ROZES Talks Working With The Chainsmokers, Touring With MAX And Upcoming EP

Singer ROZES, who’s collaborated with The Chainsmokers in the past and recently released her latest solo single “Famous,” is currently on tour with “Lights Down Low” singer MAX.

At the 24-year-old’s New York City tour stop on Saturday, International Business Times sat down with her to discuss how she found her way into the music world, what it was like working with The Chainsmokers and what music she has coming up.

The Philadelphia native grew up singing in church and learning to play instruments. She would practice so much that her mom “would have to beg” her to stop for dinner. That’s when her dream really hit her.

“It kind of became this dream of mine to never have to put down my instrument,” she told IBT. “So, I guess that’s what I'm kind of trying to do right now.”

Though ROZES always wanted to pursue music, she decided to still attend college, while writing songs on the side. It was during this time, while she was at community college, that she wrote a song for Australian producer Just a Gent called “Limelight.” This was only the third song she’d released under her moniker ROZES, but it turned out to be a huge turning point in her music career

The next step on her path was a massive hit with The Chainsmokers in 2015 called “Roses.”

“The Chainsmokers found that song [‘Limelight’] and that’s how it kind of all happened,” ROZES said. “And the funny thing is, I wrote that song…just sitting there, doing makeup in the mirror, getting ready to go out. And so, I guess I was ‘discovered’ on SoundCloud [where the song was released].”

After producing duo Andrew Taggart and Alex Pall found her music on SoundCloud, they knew they wanted to work with her, so they reached out to make it happen.

“The Chainsmokers followed me on Twitter and then they messaged me and were like, ‘Hey, what’s up? We would love to collaborate with you, we found your song Limelight.’”

She was still in school when all of this happened and remembers walking around in her college grocery store when they contacted her on Twitter. It was a moment she’ll “never forget,” after all. She messaged them back that she was interested and then they decided on a day to meet each other and create a song together.

“We wrote [‘Roses’] together in Drew’s apartment in Manhattan. I remember showing up to the door and they were like, ‘I thought you would be taller,’” she recalled of the experience. “I remember Alex answering the door and he’s like, ‘I really honestly thought you would be taller and have an afro’ and I was like, ‘That is the best answer I’ve ever heard, but, nope, this is me, I’m 5’1” and I’m blonde.’ It was amazing.”

They ate Chinese food and hung out for a few hours before working on the track, which only took about an hour to finish. Later, when the song eventually came out and started to rise on the charts, ROZES admits that it was hard for her to “sit down and appreciate the moment” because she’s always striving to do more and to be better. Though, she does recall one moment where the song’s success started to hit her.

“I try to remember all the time what it was like when I first knew it was going off and I remember sitting at my parent’s pool and hearing it,” she said. “I heard it on the radio that they were listening to and I was like, ‘Oh my God, this is happening.’ For me, obviously it was amazing, when you hear your voice on the radio, when you hear people singing it out at concerts.”

After the success of “Roses,” she decided to take a break from school to pursue music full-time.

“Everything takes a while to develop, so with music, I wanted it to be that I was so busy with music that I couldn’t possibly do anything else.” ROZES said. “And that’s what it became, so it was perfect.”

After the Chainsmokers collaboration, she kind of “snowballed” into the collaboration world, working on songs with Logic, Big Gigantic, Cash Cash and Galantis.

Now, the singer is currently working on an EP, which should be released in 2018, while touring with MAX on his Meteor Tour. Touring and working on music goes hand in hand, as ROZES and MAX are working on a new song together.

While she keeps busy with the music aspect of her life, she also aims to be an inspiration to others and to “stand for something.”

She’s started a street team called the Roze Garden, which aims to not just help promote her music, but, more importantly, to fight bullying, fight for the LGBTQ community and many other causes. Those who want to join the “movement” and share their stories can email officialrozegarden@gmail.com.

Tickets to see ROZES on tour can be purchased here and her new music can be listened to and purchased here.