Country: South Korea
While K-Pop still gets most of the attention here in the states, there should be more love given to South Korea’s rock scene, especially talented four-piece alt rock band The Rose. Since their earliest days playing in 2015, the group has received critical and fan love in their home country and around the world (just looking at where their fans are on Spotify, you can spot India, Mexico and Thailand as some of their top countries).
Even after taking a break in 2019 so a few of the band members could do their mandatory military service, the group reunited and are preparing their next full-length album, which should be a whopper if the new tracks “Back to Me” and “Alive” are any representation. The former is a back, clap-along anthem, with a heartland, stadium-rock feel that wouldn’t be out of place in the oeuvre of later-era Bon Jovi.
“Alive” is more mid-tempo, a little darker with electronic touches. It conjures the early 00’s indie rock movement, but with a depth of emotion in the vocals. It should also be noted that both these songs are in perfect, clear English. On earlier tracks, like the gentle acoustic song “She’s in the Rain”, the band goes between English and Korean. Some of their songs like “Sorry” and the snappy “Red” are more classic K-pop sounding, and could be good entryways for K-Pop fans to discover this more rock-leaning group.
Discover The Rose for yourself in our World Watch Playlist!
The Indy Review 