Amsterdam based newcomer ROSA stuns again new ‘BLOW’- Watch the gorgeous video below.
‘BLOW’ touches on his personal battles with mental health, depression and drug abuse. An artist who finds his groove between the likes of Frank Ocean, Kid Cudi and Dev Hynes, ROSA offers listeners insight on the man behind the music.
Suffering from depression since an early age, ROSA was always aware that his mental state was something he could either master or fall victim to. He made a conscious decision to not let his condition get the best of him and developed the ability to mask his true feelings like a craftsman. He figured out a way to make his sickness work to his advantage and learned how to gauge people’s habits, faults, idiosyncrasies and similarities through thorough observation. He also learned how to always be a few steps ahead and manage expectations and emotions of not only himself but his surroundings as well. It is through this method that he trained himself how to assess any situation from every vantage point and calculate decisions mostly based on logic instead of emotion. This structure was a clever built-in coping mechanism that helped him survive throughout the years. However, it also kept him from any accountability or actually dealing with any of his issues.
It’s this type of mathematical thinking that helped him cover up a severe cocaine addiction for years without any of his closest friends and family noticing. While naïvely attempting to only use it recreationally, he eventually sunk deeper into a repetitive cycle of endless partying, procrastination and self-sabotage. ‘BLOW’ is about a man coming to terms with not only his drug problem but also the root of his drug problem: depression. It is a confrontational testimonial of a traumatized kid who mastered the art of pretending.
Lyrically ‘BLOW’ refrains from metaphors and symbolism to avoid romanticizing the problem. Instead ROSA rips the band-aid off and addresses his addiction head on. The video is directed by ROSA himself and paints his experience; it’s a surreal amalgam of grandness emphasizing the initial euphoria of cocaine use and eventually grim deterioration as the high comes down. The song title is a double entendre doubling as the slang term for cocaine simultaneously meaning implosion if one doesn’t deal with their issues accordingly. ROSA wrote, composed, produced and arranged ‘BLOW’ alongside Joveek Murphy and Axe Hessel, ROSA’s main guitarist.
On the heels on Mental Awareness month, ROSA is bearing all in hopes that his self-imposed ‘therapy session’ offers a different perspective of drug use besides the glorified version portrayed in pop culture. By opening up about his demons he wants to challenge the stereotypical views of masculinity and machismo; you’re just as much of a man if you show vulnerability instead of hiding it.
