Just before they walked out for their set at Download, RØRY was told that they were probably one of the oldest women ever to play the festival's main stage. "I used to have so much shame about being older," the 41-year-old admits. For a hot minute, they considered telling people they were 27, not 37, when releasing the nostalgic synth-punk single 'Fuck Fame' in 2021, but ultimately, they led with the truth.

Last year's debut album, 'Restoration', is full of the same messy, cathartic honesty. The swaggering alt-rock record chronicles a journey through depression, isolation, pain and loss, before heading towards something close to self-acceptance. It's a prickly album, full of outsider energy, and was written after several other attempts at making a go of music in their 20s. "Some dreams aren't meant to come true. And that's ok," reads a farewell message on a Spotify page under their real name, alongside a string of EDM and country-pop collabs. After getting sober, they decided to give it one more go. "I know it's not a cool thing to say, but there's such a desperation to be heard on that album," says RØRY. "I just thought it was never going to happen."

But it did. After a string of buzzy singles, debut album 'Restoration' was released last January on their own Sadcore label, and it crashed into the Top 10. Less than 18 months later, they took to Download's main stage and performed to a huge crowd. "I'm really proud to be doing this later in life," says RØRY, who's now let go of all that shame. "It's really important for people to know it isn't over if it didn't happen in your 20s."

"I have to pinch myself sometimes that this thing that I've wanted for decades is actually happening, but today felt so good," they say, having spent the past month practising in front of a mirror to make sure they weren't going to be a downer. "You never know if anyone's going to show up, but that whole gig was incredibly validating," they add. "It was like a coming-of-old-age."

Later this year, RØRY will release their second album. And despite a dream-come-true few months that include getting married, 'Bloodletting' isn't as joyful and merry as you might expect.

"I had finished a sold-out headline tour and was ready to write an album that I thought was going to be a lot happier," explains RØRY. Then they lost a close friend to cancer, which dragged up the unresolved sense of loss that started when the 22-year-old RØRY lost their mum to the disease. "It was a really fucking hard album to write," they say. "There are a lot of songs about life and death. It's definitely darker, and it's a lot heavier than what's come before, but I didn't want to shy away from that. I'd been given this beautiful opportunity by fans, so I knew I had to dig in."