Unplugged Lounge Conversations with Rose White

Rose White is a Polish born, London based singer songwriter that playfully mixes soul-jazz grooves with infectious hooks and empowering energy. Wrapping her husky voice that has drawn comparisons to Joy Crookes, Paloma Faith and Olivia Dean, around the full range of emotions, Rose wants to speak openly about the topics we all think about, but are afraid to say out loud. She has released her new EP, A Night With A Sazerac.

Continue reading to learn more about Rose White. . .

Thanks for chatting with us at Sonic Sisters Magazine! Can you share a bit about how your journey into music began?

Thank you for having me! My story begins in Poland. I was born and raised there. An ex ballroom dancer and a law student, at the age of 20 I decided to take a leap of faith and move to London to pursue music. I packed £300 and two suitcases, ready to conquer the big smoke. As you can probably guess, it wasn’t an easy path, but I was persistent in successfully penetrating the industry one way or another. Fast forward to April 2026, I’ve now lived in this city for almost 9 years and I’m currently promoting my sophomore EP. I’d say the journey is far from perfect, but it is mine and I enjoy every moment of it. 

Who have been some of the most significant influences on your musical style?

I was raised in a household where we listened to old rock bands like Pink Floyd, The Doors, Joy Division, Led Zeppelin as well as Polish punk music (which my country has plenty of given the challenging history). In my teens, I discovered soul and jazz. What can I say, it was love at first sight. I’ve since explored the greatest artists of these genres, but living in London and being in the heart of that scene, opened my eyes to some of the lesser-known characters (or as I like to call them, ‘the ones that haven’t yet popped’). If you were to go through my most recent listens you’d find a mix of RAYE, Joy Crookes, B.B. King, SAULT, Sting, Pink Floyd, Jill Scott, João Gilberto, DON WEST and many, many more. I also listen to a lot of Fryderyk Chopin (his compositions made my top 5 on Spotify last year and I’m not even slightly surprised). 

And which female musicians or women in the music industry have inspired your journey?

One of the first artists I’ve ever listened to through my own discovery was Ayo and her debut album ‘Joyful’. It was such a popular record back in Poland. I remember memorising the lyrics, learning English just so that I could understand what she sings about. 

Today, I still go back to this album out of nostalgia. Other women I follow religiously are already mentioned before RAYE, Joy Crookes as well as Olivia Dean (of course), ELOISE, Cleo Sol and some of my peers Rachel Croft, Emilia Anastazja or Clara Moschetta. 

How do your personal experiences shape your songwriting, and what do you hope listeners take away from those connections?

I write from my own experience of course, but whether it’s the one I lived through or someone’s story that I’ve been told and got inspired by is something I never reveal. I love humans and we collectively go through the same emotions, just in a different order. With that being said, I hope that I can inspire some people with my songwriting to love, change, grief or simply loosen up. 

Congratulations on your brand-new EP, A Night With a Sazerac - what inspired this particular EP?

The song ‘Sazerac’ was inspired by my favourite cocktail, Sazerac. I used to be a bar manager back in the day and this was my drink of choice. The song itself is about a grey area in a dating pool called ‘situationships’. Funnily enough, for a very long time this song was called exactly that - ‘situationships: draft title’ with a thought that I will change it eventually. One day, two weeks before playing a big headline show back in 2024, I was working a one-off shift at my friend’s bar to help out with someone calling in sick. It was a rather slow evening and I knew I had to finish the lyrics for the bridge in ‘situationships’ song before the gig. I’ve just made a Sazerac for a customer and this idea came to me to turn the middle section of the song into a cocktail recipe with a metaphor. Then I naturally had to name the song after the drink. 

What song (not your own) has had the biggest influence on you and why?

There’s not one song that influenced me, but there are three instrumental compositions that can instantly bring me into my happy place and calm any nerves and that’s a rather influential power in my opinion. In no particular order:

‘Atom Heart Mother’ by Pink Floyd

‘Little Wing’ by Stevie Ray Vaughan

‘Nocturne 9’ by Fryderyk Chopin

Is there a song in your catalog that holds a special personal meaning for you? 

I think my song ‘Next Of Kin’ is somewhat the most special thing I’ve ever written to this date. It took me almost a year to finish it, because I had to leave through each part of the song. Usually, I write a song after said experience is finished. In this case, I didn’t know where the story was going to take me as I was living it in real time.  The outro ‘I wish you well, I walk away’ is something we added at the very last minute in the studio, making the circle complete. 

We'd love to hear the story or inspiration behind it.

‘Next Of Kin’ starts off with a story of an A&E visit. As for the literal meaning behind the lyrics, I’ll keep this to myself as it feels somewhat personal, but the song leaves the listener with one question ‘so does she have a next of kin now?’. 

What are some of the aspirations you have for your music moving forward?

If there’s one thing I learnt over the past few years is not to have expectations, therefore I don’t have set aspirations in the material sense. If the industry acknowledges my art that’s nice, but this is not the goal of mine. One thing I wish for is to carry on creating and making art that other people can connect with on a daily basis. As long as I continue doing that I’m a happy kiddo.

What advice would you give to emerging female artists who are just starting out in the music world?

Listen to your intuition. You’ll end up in rooms filled with men telling you what's good for you. You know best and don’t you forget that.

Before we wrap up, is there anything else you’d like to say to our readers?

If you’re still reading this, I just want to say thank you for supporting independent artists. We need it now more than ever. It doesn’t go unnoticed and personally, it still baffles me that there are people out there with kind hearts like your readers, who champion the ones without big names or connections. From the bottom of my heart, thank you.