04 August 2023 - 0 Comments

Hybrid Rose is the musical project of Rose Windeler (she/her), a musician and songwriter based in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland).

Hybrid Rose has refined her brand of sickeningly sweet electronic pop over the course of five albums, most notably 2022's Hyperkunt. 2023 finds Hybrid Rose in her popstar era - having just signed with unstable records and cultivating her inner 2008-2010 Lady Gaga/Kesha-inspired sound and image.

Inspired by MySpace, Bebo and Blueberry phones, Hugs N Kisses is an electro pop-rock song about staying up all night with anxiety, waiting for a partner to text you back.

"Hugs n Kisses is about being so obsessed with someone that it drives you crazy," says Rose. "Love can change you, in any or every single possible way. I really wanted the sound to embody the 2008-2010 electro-pop style. It's such a significant sound that's grimey and sexy. I wanted to go in a popgirl rockstar direction, so there had to be some filthy synths and poppy chords."

"After my last project (2022's Hyperkunt), I sorta found a nice middle man between what people enjoy about me as an artist and what I like to do creatively. This song and overall vibe feels like a step above everything I've done so far, and "peak artistry"

Hugs n Kisses is accompanied by a music video directed by K² and made with support from NZ On Air Music. The black and white, film noir clip slowly ramps the tension leaving the viewer with a killer conclusion!

"Working with K² was so easy, so proficient, so creative and they are just the coolest people. This was the first time it felt like I was the talent and they were doing all the BTS work for the video, giving me space to be creative and do all the musical and releasing side of the project."

"Mutation's aesthetic is so dark and unsettling to me, because I really had to sit with my darkest secrets and internal states in order to bring them to life. It was important to get used to that, so I started practicing exposure therapy by watching a lot of horror/gore films and reading autopsy reports. I hated it so much but doing that made me comfortable with my own artistic ambitions."

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Photo Credit: K²

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