New Music
Interview
Rose Gray: “Since I was a kid, I’ve always pushed for more”
The London dance-pop prodigy on new single ‘April’, her undying work ethic and the most surprising collaboration on her expanded debut album A Little Louder, Please
In January, Rose Gray began her debut album with a clear instruction. A dare, if you will. “Won’t you turn it up a little louder, please?” she drones on ‘Damn’, a restless, jungle-adjacent opener. That record, Louder, Please, is one that follows through on its promise, garnishing underground club firecrackers with Ibiza-ready pop sensibilities in its exploration of trance, house and other genres that helped shape Gray’s identity.
“I really relate to the [title’s] phrasing, because I am annoyingly polite,” laughs Gray. “Sometimes I wish I wasn’t as polite as I am! If I ask for something that I don’t think is very realistic, I’m always going to be very polite about it. Even if I’m asking a DJ to turn the music up, I’ll be like, ‘Please!’”
Nine months down the line, the ethos of Louder, Please still rings true for Gray after her jam-packed year. Supporting Charli XCX at her Partygirl takeover in June, Gray has just come off a stateside tour with Kesha and Scissor Sisters, all while gearing up for some October UK headline dates of her own.
Shortly after those shows, an expanded edition of the album – aptly titled A Little Louder, Please – will arrive via her new label home of Polydor Records. Reimagining all of the original tracks with the help of artists like JADE, Melanie C and Logic1000, there’s also some bonus new material, including ‘April’, which arrived earlier this month,
We spoke to Gray about the character behind ‘April’, how all this globetrotting has affected her relationship with London and the approach she’ll be taking to curate her setlist.
You’re currently speaking to us from Stockholm. What are you up to?
I’ve been touring for most of the summer, so I’ve been trying to get back in the studio, every moment that I’ve had possible. I work really closely with this incredible songwriter called Justin Tranter, and we’ve built such a brilliant relationship now that we’ve decided to do my whole second album together. We’ve been working for two weeks straight… exploring, not overthinking things.
Does Stockholm suit that exploratory vibe, compared to your usual day-to-day life?
I never really understood why people called it the ‘pop music Mecca’ – now I understand why. The producers I’m writing with are incredible – they’ve worked with Robyn! I need to get the facts straight, but I think I’m in Max Martin’s studio complex. Every time I go to make a coffee, I’m hoping I bump into him in the corridor.
You’ve just released ‘April’ – is that story about a real person?
It’s definitely about a real person, but it’s also a metaphor for that character that I seem to always be drawn to when I’m out, those people that are so free, and in their bodies. I had this night, and I just was like, ‘This person is incredible. I aspire to be like her.’ It’s a metaphor for many characters that I’ve met on the dancefloor.
Does the world need more people like April in it?
I don’t think Aprils are a rare breed. I think there’s many.
Why did you need to immortalise that person in a song?
Originally, it was 100 per cent gonna be on Louder, Please, but I had a sample that I couldn’t get it cleared. We actually remade it, me and Alex [Metric], which was quite a labour of love. Sometimes, when a song is good, it happens in the room, and you know instantly. But this one took a while to get to where it is now.
Nine months down the line, do you resonate with the ethos of Louder, Please even more, considering how you’ve been firing on all cylinders?
It definitely resonates with me even more now, having sung those lyrics, or shouted them, like, in ‘Damn’. I kept accidentally writing songs with ‘louder’ in it, coming back to the word. Whenever I’m on the mic, I still say, ‘Could you put up a little louder, please?’
This is kind of deep, but since I was a kid, I’ve always pushed for more. Whether it’s making music, art or learning a dance, I will take it to the next level. But it’s also quite exhausting, constantly wanting more for myself. It’s brilliant for my career, because a lot of people would have probably stopped a few years ago, when things weren’t working.
What turned things around for you? Can you pinpoint a moment or period where the music you were making really clicked with your personality?
If I’m being completely honest, I think it was when the album came out. From the morning that my album came out, on 17 January 2025, everything did fall into place. Behind the scenes, things happened that needed to happen. All the shows I wanted to play, I started to book. The artists that I’ve grown up loving started messaging me and wanting to collaborate.
Is that even more rewarding given how long you took to craft it?
I’d got to a place where I actually accepted that no matter what happens with the album, I’m proud of it. I love it, and it will be out forever. The record label that I put my album out with were really supportive of me, but they didn’t think I was ready to be an album level artist. I had to really push to put out an album, insane [amounts].
Is there a reworked version on the deluxe edition that will surprise people the most?
I really love the reimagined version of ‘First’ that I did with Melanie C. That is a soundscape that people might be a bit shocked to hear, but it’s a world that I’ve always loved. There’s real variety in the record. I’ve got classic club bangers, but some of the reimagined versions are quite strange, odd, and alternative. Opening the projects up again really inspired me to take them in different directions, because I didn’t have any pressure for these tracks.
You recently released a mini doc about ‘Hackney Wick’. Is there more of that story to tell, regarding how the place helped shape the Rose Gray we know today?
There’s definitely more I feel. I feel very healed by that song. So many people in America told me how much they loved that song, which is so funny, because I imagine most of them haven’t been to Hackney Wick. It represents that place, wherever it is in the world, that you were drawn to, where some of the big life memories happened.
While you’ve been all over the world, do you miss the place, or is it reassuring that you always have it to come back to?
Hackney Wick has changed. I still love it and choose to meet my friends there for a drink. I really appreciate London more, now that I travel. [There’s] nothing quite like home. London is in my bones, it’s who I am.
Some people might disagree, but I think we’ve got a good balance of work, play and cosiness [in London]. Now we’re moving into autumn, all of our activities are going to change. Stockholm has that, New York has that, but a lot of places in the southern hemisphere are hot all the time and don’t have that.
With 27 total tracks on A Little Louder, Please, how will you go about curating your setlist for your upcoming headline tour?
I build my setlist like a DJ set. I create all the mixes first, which I’ve actually been doing for the last two years with my show. I don’t like when a song just ends. I like for it to mix into another song.
Are you enjoying riding the wave of everything that’s happening at the moment?
It’s been pretty consistent. When I’m in a studio, I’m sat on my arse with coffee all day. I’m very comfortable and rested when I’m making music. I’m also quite a good sleeper now. I’m making sure that I’m taking a step out of it, remembering how much everything has changed, trying to appreciate it and take everything in. I’m one of those annoying people that’s in a really amazing moment, and then I’ll tell everyone that I think it’s an amazing moment!
A Little Louder, Please is released on 24 October
