︎ Tilly Bartelt ft. Rosie Alena, Boogaloo Radio, 30th March 2025

︎Rosie Alena explores end of a relationship across new EP, ‘Everyman’, Hard Of Hearing, 25th March 2025

        Sincere from start to finish, Rosie Alena’s sophomore EP ‘Everyman’ is a heartfelt letter detailing the strange array of emotions which oftentimes can overwhelm a person when experiencing the loss of a close relationship. Whether it is the positive feelings that come from a break-up and that chance to reset with a new-found independence, or the negativity and confusion which can arise from the sudden loss of a partner, with ‘Everyman’, Alena explores it all.
        Beginning with ‘Billboards’, the EP is ushered in in a calm and subdued manner, Alena’s voice gentle and soothing as it floats with the weight of a feather like a soft mist across that opening track. Alena says of the song, “Although ‘Billboards’ is the opening track of the EP, it is the last of the four songs I wrote and represents the finality of a relationship. It is about hearing rumours at parties about the man I used to be with and quite literally seeing his work plastered onto billboards. I no longer knew the ins and outs of his life but I was repeatedly bombarded by his name and presence. I felt deeply rejected and powerless in a situation I thought I had complete control over.”
        Following on from ‘Billboards’, title track ‘Everyman’ introduces itself with a range of percussion instruments being shaked, scraped and beaten, producing an alluring rhythm which is then joined by a minimalistic bass guitar riff and Alena’s vocals. Then comes the guitar in dragged-out strums and at this point the song really finds its feet, standing tall and directing a brave face to the sentiments it explores. Closing with ‘Babies’, strings sway us back and forth over fingerpicked guitar and Alena’s voice elegantly dances barefoot through it all, as on a starry night sky as she twists and turns amongst the chilled wind of a lonely evening, her heart on her sleeve.
        Released via South London label Plum Cuts, ‘Everyman’ is an uncompromising collection of songs, guiding the listener through an assortment of mercurial feelings that can just as easily welcome the morning sun as they can shroud the early hours of a sleepless night with a layer of cloudy darkness.

        - Otis Hayes

︎‘Everyman’ on Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour, BBC Radio 6 Music, 23rd March 2025

        Rosie Alena is someone I’ve worked with a couple of times. She’s got a gorgeous voice. This is her new single ‘Everyman’. It’s really simple and breezy and lovely and it’s got a great video too. Rosie Alena.

        - Guy Garvey

︎‘Billboards’ on The Neu Bulletin (Witch Post, Rosie Alena, L’objectif and more!), DIY, 21st March 2025

        Beginning with subdued vocals set against a haunting backdrop, Rosie Alena's 'Billboards' - lifted from her just-dropped EP 'Everyman' - is immediately striking, an eerily beautiful exploration of a ghostly relationship. Gradually introducing more electronic sounds before building to an impressive chorus, it's a track that sees her come into her own as both a singer and songwriter, possessing all the intimacy and immediacy of music's great storytellers.

        - Chris Connor

︎‘Babies’ on The Big Indie Playlist: The best new releases of the week, Far Out, 24th February 2025

        Rosie Alena – ‘Babies’: A truly stunning song. Rosie Alena’s voice sounds heavenly, the lyricism is heavy with feeling, and the orchestral details of the song elevate it all to greatness. A love song about the end of love; it’s a special one. [4/5]

       - Lucy Harbron

︎‘Babies’ on The Neu Bulletin (House Of Protection, Greta Isaac, MOULD and more!), DIY, 21st February 2025

        On latest EP teaser 'Babies', Rosie Alena sings with the utmost precision, unfolding the track's precious story like a gift: “You’re in season so I’ll let you grow…”. Beautiful, timeless, and wielding exactly the right amount of energy for an immersive balladic soundscape, nothing is wasted here: it's all achieved with simple guitar lines, warm, laconic strings - which veer into clashing notes just when required - and, of course, finely honed vocals. And as Rosie nears the song's end, you sense the excited restraint fizzing in her voice, deftly proving that sometimes minimalism can have the greatest impact.

       - Phil Taylor

︎Rosie Alena finds beauty in letting go on new single ‘Babies’, under the radar, 20th February 2025

        On Wednesday, we were blessed with the beautiful new single ‘Babies’, from London-based artist Rosie Alena. The single arrives as the third instalment of her upcoming EP, Everyman, out on March 19th via South London label Plum Cuts. Produced by her band and Oli Barton-Wood (Luvcat, Ezra Collective, Nilüfer Yanya), the track is an intimate and heartfelt reflection on loss and change.
        Emotional in its lyrics and sound, ‘Babies’ explores the feeling of grieving a future that will never happen. The song sits quietly in that moment of realisation—when someone you once imagined in your life is no longer there. It feels like a long goodbye, with delicate strings carrying you through the track. Rosie’s vocals feel effortless, each word delivered with an honesty that’s so intimate. Her voice almost floats through every song she sings on, holding all the emotion she seeks to convey. ‘Babies’ highlights not just Rosie’s versatility as a songwriter, but her ability to surrender completely to her music. It’s a beautiful example of the wonders that come from trusting your instincts.

       - Amelia Garrett

︎‘Everyman’ on Emily Pilbeam’s BBC Introducing Mixtape, BBC Radio 6 Music, 10th February 2025

    Going back to the playlist now, and I’ve got an utterly beautiful track to play for you now from artist Rosie Alena. The track is called ‘Everyman’. She says this tune is about “attempting to understand the surreal and unsettling ability we have to see lost or distant loved ones in the morphing faces of strangers”. Rosie Alena on 6 Music with ‘Everyman’.

    - Emily Pilbeam

︎‘Everyman’ on The Neu Bulletin (Esme Emerson, YAANG, Rosie Alena and more!), DIY, 24th January 2025  

   
        The title track from her forthcoming new EP, Rosie’s Alena’s ‘Everyman’ offers yet another gem from the South London auteur. Despite exploring the agonised and surrealist experience of grief in its lyrics - seeing, in Rosie’s words,  “lost or distant loved ones in the morphing faces of strangers” - it’s a music that yet stands strong, burnished and optimistic in the face of life's blustering whirlwinds of change. Add smart, free-flowing songwriting, a blissfully captivating lead vocal, and immaculate acoustic-pop stylings in the manner of Katy J Pearson or CMAT, and you have a recipe for repeated listens emerging before your very ears.

       - Elvis Thirlwell

︎‘Loophole’ on Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour, BBC Radio 6 Music, 13th January 2025

       New music now from Rosie Alena. I’ve played her on the programme before. I met Rosie when she was doing some singing for me on a soundtrack job I was doing with Peter Jobson and she sent me some of her music – always nerve-racking – and it’s just amazing. Her voice is wonderful and easy, but the lyrics are honest and complicated. This also has a terrific video with it, which I think helps you connect to the sentiment of the song as well as the artist. Once again, she’s called Rosie Alena. This is called ‘Loophole’. It’s about a period after her first long-term relationship ended and it’s about those grey areas, as all the best songs are – from Leonard Cohen’s ‘Famous Blue Raincoat’ to Joni Mitchell’s ‘See You Sometime’ – that grey area of “I feel free, I feel sad”. “I should feel bad, I don’t feel bad” sings Rosie. I mean just that lyric on its own tells you that we’re telling a true story here. Once again, go and have a look at the video. It’s Rosie Alena. The song is called ‘Loophole’, and I think it’s beautiful. Also I love where the chorus goes and her voice. Here we go!

        - Guy Garvey

︎Rosie Alena returns to her expansive original style on ‘Loophole’, Hard Of Hearing, 22nd November 2024

        Rosie Alena has made a triumphant return with her first single via South London based record label, Plum Cuts, founded by producer Oli Barton-Wood Following on from her trad-folk Double A, ‘Oh Dear, What Can The Matter Be’/’Silver Dagger’ (released with Broadside Hacks) new single ‘Loophole’ marks a return to her grand and expansive original style.
        Retaining elements of Alena’s folk influences, along with flourishes of Americana and shades of jangly, Brian Jonestown Massacre psychedelia, ‘Loophole’ is almost transcendental, a stunning three-minute cinematic spectacle. One of the most commanding and finest voices in contemporary grassroots music, the criminally underrated Alena produces vocals that gently introduce the song before erupting with a marvellous power that brings the song to almost Bond theme levels of epic.
        Accompanying the single comes a video made by Rosie Alena herself, along with Lara Laeverenz and Ciara Reddy.
        On ‘Loophole’, Alena says “Named after a night in Berlin, ‘Loophole’ erupted in the midst of a devastating yet exhilarating life shift. My steady six-year relationship that had spanned over my formative adolescent years was coming to an end; the certainty of forever had begun to feel uncomfortable and I was in need of new energy. The song is about navigating a delirious limbo stage of heartbreak where grief and uncertainty looms but the liberation of endless possibilities transcends.”
        Alena will also be celebrating the release of the single at The Ivy House this Friday, and if you haven’t witnessed one of her breathtaking shows before, you should change that, as it’s almost an out-of-body experience that’s not worth missing.

       - Brad Sked

︎Review of ‘Oh Dear, What Can The Matter Be / Silver Dagger’ in Shindig! Magazine, September 2024

        Simply seeing the title of the top side here immediately sparked memories of this writer’s ’70s childhood – a time when this 18th century nursery rhyme was a staple part of the aural diet, usually served up as a bouncy singalong.
        Here, however, in less than two minutes, London-based songstress Rosie Alena transforms the tune, bringing out the slow yearn and fret at the heart of the lyrics. Backed only by the stark, sparse cello of Haydn Wynn, the ache in her voice is transfixing and takes the listener straight back to the deep, dark roots of English folk music. ‘Silver Dagger’ is an old American folk ballad that exists in many different iterations, with the Joan Baez version being perhaps the best known. In the song, the female narrator turns down a potential suitor, having been warned off men by her heart-broken mother – across a haunting swirl of almost ambient string arrangements.

       - Hugh Dellar

︎Rosie Alena releases sparklingly otherworldly pair of folk adaptations, Hard Of Hearing, 10th July 2024

        Returning with a reworking of two folk classics comes one of the country’s most promising and underrated artists: South London based Rosie Alena. Released via part-collective, part-label Broadside Hacks – which is home to releases from the likes of The New Eves, Milkweed and Goblin Band and which these days feels as important to the alternative folk scene in Britain as Speedy Wunderground has been to post-punk – Alena’s return with this pair of tracks is nothing short of spellbinding.
        A rendition of ‘Oh Dear, What Can The Matter Be,’ an English nursery rhyme taken from the 18th century, transforms the song from a ditty into an out-of-body experience. A short, yet wondrous celestial serenade, the piece is dreamily psych-tinged yet retains a traditional folk authenticity. Her adaptation of ‘Silver Dagger,’ perhaps best known for Joan Baez’ rendition, feels wondrously baroque in its cinematic scope. Through sparkling keyboards and groaning cello seep Rosie Alena’s otherworldly vocals, setting the uneasy lyrics on some heavenly plain.
        This resplendent and enchanting duo of folk covers feature on a limited, exclusive vinyl only re-pressing of Rosie Alena’s mesmerising debut mini-album ‘Pixelated Images’, providing a fitting epilogue during the current resurgence of folk among leading alternative artists.

       - Brad Sked

︎Watch: Rosie Alena – Oh Dear, What Can The Matter Be / Silver Dagger (Song of the Day), KLOF Mag, 10th July 2024

        London Songstress Rosie Alena first crossed my radar following her appearance on Our Singing Tradition Vol. 1 (2021) featuring a refreshingly eclectic leftfield Broadside Hacks ‘supergroup’, on which she performed, Scarborough Fair. For her latest release, she breathes new life into ‘Oh Dear, What Can The Matter Be’, an English Nursery rhyme dating from the late 18th Century and ‘Silver Dagger’. The latter song is well-covered, while the most well-known version is probably by Joan Baez, the likes of Mary Hampton (Book One) and Rapunzel & Sedayne (Songs from The Barley Temple) rank among my favourite interpretations in the way they bring a special presence to the song, something Rosie does with ease here by owning them: “becoming my stories to tell”. Both songs will remain among my favourites – and are our double Song of the Day.
        This new release is out today on Broadside Hacks Recordings (Milkweed, Goblin Band) and forms part of a Limited Edition Extended Version release of her debut mini-album Pixelated Images (complete with lyric +’ making of’ booklet). On both tracks, she is accompanied just by the pared-back string arrangements of Cellist Haydn Wynn, allowing her vocals to really shine through as well as adding the tension and vulnerability she talks of below.

       - Alex Gallacher

︎Feature and interview, SelOut (Issue 15), 1st March 2024

        Rosie’s music is atmospheric. Growing up in Crystal Palace, with her ‘real soul in Deptford’ she’s gearing up for a year of new music. We hung out at my work (pretty cool) Monday evening and spun some yarn. Here’s a snippet.

        - Rhys Timson

︎‘Babies’ on Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour, BBC Radio 6 Music, 14th January 2024

       Last week I played a song by Rosie Alena - who is an artist I have worked with - who, unbelievably is without management or a record label at the moment. I played this beautiful song ‘Babies’, and it got such an amazing response I thought I’d play it again [...] A gorgeous voice and a beautiful, sad song.

        - Guy Garvey

︎‘Babies’ on Guy Garvey’s Finest Hour, BBC Radio 6 Music, 7th January 2024

        Rosie Alena is a singer-songwriter from London. She takes her influences from Joni Mitchell, Angel Olsen, Tori Amos, Sufjan Stevens, Esperanza Spalding. She played her first gig when she was fourteen. I worked with her on some soundtrack that me and my best mate Peter Jobson did. She’s tremendously talented. She sent me her forthcoming EP called Everyman. Unbelievably, she is currently without management or label. Once again, this is Rosie Alena. I’m going to let the song do the talking for her. She has an amazing voice and an incredible presence and in the style of a lot of the songwriters she just named as an influence in her biography she gives of herself in her writing. This is the exquisite ‘Babies’ from Rosie Alena.

        - Guy Garvey

︎Rosie Alena: The Cinematic Side, Wax, 14th June 2022

        As a performer, Rosie is also a spectacle to behold. A few weeks after the interview, I was lucky enough to see her perform live at Soup Kitchen in Manchester as a support act for Indigo de Souza. [...] Her performance upheld the solar system of worlds that she has intricately crafted in her mini album and left us all with entranced smiles.

        - Weng U Pun

︎Rosie Alena confronts social media’s unrealistic ideals on “Adore Me”, The Line of Best Fit, 2nd December 2021

        Rosie Alena is writing music for introspective souls. Despite having only four singles to her name, her music has a timeless feel - enriching every track with grand gestures of authenticity.
        “Adore Me” is brimming with cinematic grandeur. “Life’s a show and we all play our part” she muses, casting herself as the leading lady in this technological thriller. Our sense of self is entangled in the internet, and Rosie captures this feeling with poetic intent - served with a side of champagne.
        “Most of my songs stem from inner monologues turned into written streams of consciousness and poems,” she tells Best Fit. “I really thought about the project as a whole rather than a few random singles flung together. It was important for me to come away from the writing and recording process with a full body of work that fluidly transitioned from song to song and made sense as one.”
        “I wanted “Adore Me” to command attention whilst also maintaining a sense of vulnerability. For me, the song represents the desire to present a perfect lifestyle; controlling how we are perceived by others. We all yearn to be adored.”

        - Bryony Holdsworth

︎Feature and interview: Rosie Alena, So Young (Issue Thirty-Four), 2021

       
        Wading through the mud of angst loaded newcomers, you’ll find a songbird, Rosie Alena entrancing listeners with natural ease. Stirringly intricate and lighter than air, the Londoner weaves sonic exploits of sugary delight. Now, with the release of her debut EP in sight, we caught up with Rosie to discuss dancing moss men, the pros of indie labels and breaking through the glass ceiling.

       - Laura Pegler

︎TRACK OF THE DAY: Rosie Alena – ‘God’s Garden’, Bitter Sweet Symphonies, 28th September 2021

        Rosie Alena’s current single, ‘God’s Garden,’ is a rich and innovative track, as florid and baroque as her previous release, ‘The Light.’ This song clearly outlines her expectations and plans for romance, focusing on herself without ever sounding narcissistic, staying cautious without being overly so. Rosie Alena simply wants someone who will help her to grow.
        Ostensibly a list of traits that one desires in a romantic partner, the lyrics are far more complicated and cleverer than that, traveling through “stars like satellites,” performance spaces (“enter stage left and exit right”), and hotels and their honeymoon suites, while dropping one-liners such as “temptation seeks another bite” and “naked flesh will serve you well.”
        Pairing well with the deft lyrics, Alena’s voice is full, rounded and lyrical, nearly operatic. The instrumentation is correspondingly endlessly adept, a well-woven tapestry of singular parts that slide neatly along beside one another. The guitar part is twangy, nearly Western, and sets the scene well, while the synthesizer glides and occasionally jangles. The percussion is particularly stellar, layered and continually surprising, imparting its own flavor to the other instruments. Even the smatterings of piano feel percussive. Every listen, you find a part you missed the previous time.
        The music video features Rosie Alena living her life in a hazy world of gentle domesticity, caring for her houseplants and doing some baking, before devolving into a sort of parody of Little Shop of Horrors, with first a potted plant coming to a grumpy sentience before the emergence of a moss-covered love interest. (With the sharp instrumentals, the soft-focused, “glamour shot” look of the camera, Rosie Alena’s surprisingly powerful vocals, and the exquisitely specific choreography, it recalls MARINA’s Froot era.)
        If love is “God’s garden,” the track’s continual refrain, full of variety and continual surprise, watered and cared for, then it’s a fitting name for a song of such varied and inventive instrumentation and lyrics. As with Rosie Alena’s previous single, it’s the work of someone making precisely the music that they choose to. To quote Alena: “I’m no longer compromising.” A line that appears to describe her intentions for both romance and music.

       - Annie Jo Baker

︎Track Of The Day 13/9 – Rosie Alena, Clash, 13th September 2021

    A song about embracing relationships while acknowledging your own needs, in her words ‘God’s Garden’ says “I love you, but I also love myself, so here’s a few terms and conditions to ensure we don’t wither and wilt like a plant without water.”

        - Robin Murray

︎London’s Rosie Alena shares new single ‘The Light’ via untitled (recs), So Young Magazine, 21st July 2021

    Featuring long-time collaborator, Morgan Simpson (black midi), ‘The Light’ is the perfect dose of vitamin-D inducing delight. After the nebulous, perpetual anxiety and seemingly never-ending state of lockdown, ‘The Light’ flings the shadows themselves into the depths of another realm.

        - Brad Sked

︎Rosie Alena returns with shape-shifting single “The Light”, The Line of Best Fit, 21st July 2021

        London singer-songwriter Rosie Alena is already carving out a space to call her own, bolstered by her signing to label untitled (recs). On “The Light” Alena blends spoken-word refrain with orchestral strings to showcase the singer’s elegant vocals.
        With influences including Sufjan Stevens and Angel Olsen, Alena echoes a timeless, cinematic quality. Leading with acoustic guitar and movielike lyricism including, “We saw the light outside our window”, she has something of a Courtney Barnett-esque quality. Alena certainly has the chops to exist in a similar realm. On her 2019 debut single "Mixed Messages", she worked with members of black midi, whom she counts as friends. Beyond that, she’s been a stage fixture in London venues since her first show at the age of 14.
        “The Light” is a stately song with a waltz-like refinement at times, accompanied by a suitably optimistic message to meet with its moments of whimsy, light cymbals, and delicate guitar. Alena’s voice jumps, soars and dives in a way that recalls the work of Feist or Caroline Polachek. Flourishing with the crucial final line “We saw the light outside", it’s enough to make anyone want to put on their headphones and take a sunlit stroll after months inside.
        “In a time of personal darkness, I had taken solace in The Art of Happiness, a book by the Dalai Lama & Howard C. Cutler,” Alena says. “This is where my concept for 'The Light' stemmed from.”
        The overarching meaning behind “The Light” is one that’s not lost on Alena, especially as she reflects on the time in which it was written (during her first year at university in 2018). “For me, the song acts as an affirmation: envisioning a more hopeful, happier and grounded self; seeing the light outside our windows both literally and metaphorically,” she shares.
        Alena’s message is a powerful and positive one, and listeners now have the soundtrack to match.

       - Olivia Swash