Sydney Rose

One Liner: If Phoebe Bridgers only did whispered confessionals
Wikipedia Genre: No Wikipedia, but indie bedroom pop
Home: Nashville (via Georgia)

Poster Position: Third Quarter - Line 18
Day: Saturday
Both Weekends.

American Express Stage at 1:00

Thoughts:  Her first single, 2020's "Home" is a cover of an Edward Sharpe song.  Pretty sure one of my best friends was coerced into doing an awkward dance at his wedding reception to the original song.  But I find it really odd that her first single would be a cover.  You'd think that you only put your own stuff out as your first exciting single.  But what do I know - she's the one with 13 million streams for her first single while I sit here with my thumb up my butt.  I was recently reminded of the sick burn from Ferris Bueller when Jennifer Grey tells Charlie Sheen to put his thumb up his butt.  Amazing stuff.

Anyhoo, this is a singer/songwriter from Georgia who found herself with time and ability to make music during the pandemic.  She had been around music her whole life with a church band and choir while growing up, but then during the lockdown she started performing covers to upload onto TikTok.  She says that Phoebe Bridgers is her favorite artist, and made a song called "Phoebe Told Me" about how everything is going to be just fine.  Now that I have that comparison in mind, I hear it repeatedly.  She got to play Lolla a few years ago when she was only 17.  An article I found about her opens with the faux deep thought of "Sydney Rose is learning that 'if nothing changes, it'll never change.'"  Wooooooaaaahhh.  I never thought about that!?!?

Two 2022 EPs, a 2023 album called One Sided, a 2024 EP and a 2025 EP.  Of note, and maybe only to me because I look at playcounts all the time now, it is her singles that popped out in between those EPs and albums that have all of the streaming numbers. Most of her songs have low stream counts. Top track is 2025's "We Hug Now" with 126.1 million streams.

You can hear it there, but many of these songs are so softly sung that I can't tell whether she's even saying words or just vocalizing gibberish.  By reading the lyrics, I can tell that is a very well-written tune about lost love and the longing for someone.  When the drums kick in near the end and it becomes a bigger song, I like that part a ton more.  Almost like two separate songs.  She does a cover of Jason Isbell's "If We Were Vampires" that annoys the crap out of me.  An amazing song, but her vocals are so whispery and thin than you can barely tell what she is saying.  Bugs me for sure.

She said that when she finished high school, she stayed home for a year, while everyone else headed off to college.  She was feeling lonely and anxious, and just writing songs in her bedroom about how she felt.  You can hear that personality and nostalgia in these lyrics for sure.  Since then, she has moved to Nashville and is significantly happier.

Her other big tune is 2020's single "Turning Page."

I'm literally leaning towards the speakers on my desk to try to hear.  SPEAK UP, CHILD!  Most of these tunes also favor a very stripped-down instrumentation - just her with a piano or guitar.  On that one above, it was sometimes hard to tell if the song was still playing.  She said that she was a quiet, self-conscious kid, and I can hear it in this music!

Probably not my thing.  Feels like it would be a lovely house concert or something, but not so much in a huge field with sweat dripping down my crack.