any self-respecting 21-year-old, Alessi is a sly, acerbic new voice in pop, a self-made star with
plenty of talent to burn.
Born in Derby, East Midlands, Alessi was drawn to the stage from a young age, enrolling in
singing lessons as a child and taking an instant shine to musical theatre. Raised by a mum who
loved ‘80s new wave and a dad who loved country music – “My dad put me on to Taylor Swift,
which is funny,” she quips – she remembers feeling creative from a young age, entering poetry
competitions in school and eventually combining her fondness for that form with the skills she
was learning in singing and piano lessons. It was a strike of youthful ingenuity that led to her
actually sharing her talent with the world: after seeing Gracie Abrams posting 30-second clips of
herself performing to camera, and seeing some flicker of resemblance in Gracie’s
conversational, casual style, Alessi decided to start posting videos of herself performing in her
bedroom, too.

You can understand why the fans, as well as outlets like NME and Popjustice, have cottoned on
so strongly to Alessi’s style. Songs like “situationship,” are fan-favourite tracks that Alessi initially
posted on TikTok and finished at the behest of her superfans; “Lucy” digs into female
friendships, and the surreal feeling of hating someone that everyone else likes. “I feel like
people don’t want to admit stuff like that,” she says. “break me” captures the messy, youthful
thrill of self-sabotage, “and knowing that something’s not going the right way but letting it
happen anyway,” she says.
These songs capture Alessi Rose as she is right now – messy and flawed, but self-possessed
and in-tune with her emotions all the same. rumination as ritual captures her brilliant songwriting
ability in its nascent stage, raw and oh-so-real and addictively listenable. As for Alessi, she’s
already onto the next thing. “My next body of work, I just want it to be bigger,” she says. “I want
to be outrageously myself.”