Claire Rosinkranz Press Conference
On October 5th, 1824° held a press conference for Claire Rosinkranz, the talented lyrical singer signed with Republic Records, a division of UMG Recordings. The Music Industry Club of Ohio State had the wonderful opportunity to attend the conference, held the day before the release of her debut album, Just Because. During the conference, we asked Claire a few questions about her experience writing this album.
Claire Rosinkranz has been writing music since she was young, even detailing that she wrote her first song when she was only eight years old. Her music is upbeat, pop-infused, and laced with incredible lyricism, marking her spot in the industry as a force to be reckoned with. In 2020, her song “Backyard Boy” found international success and took the world by storm, becoming a viral hit online and reaching over a billion streams on all platforms combined. She signed with Republic Records at the age of 16, refining her sound and building up to her debut ever since.
She has previously described the album, Just Because, as “a collection of songs I wrote about my life as an 18-year-old. It’s a window into my world as I’m growing up and navigating life.” Listening to the album, her experiences are made into clear imagery through her lyricism, poising a talent that cannot be missed. Her last singles before the release of the debut were “Screw Time,” “Pools and Palm Trees,” and “Wes Anderson,” three unique tracks that built up excitement prior to the album.
On the day of the release, Claire announced her upcoming tour, titled “A Live Experience on Tour 2024,” in which she will take over cities in the US and Canada. Tickets are on sale for her headline tour now!
Question: You have shared that the album is a collection of songs you wrote about your life as an 18-year-old—can you elaborate a little on specific influences that affected how you approached writing the tracks?
Answer: The artists I am listening to constantly change and there are bits and pieces that I draw from what I am listening to at the time, but I never go into the studio thinking “I want a song that sounds like someone in particular,” because I always kinda have an idea of my own, of how I want it to sound. In terms of experiences, there are two sides to it; there are the really beautiful amazing experiences and then there are the super horrible ones. The more beautiful experiences were just times I had with my friends and little flings that I had with boys. I think in those moments I was very present with myself and aware of everything that was going on and I wanted to experience it all to the fullest.
Before continuing with Claire’s answer, it is important to note that she spoke about a traumatic experience of assault she went through while she was in Hawaii, which is what inspired the song “Sad in Hawaii.” The question she was answering when addressing the topic was not asked by us, but she has shared her story on other platforms in detail.
Answer (Cont.): Then there are those other things where I went through those more vulnerable times and after the “Sad in Hawaii” experience came one of my songs called “Polarized,” which is about falling out with a friend. I had never gone through such a fallout before so it was another thing that I did not know how to process, especially since it was about my best friend. So I poured it all into that song. Before I wrote “Sad in Hawaii,” I wrote “Banksy,” which is a song about loneliness, but I did not feel lonely when I wrote it. It was cool, though, because when I went to Hawaii, I went through that experience that made me feel super lonely and I had that song to listen to during that time. Overall, I would just say that the album is a very good timeline of everything that I was going through. It is cool knowing what the songs are actually about deep down because otherwise, you’d think that most are about a boy, but there’s so much more behind each one and they are all so connected.
Question: The album cover is so simple yet artistic, was there a specific plan behind it or was it a candid?
Answer: Very much candid. It was after a show, I cannot remember which one exactly, but my friend Hunter came on the road with me for a little while and took some photos for me. He is not the same person who did all my other creative for the album, but we were just outside with his film camera and we thought it looked cool, so we shot some pictures and I ended up really liking that photo. I was also very into my cat hats at the time, so I thought “I have to have my cat hat on the album.” I think if I were to choose the album cover now, I would pick something different, just because it doesn’t really go with the rest of my stuff visually, even though I still think it represents me in a way.
It is definitely a little bit different, I feel like the visuals for this album now that are already out on my Instagram are more vibrant and saturated, but also vintage, “filmy” stuff, whereas the album cover is more simplistic. It’s still really cute though and it takes me back to that whole entire time of just playing shows and shooting pictures with my friend.
Listen to Claire’s incredible debut album Just Because, on Spotify!