Meet Chelsea Rose

Today we’d like to introduce you to Chelsea Rose.

Chelsea, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
I’m currently launching a new solo project. I’m really excited about it, and it’s been a long time coming. I started learning guitar and playing in bands when I was 13 in 2003. I never thought music would be a career for me but songwriting came naturally to me and I just keep writing throughout the years. I started a band with my sister called Summer Twins, and we toured around, released a few albums and gained a pretty wide following.

We grew up in Riverside, CA and moved out to L.A. a few years ago to be closer to the music scene. After ten years of playing in Summer Twins, we decided to call it quits last November. For the past year, I felt pretty lost; we had been playing the same songs for a long time, and we were tired. I felt like I was trying to keep the band alive and exciting but my heart wasn’t in it, and the music didn’t resonate with me anymore.

I knew I wanted to grow and make something exciting, but I wasn’t sure how or where to even start. When my sister Justine expressed that she wanted to do her own thing (she has her own band called Easy Love) we decided to end the band. The night before our last Summer Twins show our basement flooded along with all of our music gear. It felt like everything around me, my whole foundation and everything I identified with, was dissolving all at once.

It was rough, but I knew there was more for me on the other side and that I had some growing to do. At the same time, I felt very liberated. Now that I didn’t have to carry on my old identity I felt that a door had been flung open with an opportunity to become whoever I wanted. I embraced the challenges and spent a lot of time alone exploring and dreaming up new ideas.

Within a few months I got a new band together, put my passion for photography and design into play with a new look, and I’m currently finishing up my solo record. I feel more fired up and inspired than ever. Coming from a place where I had lost my dreams at one point I feel very grateful to be back on track with a clear, new vision for my future.

We’d love to hear more about what you do.
My specialty is crafting songs. I listen to a lot of older music – rock ‘n roll, pop, soul, and country from the ’50s and ’60s and I soak it all in. To me, melody is the most important. You can’t have a great pop song without a great melody.

I also love playing guitar, so a lot of my songs bounce between vocal and guitar melodies. I love playing with different pedals and tones.

Let’s touch on your thoughts about our city – what do you like the most and the least?
I actually wrote a song about L.A. One of the lyrics is, “this city will build you up, break you down.” I feel there are so many paradoxes living here. So many of us come here to live out our creative dreams, but we have to work so much just to survive that it’s easy to lose sight of those dreams.

On top of that, there are so many talented people doing amazing things here that it’s easy to get lost in the crowd. It can be both intimidating and inspiring. Even though I’m such a homebody, I love that I can go out any night of the week and see so much talent. It definitely keeps me humbled and motivates me to work harder.

Image Credit:
Joy Newell

Getting in touch: VoyageLA is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.