On the back of all of that, after signing with Capitol Records, it was time to bank another EP. ‘
Voyeur’ was written, as always with Alessi Rose, with no stone left unturned in her life. It’s jam-packed with that cheeky, warts-and-all wit and emotional vulnerability in equal measure. All of this is soundtracked by sonics she classifies as “so quintessentially myself” - from the pop bangers (‘
Same Mouth’, ‘
Take It Or Leave It’, ‘
That Could Be Me’) to softer ballads (‘
Stella’) - inspired by a binge of Mazzy Star and Goo Goo Dolls. “It just feels like the perfect mix of me, and it’s more confident. It comes from a place of knowing I want more, which is nice. I can see the development there from me,” she says.
Explaining the EP now, she says it was the first time she felt fully comfortable embracing being an artist - now it’s full-time and full-on. “I’d spent 19 years of my life in my room, not working with anyone else, not knowing how a studio worked, essentially on my own, figuring it out. ‘Voyeur’, being the third one, I felt like I could go into the studio and be like, ‘I know what I like’,” she explains.
Calling it ‘Voyeur’ was a choice that also encapsulates the experience of being a burgeoning star. “It was my first exposure to people liking me and giving so much energy to me at the shows and so much passion behind the music, but also people who were like, ‘Who the fuck is Alessi Rose?’ It was the first time I’d ever had to encounter like, opinions about myself.”
It meant she’d second-guess things, which was a tough pill to swallow. “I’ve always grown up, personality-wise, as being someone who regarded themselves as not caring what people have to say and being very self-confident and self-assured. In truth, that’s quite hard to constantly be like that,” she confesses. “And then also being so open about the meaning of my lyrics, as I always have been. I guess I am experiencing some sense of voyeurism to myself because I’m reliving these situations that I’ve written so frankly about, and doing interviews and talking about them, and talking about it on stage in between songs.”
No matter how quickly her journey is taking off, Alessi Rose is clear on her artistry. The vision is all hers from the top down, no matter how big or small the stage. This is all to say that 2025, while only 6 months through at the time of Dork’s chat with Alessi, already feels firmly in her grasp, and the future should certainly watch out because she has no intention of letting it get away. “So long as the things I’m doing that are pissing people off, and they’re unapologetically me, and I have my reasons behind it, then that’s me staying true to the art and the vision I’ve always wanted,” she grins. ■
Taken from the August 2025 issue of Dork. Alessi Rose’s EP ‘Voyeur’ is out 25th July.
