Tangled Magazine

By Laura Hartley and Jamie Evangelista

It was a frustrating couple of years and I am so proud of how I handled it”, was Katy Rose’s response to how she handled the pressures and fame of her first hit album, Because I Can. Released on her 17th birthday, in 2004, singer/songwriter Katy Rose found herself experiencing a new world. The world of a recording artist, filled with interviews, photo shoots, video clips and of course fame. “It’s such a weird sort of thing to be famous. It’s not normal.”

However, her success was short-lived. “A few years ago when my record label was folding, I was sort of being tossed around to all these different writers…and they were trying to turn me into something [else, and] I didn’t know what they wanted. I was coming back with all of these great things and I wasn’t getting any response but meanwhile what I realised was that they were actually all out of money and they were folding and I was just sort of being tossed around because they didn’t know what to do with me. It was frustrating.

“I have a lot of regrets over how my last album was handled. I was going through a lot at that time and it escalated. It was hard. It was weird having all that success when you’re in this weird place in your head. You don’t feel stable as a person.”

In 2005 after two years with V2 records having produced only one album Katy parted with the label, unsure of what her place was or would be in the music industry. “For women it’s hard to be a singer/songwriter on the radio. It’s all hip hop on the radio today. It was like, ‘What am I going to do’? I’m not a hip hop artist. I’m a white girl from California.”

In 2007, Katy released her second anthology of songs, this one on a much smaller scale. “When they [V2 Records] folded I had this whole weird grunge electro record that I [then] did over the course of a couple of years, both in New York and in LA, and that was really where I saw music going, and I was right, because that’s where music sort of is for women today. I called it Candy Eyed, as a kind of ‘tongue in cheek’, making fun of myself. There is a line in Overdrive (her first single) that says ‘Yeah, Yeah I’m Candy Eyed’. Candy Eyed is me sort of rebelling against the business. It’s me saying ‘Well I’m just going to do it myself then, if no one is going to help me’.

“So I had these archives of songs that were going to go to waste. I felt like I had wasted these years and that’s a horrible feeling. Time is of the essence in this business… I released [some of] my old songs, called it Candy Eyed and put it out by myself. No promotion, just on MySpace. These were not master things, these were demos.”

Katy’s now working on finding a way to release her third album. “I’m meeting with record labels. If were it up to me I would release this one on my own, it [would] be called Tangled But True and I would do another one [as well] with a record label. It’s really, survive in this business or play songs and be on AV radios. Not all of us can do that. I’m not an heiress, this is how I make my living. This record will be a much a surprise to me as it is my fans.”

“A lot of people think I’m insane [laughs]. As an artist, people think you are crazy all the time because your brain moves in a different way.

“It’s frustrating trying to get a career back without a record label or management. I’m just a small girl, I need help.”

Whilst achieving lasting musical success has not been easy for Katy, the rest of her life is better than ever. “I’ve been engaged three months. I get married on August 23rd [2008]. It’s all planned, and everybody’s excited. And [whilst] I’m not saying a relationship can save you, [nor can] the person be your hero, I’m not alone anymore and I’m so happy. I was driving myself crazy trying to be all by myself. I finally have a partner who understands me. My soulmate.”

“Being in this relationship has already changed a lot of the things I write about. It’s less depressing, less hopeless. It’s a lot more hopeful.”

So when do we expect to hear next from Katy Rose? “Definitely by end of the year, I was thinking the beginning of this year, but it’s already February. I try my best to bring my music to as many people as possible but there is only so much I can do as far as financially supporting the cause.”

Candy Eyed is available for purchase on iTunes and cdBaby.

Hear new Katy Rose at http://www.myspace.com/officialkatyrose

Hear Candy Eyed at http://www.myspace.com/pandelonely