Stella Rose’s new EP, Hollybaby, was born in the hottest week of the LA summer. As temperatures soared to 100+ degrees, the music mirrored that uncomfortable intensity, feverish to the point of distortion. A NYC native, Rose’s relocation to the West Coast to begin this record provided enough distance from familiar surroundings to truly digest the narratives that define this body of work: notions of youth, chaos, addiction and beauty. The resulting EP feels like a ride through Rose’s subconscious, tracks are detailed with heavy panting as much as squealing guitars and beats that sound like they were thumped on the side of your skull, before dropping you into the beauty of final track, Drugstore Romeo, a delicate yet intense reflection on drug abuse. With the EP’s release, we asked Rose to take us through five points of reference that guided Hollybaby.

The Collective by Kim Gordon

“The oblique flow of this album heavily inspired me. Gordon’s undeniable swagger leaves you questioning any over complication to find meaning.”

Persona by Ingmar Bergman, 1966

“The masked actor. Premeditative romanticism of being someone else. This EP reflects this meaning entirely.”

Preliminary Materials for a Theory of The Young-Girl by Tiqqun

“This book was given to me and stayed on my desk throughout early writings of this EP. The “young girl” depicted is a vehicle for perpetuating a social construct, they frame this idea through a “traditional” female role. I found it reflective of this digital era of social media influencers. The young girl is the model consumer citizen – the perfect capitalist mechanism.”

On the very last page of Marlene Dumas’ Intimate Relations book
Name No Names, 2005, 31x 21.5 cm

“The faceless blonde surrounded by three men that feel like perched crows. She could be anyone but we as the viewer will never uncover her true identity.”

Los Angeles/New York
“This EP lives and breathes in Los Angeles and New York. Many mornings before working in the studio on the corner of Franklin and Argyle [in Los Angeles]. Whereas, when we finalised the EP in New York, The Chelsea Hotel was a returned nightcap.”

Stella Rose’s EP Hollybaby is out now.
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