Rozzi
Photo: Oscar Ouk
“I’ve been the bitch with the bad weather,” Rozzi belts on “Hymn For Tomorrow”, a new single off her upcoming album. That lyric alone made us excited to speak to the soulful R&B/pop singer, who is known for writing diaristic one-liners that we want to emblazon on a tote bag. The LA-based songwriter was discovered by Adam Levine at 19 years old, and she has created a strong and sultry body of work that touches on the messy emotions we all feel: shame, pain, heartbreak, and the inner strength we find when we move through it all.
She’s currently putting the finishing touches on her new record set to drop sometime in 2021 and we can’t wait! We recently spoke to Rozzi about coming into her own and gaining the confidence to call the shots, writing sad poetry in elementary school, climate change, and so much more.
How are you? Where are you?
I’m in LA in my car, so my boyfriend can sleep in till forever in my apartment.
How’s LA right now? Did it open?
It’s confusing. It’s like half open. Where are you?
In Miami, so everything is really open. So what’s your day-to-day been like lately?
It’s pretty much like Groundhog Day, but the focus has been finishing my new album. We’re really close! I’ve been able to finish a lot of work remotely; my producer is based in London and we were working together in person a year ago before the lockdown.
What’s the main theme or thing that’s anchored you throughout creating this album?
I finally found my voice in a way that I hadn’t before. This record feels like exactly I want to say sonically, lyrically and emotionally. That’s always the goal, and I love my last album Bad Together, but there’s something about this new album that feels like I’ve liberated myself from any expectations or anybody’s influence other than my own instincts. It’s the record that I’ve always had in my head that I’m finally making. What I hope it makes people feel is empowered through their own vulnerability. I share a lot of personal shit. My songs are so personal, I tell all my secrets. My hope is that this helps people feel more confident with their own vulnerability.
I love that. I saw on your website you wrote “If I’m embarrassed to put it in a song, then I’m on the right track” and I’m curious when did you become comfortable with that level of vulnerability and putting it into the public?
I found this book of poems that I wrote when I was 9 years old and they’re hilarious in a way, because they’re so dark. Clearly I had the instinct as a kid to express my feelings with really honest writing—and then adolescence and the beginning of my career really shut it down. Trying to learn “how to be a good song writer” or a “good musician” or satisfy my label on my first record unfortunately taught me to move more from a place of fear. It was really after I got dropped from my first record deal that I spent the next year just writing. My whole goal was to just get in touch with myself emotionally as a writer and Bad Together is definitely that way. You know that feeling of going through a breakup or anything that makes you so sad that you don’t even care if anyone knows? I didn’t have room to be nervous to share. I was just really sad and needed a place to express it. Then “Joshua Tree” became my most popular song, and I had never even considered putting that song out; I just wrote it because I needed to. I learned how good it feels to share myself that way. And the amount of messages I got from people saying it made them feel less alone in their breakup experience made it feel so worth it. All I ever want to do is be like Stevie Nicks!
Photo: Oscar Ouk
Amen. Also, being comfortable with showing vulnerability seems to come with age and gaining more confidence. As someone who can easily write about your feelings on paper, have you ever struggled with being vulnerable in relationships?
Yeah, definitely. While writing “Joshua Tree,” it was the first time I said a lot of that stuff about my relationship at the time. And now, because that relationship is long gone, I look back on it and that song is just what the relationship was—it was the perfect description. But I never said any of that to him when we were together. Writing the song helped me figure out my feelings, and I often write myself out of a feeling. My song “2 Minutes” was all about body image and the impossible expectations I used to have for myself. And it’s not like that disappeared overnight when I wrote the song, but I do listen to it and think, ‘Wow I really did write that out of myself.’ There’s something about releasing the song that almost sets it free, and then you tour the song, and by the time the tour is done you’ve really released it. Even if no one ever wanted to listen to my songs, I would need this process. I can express my way fairly well as person, but not like I can through my music. It’s so much easier.
Speaking of body issues--how has your relationship with your body changed since your early 20s?
It’s like night and day! I like my body so much more than I did in my early 20s. I look at old photos of myself and my body isn’t that different than it is now, but I can see how much more I love it now. It’s not even that I actually looked that different, I can just feel the energy within me. My heart breaks for my younger self. I just think about how much time I wasted feeling anything else than amazing. What’s so tricky about body issues is, yes you have a body and yes you can change it, but that is not what is driving the feeling of wanting to change it. It’s completely about confidence and perspective.
Definitely. And in thinking about your song “Orange Skies” which addresses climate change, It had me thinking about how mind boggling it is that so many of our leaders throughout the past few decades have permitted so much pollution and toxicity in a way that could’ve been prevented with the knowledge and data that’s been available. From the air we breathe to the chemicals they put in our food, it’s just so gross. Do you also share this utter disturbance with those that permit this in the name of capitalism?
Yes. I’m from San Francisco and I grew up very aware of climate change, which we called global warming then. We were taught about it in school, and sometimes that makes me feel worse—because we knew. Obviously I’m not blaming me and my earth science teacher for climate change, but there is this icky feeling I get when I think about how many decades we’ve spent talking about it. I remember doing this exercise in class which asked questions like, “How many loads of laundry does your household do? “How many miles do you drive per day?” and it calculated how many earths you would need if everyone lived like you, and mine was like 7 earths. I understand this has to be a global effort, so it’s hard for one country to do everything, but we were taught that America is supposed to lead the way, so it’s really disappointing.
Very. To switch gears, what insecurity did you have to overcome to be more successful?
That I do truly know what I want and I should listen to my own instincts. I had somebody read my astrology chart recently and he was like, “one of your missions in life is to find confidence in your own leadership voice.” Although I feel like a leader, I also have this fundamental fear of really taking charge and saying ‘This is what I want.’ That’s why this new album is so exciting for me, because finally I did that. I was like, ‘This is the producer I want; this is the sound I want; this is what I want to write about.’ And that’s just in one area of my life. And I do think it’s harder for women in general. We have a bigger uphill battle to climb of not needing to look to anyone for approval. That has been and will continue to be a big challenge for me; that I do know what I want and I should listen to my own voice.
Do you meditate?
It’s funny you say that! I used to, but I get so bored so I stopped. I know I need it though, because I get anxious, and just yesterday my aunt started this zoom meditation and I just downloaded headspace. So I’m about to get back into it!
What is your sign?
I’m a Taurus, rising sign Aries, moon in Sagittarius.
Do you also believe that we’re naturally more compatible with certain signs?
I do! This is something I used to be embarrassed about, but not anymore. The qualities of each sign are so real. I seem to gravitate towards people of similar signs all the time.
What are your vices?
I love all sorts of things that are bad for me, but they’re also good for me. Sometimes getting drunk is exactly what I need emotionally and that’s not a vice.
Let me reframe that. Sometimes people will say “Once in a while I have a cigarette,” but do you feel like it’s not really a vice if you’re listening to what you want in that moment, as long as it’s done in moderation?
Yes. My motto is always like “What is going to make you proud?” and sometimes it will make me proud to eat, drink or smoke something that’s not good for me, because that’s what my body or mind needs in that moment. I’m pretty good at listening to myself, in that I don’t really think of them as vices.
If I could do anything right now, it would be to go to some sweaty dance club and have three tequilas in a row and dance with a bunch of strangers.