I am not sure why Isla Rose liked my Instagram post, but on my fifth listen through of her 14 minute EP No Answers, I am so grateful she did.
The Kentucky born UK based singer, is pretty active on social media with a presence that is authentic, fun, and enticing. She has Tik Tok where she shows you the true meaning of bedroom pop: recording with equipment in her closet. My favorite Tik Tok has to be one where she aggressively flips her hair while playing the piano, guitar, and writing music because she forgot to put it up: it's funny, charming, it's real.
Her most recent stakes the claim she will release a second EP, sell out a tour, and headline Glastonbury in the next 3 years. As the sound she uses asks what gave her the confidence to say this, she lip syncs to say "delusion".
I do not think it is a delusion at all.
I am not sure who her target audience is, but when a 14 minute, 4 song EP can touch on four very different areas someone's musical journey, that's special.
In 14 minutes, I was in high school listening "Born to Die" by Lana Del Rey. I was a freshman in my college dorm room listening to "Wildest Dreams" by Taylor Swift. I was a post-grad volunteer teacher in Kansas City listening to "Lost Time" by LÉON. To now, a 27 year old teacher listening to Chelsea Cutler, LANY, and Anna of the North: all ironically upbeat sad songs.
Isla Rose needs to be on your radar: jump aboard now, so you can savor her impending rise and eventually struggle with the feelings that come with watching your best kept secret make it big.
Though the four songs go quick, and I am left wanting more, here are my thoughts on this debut EP from Isla Rose.
My Adeline
Didn't tell her when you lit that fire / It was only going to make her blind / Now I'm standing in the darkness / I won't let her get away this time.
I thought she sampled Lana del Rey to start. I actually restarted the song and looked at the lyrics to see if she was featured. Then almost a second later, I thought I was listening to LÉON, but as the song kept going, it was abundantly clear, nope, this is Isla Rose.
The snare and kick drum are perfectly placed to make you involuntarily sway side to side in the way sad indie pop does. You are caught in this joyfully sad mix of emotions when you realize what the song is saying but the sound is just so infectious.
It’s the perfect first song to peek your interest into what these four songs could be. Its lyrics are deeper than the radio pop song, yet the sounds make you want to stand in the middle of a purple lit dance-floor with one arm straight up as the other glides down and across your shoulders to open your chest and stare at the ceiling as you try to heal your heart.
I’m Sorry
So tell me how to breathe / when you’re trying to run / with your heart torn apart / And tell me how you see / With your eyes in the dark / with nowhere to start.
With the layered echo of the words "do you hear me screaming", the pain she wants taken away, the blood on her knees, the breath she is trying to catch with her broken heart, are all clear.
With a deep breath to start and her prominent vocals placed in the foreground devoid of much musical sound, "I'm Sorry" has major Taylor Swift vibes. Much like My Adeline though, as you're listening you're just throwing yourself back and forth. As the beat builds, your knees start to bend quicker and quicker, and your hips are facing left and right.
This song is a bit more of a deep cut than the first, but in the Taylor Swift “this is sad, yet I want to scream it along in my car” type of way.
The chorus is reminiscent of John Newman’s love me again and the song is just as infectious.
Let Me Take You
My heart is racing / it’s overtaking / bleeding in your energy / intertwined / All the time/ Swallow you like ecstasy / and I’m hypnotized/ I've lost my mind.
With the deeper, more raspy start, the breathy end to the chorus, and the high notes on the bridge, "Let Me Take You" carries the Taylor Swift vibe of "I'm Sorry".
With the synth layered in the background, this one has to be the deepest cut. The drums are really heavy, and they set a different tone when compared to the past two songs.
You don’t want to dance to "Let Me Take You" so much as want to sit and listen to what she is saying.
You Eyes
But you can be my heartbeat / In between my bed sheets / Tell me I'm on your mind / Why do I do this all the time / But your eyes / Are all I see
Be my dose of morphine / Straight into my blood stream / Tell me that you're all mine / Why do I do this every time / and I'm blind / Form those beautiful / Eyes
On "Your Eyes", you really really hear Isla Rose. It is reminiscent of Lana Del Rey and LÉON: the cadence she is singing, the depth of her voice, the way she holds notes.
But she still is striking her own chord.
I think this is my favorite song. The delivery of the opening just catches you. The way she holds notes and drops the the end of her verses. It’s the perfect juxtaposition of sound.
She soothes you into this lullaby like state as she drifts you through impeccably rhymed lines with the kick drum in the back. Then, the chorus kicks in and sends you into this ethereal space like high: you are suddenly floating. Though suspending you between these two spaces, the calm never leaves. The whispers of the bridge bring you to the chorus one last time before the song closes with roughly 30 seconds of this intangibly celestial sounds that fade into the silence that now surrounds you.
And like that, 14 minutes has gone by.
I'll say it again: Isla Rose needs to be on your radar. I am not the first, and I won't be the last to say that either. Be sure to catch her second EP in 2024, her sold out tour in 2025, and her headlining set at Glastonbury in 2026: we're manifesting this.
Webiste: https://www.islarosemusic.com/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/islarosemusic/
HI!
I am not sure if you are here from an email, my Instagram, Medium, LinkedIn, or something else entirely, but I am appreciative of the fact you made it to the end!
If you found something worthwhile, don't be stingy, share the wealth! If you are not getting emailed each time I publish a new post, be sure to click the Mailing List Button: I do not post everything to other outlets.
Comments