I first watched The Rose in 2024 on a heady whim. They weren’t set to play in Singapore for their Dawn to Dusk tour, so an ex-colleague of mine and myself decided to fly out to Kuala Lumpur to see them play a good two-hour set of some of the band’s most beautiful, enduring tracks; some of which took me through the worst days of my university years. It was raw attitude; tearjerking nostalgia; plucky honesty—all in one.
That sheer, riveting emotion still stands as one of The Rose’s greatest strengths.
It’s no secret that the South Korean indie-rock band has had their work cut out for them since the beginning, with their refusal to subscribe to the definitive standards of the K-pop industry. The juxtaposition was clear in the first place: nothing about The Rose was ever meant to feel engineered. Every time they were dealt a bad hand in the night, they managed to emerge triumphant at first light, be it the work they put in to terminate their contract with their former entertainment agency or the Covid-19 induced struggle with no gigs and no live performances.
There always remained a preciousness about them; one that you might find written into the snares, chords, and lyrics of the group’s melancholic debut ballad, ‘sorry’. Since then, there’s no doubt that the music has matured along with the four—Woosung, Hajoon, Dojoon, Taegyeom (formerly Jaehyeong).
That shows, perhaps, most clearly in Rose. The latest album in the band’s discography, it has been confirmed that it will be the last one for a while. Aptly titled after the quartet, the album is a soaring ode—to The Black Rose, the band’s fanbase, as the group takes a break to focus on themselves as individuals, spend time with their families and recalibrate. Through all eight tracks, the lyrics roll off the tongue with ease. The instrumentals don’t let up—staying in joyous harmony. And as for the emotion? It remains thunderous.
The band thinks ‘Utopia’ might be the best sum of the message they’re hoping to leave their fans with in this album. “We’ve all been looking toward the same destination and moving forward together. And it feels like the ‘Utopia’ we’ve reached isn’t something The Rose created alone, but a place that all of us built together. I think that’s what makes the song feel even more emotional and special to us.”
In some ways, it feels especially special that Rose was only released at the end of August, marking nine years since the group first stepped onto the scene in 2017. Ahead of the final stop of the Rosetopia Asia Tour 2026 in Singapore—which will be the final show the band will put on before their hiatus—the quartet talk about how personal Rose feels as an album, evolving over the past decade, and their favourite things about performing live.
Till next time, The Rose.
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Naming the recent album Rose must have been extra personal. What led to that decision and why did it feel right?
For the past nine years since our debut, we had been saving the album title Rose for the right moment. While working on this album, we felt that it truly represents who The Rose are as a band. Since this year also marks 10 years since we first started making music together, we thought it would be especially meaningful to release an album called Rose at this point in our journey. That’s how we came to make the decision.
So much of Rose is very emotional and euphoric—and it fits so well in The Rose’s musical universe. Having kicked off your Asia leg of the Rosetopia tour now, was there a particular moment performing one of your new songs that felt extra meaningful for the four of you?
We talked a lot about whether we should perform the new songs on this tour, especially since the album hadn’t been released yet when the tour began. We thought the fans would be really curious about the new music, and we also felt there would be something meaningful about everyone hearing these songs together for the first time at a concert rather than through the official release. That’s why we decided to include the new songs in the tour.
It was especially meaningful for us to perform them on stage and hear the fans’ reactions in real time, seeing how they responded to the songs and hearing their feedback firsthand.
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Is there a song on this album that is particularly special to you? Why?
‘Utopia’ is probably the song that feels the most meaningful to us. The Rose has been making music for the past 10 years, and throughout that entire journey, our fans have always been there listening to our music and walking alongside us.
We’ve all been looking toward the same destination and moving forward together. And it feels like the ‘Utopia’ we’ve reached isn’t something The Rose created alone, but a place that all of us built together. I think that’s what makes the song feel even more emotional and special to us.
Production wise, was there anything new you guys were experimenting with in the studio for this album?
There were quite a few new challenges on this album. For ‘Threshold’, we included a bass solo for the first time. That section was originally meant to be a guitar solo, but we decided to change it because we wanted to try something new.
We also experimented with EDM elements in ‘Control’ while on ‘Home’, Taegyeom and Hajoon took on the vocals, which was another new challenge for us.
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From Void to Dual to Rose, how would you say The Rose has evolved? Musically, or otherwise?
In our hearts, we still feel like we’re in our early twenties, but looking back, a lot has changed. We’ve become more mature, and little by little, we’ve also gained more room in our hearts to understand other people. Over the past 10 years, our music has matured as well, and we’ve come to appreciate our fans more and more deeply. These days, the phrase that resonates with us the most is “go with the flow”.
Performing live as a band is not an easy feat—especially when you need to sound cohesive, but what is something that you wish more people knew about performing live?
There isn’t really anything in particular that we want people to understand from our performance. We simply hope they can enjoy the moment, connect with us through the language of music, laugh and cry together, and share those emotions with us. More than anything, we hope that moment stays with them as a happy and meaningful memory.
To date, what remains your favourite song to perform live? On the other hand, which song is the most challenging to perform live?
Our favourite song to perform live is ‘Sour’. Toward the end of the song, there’s a part where we wave our hands together with the audience and talk to them and every time we perform it, we really feel like we’re having a conversation with everyone in that moment through the language of music, just like we mentioned earlier.
As for the most difficult songs to perform live, I think it would be some of our earlier songs, like ‘Baby’. As we get a little older, there are times when it becomes harder to bring back the same youthful emotions we had when we first made those songs.
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You guys have mentioned that you’ll be taking a break following the Rosetopia tour. What are you hoping to be able to do or achieve during this time?
For the past 10 years, we’ve been completely focused on The Rose and on making music together, so we’d like to take some time to look back on ourselves as individuals. We hope to spend more time with our families, reflect on ourselves, and each work on personal projects that we’ve wanted to pursue. We hope this time can become a meaningful turning point for all of us.
Singapore is the last stop of the Rosetopia Asia tour. What is something that you would like to say to the Black Rose before you go on your break?
The reason The Rose has been able to keep making music all this time is because of our Black Rose. We’ve always tried to create music around the idea of healing and hoped that our songs could bring comfort to others. But looking back, I think we were actually the ones who received so much healing from you.
We’re always incredibly grateful, and thank you for quietly staying by our side and walking this journey with us all these years. After a short break, the day will come when we can meet again, look at each other, and smile together. So we hope you’ll wait for us just a little longer. See you soon, our Black Rose. We Rose You!
The Rose will be playing in Singapore on 27 October at The Star Theatre.
