Music will always be there for us—especially when we don’t have the words to express what we want to say. Georgia-born and Nashville-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Sydney Rose writes songs for those moments.  As she sings, it almost sounds like she’s whispering in your ear, giving you a boost of confidence, offering a little clarity, or just reminding you everything will be okay. The intimacy of her songcraft has resonated in the hearts and minds of countless fans worldwide, leading to billions of views on TikTok, hundreds of millions of streams, and critical acclaim. It also underscores her I Know What I Want EP [Mercury Records]. “Even if I can’t say how I feel with my own words, I know my favorite songs can,” she states. “When I listen to records or go to concerts, a song that speaks to me will be able to communicate what I’m going through. My goal has always been to relate to other people.” It’s easy to relate to Sydney. Growing up in the suburbs of Atlanta, she cultivated a rich musical palette by listening to artists as diverse as Phoebe Bridgers, Bon Iver, Daughter, Conan Gray, and Cavetown. Along the way, she picked up ukulele, piano, and guitar. Building an audience organically on social media, she broke through with a viral take on “Turning Page” by Sleeping At Last. It gathered over 67 million Spotify streams, led to her first label deal at 18-years-old, and set the stage for 2022’s You Never Met Me EP. A year later, she unveiled her debut LP, One Sided, highlighted by “You’d Be Stars” [feat. Chloe Moriondo]. Along the way, she received co-signs courtesy of everyone from People to Olivia Rodrigo and Awho invited her on tour.  By the fall of 2024, she found herself now settled in Nashville without a label, yet undeniably inspired. So, she dropped the fan favorite voice notes EP. “I wanted to return to my roots, which was recording a song as a voice memo on my phone and releasing it,” she says. “When I got dropped, I got back to who I am.” In this creative space, she continued to write and record. While sitting at the piano one day, she crafted “We Hug Now.” Sparse chords shudder as raw emotion echoes through the cracks in her stark delivery, resembling the fracture of a formative friendship. Holding back tears, she muses, “I have a feeling you got everything you wanted and you’re not wasting time stuck here like me. You’re just thinkin’ it’s a small thing that happened. The world ended when it happened to me.”  “I was upset about this relationship I had with a friend,” she confesses. “I’d go to her Instagram and see her posts with other friends, and it seemed like she was having a great time. I know it’s not 100% true because of how people are perceived on the internet. I was feeling down though, and I know she wasn’t. I wrote about wanting to be friends again and go back to simpler times.” A post of the tune’s bridge surged on TikTok, snowballing and eventually exploding on the platform. It inspired over 400K “creates” on Tik Tok, yielding 1.3 billion total views and reaching the Top 15 of the TikTok Top Songs Chart. It catapulted to the Top 3 of the Spotify US and Global Viral 50 Charts. Amassing 40 million streams and counting, “We Hug Now” notably cracked the Top 10 of the Billboard Bubbling Under Hot 100 Chart as she vaulted to #22 on the Emerging Artists Chart. In the wake of this success, she inked a deal with Mercury Records and crafted what would become the I Know What I Want EP. Among many highlights, softly strummed chords underline her delicate delivery on songs like “dogs I pass on the street.” Right out of the gate, she sets the scene, “When I call my mom, I just try to be discreet, crying over dogs I pass on the street.” “Every once in a while, I’ll write a song, and I won’t understand the significance of it until later,” she reveals. “I was moving to Nashville, and I’d never lived away from my family. I was so terrified even though I came here to do music, which is what the song’s about.” Then, there’s “thank you for trying.” Written in her closet, the vocals barely crack a whisper over the airy endless hum of feedback. Gentle acoustic guitar murmurs beneath an admission, “It’s the way you exist, the way that you kiss, makes me want to tell you I’m sorry.” “I’m so scared that when someone comes into my life and tries to love me, I’m going to push them away and feel undeserving of their love,” she says. Piano twinkles through guitar on “listen to the birds.” In a delicate exhale, she urges, “Go and change your perfume, you gotta let go of that version of you...listen to the birds.” “It’s very straightforward,” she goes on. “I saw The Milk Carton Kids at the Ryman, and I was super inspired. I thought, ‘Yes, I moved to Nashville, but I’m feeling all types of sad’. I needed to be reminded of home by certain things like the birds. It’s an uplifting song about moving somewhere new." Ultimately, Sydney’s music is here for you too. “I’m just like you,” she leaves off with a smile. “I’m figuring out who I am, but I know what I want. I want to keep making songs and singing for people.”