Sunday Conversation: Baby Rose On ‘Surrendering To The Process’ In Making One Of The Best Albums Of The Year

Sometimes you can tell from talking to an artist they just get it. They are making music for all the right reasons, because it is an inherent part of who they are. Not because they think it will be cool or make them famous. But because they love, value and respect the art of making music.

Baby Rose is one of those artists. You hear it in the passion and authenticity of her stunning new album, Through And Through, an early candidate for one best of the year and, I am willing to bet, a sure-fire Grammy contender next year. And you see it in her videos, like “I Won’t Tell,” directed by Audrey Ellis-Fox.

But her dedication to the craft is even more evident when you speak to her. I have spoken to thousands of artists, and few have ever expressed the artistic process better than Rose did.

“So I love to remain very much in surrender to the process while it’s happening and let things come to light,” she says in one of those moments that just makes you smile and shake your head in admiration.

Most importantly, that tells me, you and everyone, this is a real artist. And, as such, one who is going to be around for a very long time. I got turned on to Rose by Sage Bava, who could not stop raving about her. As usual, Bava is right. We spoke to Rose about her yin and yang in making Through And Through, the joy she had in the creative process of this album, her love of Donny Hathaway and much more.

Steve Baltin: Did you at least have fun getting sick?

Baby Rose: Oh yeah, we’ve been celebrating since Thursday. So, it’s been a beautiful time. I’d taken a hiatus from drinking for like, the past three months, but at the listening party it was just like, “Yeah, nah, I’m gonna get lit” [laughter]. And it’s just been an ongoing theme until Sunday when I guess I got caught in.

Baltin: What’s your drink of choice?

Rose: Tequila soda. [laughter] So yeah, it was a vibe. It’s been a vibe, but now I’m back to reality getting in tor mode and getting back healthier.

Baltin: What were the food and drinks that fueled this album for you?

Rose: There were definitely specific drinks that I had and foods. So, one thing that I remember when I was setting up my camps, whether it be in Nashville or Atlanta, I would have this kind of yin and yang thing going on, where I would have like green juices from Arden’s Garden be in the studio. But then there would also be like the ingredients for a hot toddy also around. So, you could choose whatever fighter you would like [laughter] but I would have like tea, and bourbon, oh yeah, it was Bulleit, yeah. So, Bulleit whiskey or whatever, and lemons and ginger, so you can make this warm, beautiful drink and I would do it with Manuka honey. So, it’s like you kind of feel like you’re doing it for your health, but slowly getting more and more lit.

Baltin: It seems like a total random question, but then when you go back and hear the album, do you hear that juxtaposition of those two different worlds coming together?

Rose: Hell yeah, I do. And sometimes even though I know where the road leads, I would take like an edible or whatever, [laughter] but the green juice was always the way back, the green juice for some reason.

Baltin: As an artist, can you ever always know where the road leads? The fun of it is the fact that the road takes you on this journey.

Rose: Basically, yeah, I don’t go in with a roadmap, like, “I know what this album is gonna be about. This is what I’m trying to say, it’s definite.” All of that comes after the fact. So I love to remain very much in surrender to the process while it’s happening and let things come to light. I love that.

Sage Bava: Congratulations on everything and this spread on the New York Times is so beautiful. I was shocked to read that you recorded over 100 songs before whiting them down to the 11. That just blew my mind. Was it trying to discover the seed of what you wanted this project to be and then branching off of that seed, or just whittling down to find the seed after?

Rose: It was definitely just planting a bunch of seeds. When we had the pandemic happen there was nothing but space and opportunity to create. And so, even prior to that, from where I only had those 10 songs left on that hard drive, it was just kind of starting from scratch all the way back in 2019 or whatever. And just building or with the people around me, we all have this passion for just creating and not only creating what we know we’re good at, but like going for what we don’t know. Like going for the unknown and just getting into different sonic spaces. There was a phase where we were really deep in the disco, and so “Love Bomb” has like 15 sisters, siblings or whatever. When I saw a documentary on Joan Jett that just sent me, it was around that time where I was listening to [Pink Floyd’s] Dark Side of the Moon and other artists now out, like Yellow Days and King Krule and like really just getting into the grunge area. I think that in my life at that point, there was a lot of contention. There was a lot of back and forth about who do you want to be? “Are you R&B? And I was just feeling like, “Bro, I never have been asked these questions before.” These were never an occurrence that came to me before as I was in my process, and now seems to be a big conversation or whatever. And so, that sent me down the whole of kind of like getting into fight club and like nightcap and others that are like that. Yeah, I think whatever space I was in, and beautifully having my friends kind of be in the similar space, we were all really in tune with one another. We kind of just went for it together, and so yeah, it was a really beautiful process.

Bava: Something that Steve and I love to talk about is how a lot of good writing is subconscious and perhaps it will be revealed what you are actually singing about much later than when that song happened for you. And now that you’ve had these songs, are there a lot of surprises as far as what is revealed within that?

Rose: Honestly, once I took a look at the overall picture, like being able to sift through all of the records, at the end of the day when it came to making the track list I kind of saw a storyline coming to light. And when I was in the process, each song was very kind of direct, like down from “Love Bomb” being me trying to be very in my sensual bag. When I see something somewhat I like, I tend to be very direct about that or like, “Go” and “Dance With Me.” “Dance With Me” would probably be the only one that people kind of take that as a love song or whatever. But, for me, I try to make it as unstable as possible with the chords and make it feel like love that’s barely holding on, that you want to question like, “Is this really something I want to keep?”And then “Tell Me It’s Real” and “Stop the Bleeding.” “Tell Me it’s Real” has the same first verse as “Stop the Bleeding.” But the way I carry my tone is falsetto and I’m very sensual in it. It’s like giving a representation of how it feels to be in a unstable situation, but you’re still in it and there’s still lust, still like fire passion in it. And then “Stop the Bleeding” is like cold water. Like “I can’t do this s**t no more.” But, after taking time away from the music and then coming back and listening, I was able to see a through line through all of it and how it was showing a cycle that I tend to live through. And each time I’m aware of it, it helps me get out of it quicker.

Baltin: What was the through line for you?

Rose: The through line is this cycle that traces back to some things maybe I’d seen growing up or whatever. Of wanting desperately to hold onto love for a sense of validation, a sense of security, a sense of, “I’m doing all right in the world, this is my person” or whatever. But knowing deep within, that type of security can only come from within or from a higher power or however, it’s not from somebody else. Like we are all trying to find our way. And also understanding that sentiment, when you begin to not only think, “I love myself, I want more for me,” but you start to act on that. Even if it’s mad uncomfortable at first, my God. But when you start to do that, you start to foster empathy for those around you, for the world at large and be able to look at it with a softer gaze. Things that would bother you before don’t tend to bother you as much because you start to just wish more for people. What I kind of found this is medicinal in a way. Like this is an offering, this album is an offering. And what I hope is that it changes people’s lives or I know it’s changing my life, ’cause I’m here right now talking to y’all. I just hope that it helps people to realize that they can have a choice in whether they suffer or not.

Baltin: What were those albums for you growing up that that offered you that medicinal quality?

Rose: Honestly, Miseducation of Lauryn Hill was an incredible album that I listened to growing up. Songs in the Key of Life [Stevie Wonder], I love A Donny Hathaway Collection, to know that he had went through so much. These are albums that I listened to as a child, but then also like, as an adult, revisiting them, it hits different [laughter]. But it’s so beautiful that I’ve been able to carry them through my childhood into adulthood. I think that’s why it was important for me to put records like “Power” and “Water” on there, because I want people to play it for their kids. Even though we’re grown as hell singing that.

Baltin: Are there a couple of these songs that over the years have changed for you where you start to appreciate them in a different way? It becomes a whole different song when you hear it as an adult.

Rose: Oh my God, yeah. “Someday We’ll All Be Free,” by Donny Hathaway, is one of those songs. When I heard it as a kid, it hit me to my core, like the chords of it, like the dissonance, it made me feel melancholy. And I think that was like the first time that I had ever felt like, “Damn, I don’t know whether to be happy or to cry.” And then revisiting it as an adult and realizing the story behind it, him writing that for his friend that was suffering mental illness. And then meanwhile, they say, Donny Hathaway suffered mental illness on his own and everything, and it just makes me just feel all of the feelings inside of me. Amy Winehouse’s catalog, she was just very open and vulnerable. Hearing Janis Joplin, specifically “Mercedes Benz,” like her just being very raw and talking about wanting to just make it, making it out of the hood, baby [laughter]. Songs like that really deeply affected me. Elton John, “Your Song.” There were a lot of records that really stuck with me. Sam Cooke, “A Change Is Gonna Come,” my great-aunt would always make me sing this to her, even before I knew how impactful it was at the time. She was born in 1991, so she knew how deep it was. I was a kid singing it at like 10 or 11 to her just reciting what I heard and what I thought. Also, the first song I learned at piano, which was, Billie Holiday, “God Bless the Child.” I ever knew really the depths of the meaning of that until revisiting it later on. And so yeah, there’s a lot of songs like that.

Bava: Oh man, I would love to hear you sing that song.

Rose: Oh yeah, [laughter] I love that record.

Bava: I love what you said earlier about how the validation can only come from self and how that’s self-love and you learn the tools and it’s super uncomfortable at first. But what were some of those tools that you’ve learned and now implement so gracefully that people reading can learn?

Rose: I would say a little morning routine and a night routine. Moments that you get alone [time] because I know everybody has a different lifestyle and everything like that, but usually when you first wake up in the morning, that’s like your little bit of alone time. Like really being gentle with yourself during that and setting your intention and having life audits. Whether that be weekly or monthly, where you kind of choose like, “What is no longer serving me? What is making me feel happy?” Doing something every week that makes your inner child feel like ignited, whether it’s going to the park or going to see a movie or having a movie day at the crib and ordering pizza, whatever. Just doing little love things for you. Only you know, for real, how you need to be loved and like showing yourself love. One of the easiest things I do is just take a bath. I know that sounds simple, but when it’s bath time, that is my moment for me to shine. I think once you start one thing, it will start to build upon another and another and another. But just being very gentle with yourself and not shaming yourself for things, just taking your time with it.

Bava: And then as far as your creative process, has that changed quite a bit since the first album?

Rose: Oh, absolutely. It changed a lot from the first album. The spirit of the rawness stayed, like that whole idea of me coming in as a blank canvas and being a vessel and everybody understanding that. Nobody’s coming in like, “We need a hit song and oh my God.” Nobody’s coming in here with buzzwords and s**t like that [laughter]. It’s very much respectful of the process and jamming, everybody around me is so talented and so grounded, and insightful and offers so much to my process. And so it’s that, but it’s also me becoming a student, when I went to Nashville for a little while was because I wanted to become a better writer and just get away from Atlanta, get away from all of the familiarity and kind of put myself into a place where I’m learning from OG songwriters, how they work their process, which is very different for my own. We would start sessions at 2:00 PM and end at like 4:00 AM. They start sessions at 10:00 AM and end at 2:00 PM [laughter] or like 5:00 PM at the latest and leave a lot of time for family or eating together. And when it came to a song, if there was already a beat, it would be like, “All right, well, let’s strip this down to piano or guitar to write it.” Because that’s how you’ll know if you have a great record, if you could just stand alone or do an acapella, then you have a record, like you can imagine everything around it. And so, it put me into a space where I was back in that mode of like, “Well, damn, my ambition is to really write songs that change the world.” When I listened to “What a Wonderful World,” by Louis Armstrong, or “Over the Rainbow,” or Donny Hathaway, any one of his songs. It really put me back into that mindset of I really want to plant a seed that grows beyond even my expectations. And so we made “Stop The Bleeding” there, we made “Go,” “Dance With Me,” “Water.” I delved into like the makings of a great record. And we had a lot of time for post-production. I had more resources to be able to set up camps. It wasn’t survival mode. The best part of this whole process has been just the creation process. Like all of the memories made. I’m just so grateful for that.