Q: Hey, can you tell us a bit about where you come from, and what made you want to start a career in music?
A: I lived in New York until I was about 13 and I’ve been living in South Florida ever since (I’m 28 now)! Music has always been a huge part of my life – it’s something that I’ve always gravitated towards. I didn’t start becoming serious about gigging professionally until I was about 21 or 22 years old. I was consistently doing open mics almost 7 days a week… One night I got off stage and someone tipped me a $50 bill… that’s when I realized, “hey .. I can actually make money doing something I love”.
Q: Did you have any formal training, or are you self-taught?
A: Primarily I am self-taught. I play piano by ear. I attended a few singing lessons for a while, but I didn’t feel like the classes were challenging me so I stopped going. In between that, I did attend college on a fine arts scholarship so I had a bit of formal training there for two years – don’t ask if I retained any of it!
Q: Who were your first and strongest musical influences, and why the name ‘AriRose’?
A: My first and strongest musical influences are Hilary Duff, Sara Bareilles, and Regina Spektor. Most recently, Dua Lipa – they’re all for very different reasons!
- I picked AriRose because it was just a shorter version of my actual name, Ariel Rosario. The same goes for my social media name “arierosarie”
Q: You have just released your new single, ‘Proof’. Is there a story behind it?
A: I started writing Proof towards the end of a long-term relationship. The message behind the song is like the old saying, “if he wanted to, he would”.
Q: Can we expect a new EP or even an album from you in the near future?
A: I’m undecided on whether I will release my music as an EP or just release them single-by-single. They’re all pretty much going to have a dancy vibe, so it would make sense to have them all as one cohesive record…. But I’m not sure yet! Definitely expect some new music releases very soon though.
Q: What do you feel are the key elements in your music that should resonate with listeners, and how would you personally describe your sound?
A: My lyrics are always extremely specific – whether it’s about a specific person or moment in my life… Lyrically, it’s definitely going to have meaning behind it that’s very personal to me.
In the last year, I’ve been working on transforming my sound into something a bit more different. I’ve always been attracted towards pop music, but I never actually released music for that particular genre. My previous releases have always been mellow piano ballads — very similar to Regina Spektor or Adele. Personally, I would describe my new sound as dream-pop. Listening to dream-pop made me feel whole again when I was in a very dark place – like everything was going to be okay. I want to (and am) releasing dream-pop music that hopefully does the same thing for others like it did for me.
Q: Do you feel that your music is giving you back just as much fulfillment as the amount of work you are putting into it, or are you expecting something more?
A: Music will always give me fulfillment. I do put a lot of work into it, but I don’t expect anything in return except for people to give my music a chance to be heard.
Q: Could you describe your creative processes? How do you usually start, and go about shaping ideas into a completed song?
A: 99% of my songs are written at the piano. Call me melodramatic, but I love to turn all the lights off and hand-write by candlelight. It’s when I’m feeling the most vulnerable. I tend to flip-flop between writing the melody first or starting with lyrics. With “Proof” I started writing the lyrics and the melody at the same time.
Q: What has been the most difficult thing you’ve had to endure in your life or music career so far?
A: Oh gosh, that’s a loaded question. I’ve been through a lot of hardship. But I don’t let it get to me. I think that’s one of my strong suits… I’m able to see the light in everything. When I was 13 years old, I was sexually assaulted and then forced to spend the summer at my aunt and uncles’ house (my only safety net at the time). They had no kids and not much to do at their house besides tv, and I’m not a big tv person. I found an old dusty 49-key Yamaha in their closet and my uncle said I could have it. That’s where it all started. So even though I went through something traumatic, I learned how to release it in a healthy way and discovered my passion for creating music.
Other difficult things I’ve had to endure aren’t really noteworthy in my opinion. This industry is very cut-throat. Learning how to live with rejection, or not getting a response when trying to book gigs was a tough one. No one wants to give you a chance if you’re not some big-named celebrity. There were times when I had like $2.50 in my bank account and I relied on busking or booking gigs to get by until payday… then came to find out the owner of the restaurant decided they didn’t want to pay or undercut the pay, or ghost me… I could go on and on… but you live and you learn. I’m happy to have overcome these obstacles and learned how to handle them with grace.
Q: On the contrary, what would you consider a successful, proud or significant point in your life or music career so far?
A: In April of 2021 I booked a huge music festival. There was something wrong with one of the sound technician’s cables. In the middle of my performance on the biggest stage in front of everyone, my piano cut off. The sound tech had no idea what to do or what was happening – he was scrambling. “The show must go on!” so I got the crowd involved in some clapping and I sang A Cappella. A scout from iHeartRadio loved how I handled the situation and asked if he could have me on his radio show as a guest. Landing a feature on iHeartRadio is definitely something I never thought I’d be able to do. Quite similarly, I played a different festival in Saint Pete and another radio host approached me and had me on her show as well. She spun my music on 60+ stations nationwide for two years. For someone who was just a green bean in the industry, I think that’s a pretty good start!
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