Rose Gray has committed a classic British blunder - placing blind faith in the weather. A few reckless days of March sun lured her into choosing a café in London’s Victoria Park for our interview. Now, we’re shivering on a bench, clutching teas like lifelines. Ninety minutes later, we’re practically cryogenically frozen, but somehow, with Rose, it doesn’t feel that way.
She’s like that fleeting heatwave - warm, electric, radiating good vibes - and her music has the same effect: lifting you up, offering an escape from the creeping gloom of a world that seems hellbent on rewinding progress. In an era where human rights are under siege, Gray isn’t just making songs; she’s making space - for joy, for freedom, for something brighter. And frankly, that’s worth a little frostbite.
If Gray’s not on your radar yet, she soon will be. In February, she won MTV Push UK & IRE, a fan-voted award that has launched stars like Anne-Marie and Lewis Capaldi - securing her spot as 2025’s most anticipated breakthrough act. Her debut album, Louder, Please - a self-assured blend of dance music and diaristic storytelling shaped by East London’s club culture - has become the soundtrack to every afterparty worth attending. And this month, she joins the Sugababes on tour before heading to the US to support Kesha, all while secretly cooking up a summer collaboration with Jade Thirlwall.
‘She shared one of my songs, and we’ve been chatting online and meeting at parties ever since,’ says Gray, whose Angel of Satisfaction dropped just weeks after Thirlwall’s Brit Award-winning Angel of My Dreams last summer. ‘We’re getting in the studio together next week. We're writing music. Obviously she’s a megastar, ex Little Mix. The other day, I was watching the Little Mix auditions. They're a little bit older than me, but I remember thinking, ‘I could have seen myself doing that’. A redhead could have worked!’
‘Women pop music is so powerful right now,’ she adds. ‘I feel like we're in an era - I call it ‘wonky pop’ - where everything is just a little off kilter. It's very quirky, but it's really working universally.’
Party people
Six days earlier, Gray arrives at our cover shoot in Kentish Town, just forty-eight hours after navigating the chaos of the Brit Awards afterparties. A pop girlie through and through, she doesn’t think twice when asked what she wants her shoot soundtrack to be. ‘Music by Madonna, the full album!’ she says, grinning, bopping away to the beat the second the title track booms out over the studio stereo.
Draped across an egg chair in turquoise net co-ords, legs in the air, red hair spilling onto the studio floor, she wraps her final shot and glances at the monitor. ‘We always see Cosmo in our local supermarket,’ she smiles.
Back on our park bench, she admits, ‘life has changed recently. It sounds dramatic, but it’s like before the album - BA - and after - AA. Very different. I love my life right now, but I have high expectations for my career, and I know that comes with being recognised. The red hair's really quite obvious!’
As her pop career soars, so does her public profile—not just as a rising star, but as one half of a creative power duo. Her longtime boyfriend, actor Harris Dickinson, recently set the internet ablaze with his role in Babygirl, an A24-produced erotic thriller, before landing the role of John Lennon in the upcoming The Beatles film, alongside Paul Mescal, Barry Keoghan, and Joseph Quinn. He’s also directed two of Gray’s music videos—Blue (2019) and Afraid of Nothing (2023).
At home in Walthamstow, they share their space with Misty Blue, their ‘high maintenance’ British Shorthair cat, who’s cultivating a celebrity status of his own. (Nicole Kidman even admitted she cast Dickinson after being charmed by Misty during a Zoom call.)
Gray turned 28 in January - born on New Year’s Eve, naturally - making her the perfect architect of this year’s ultimate party album. And the celebration was a masterclass in surprise, orchestrated by Dickinson. ‘It was probably my favourite New Year’s/birthday yet,’ she says. ‘My partner just said, “Get ready, wear something you can club in, and come downstairs at this time.”’
Waiting for her was a three-course meal - Caesar salad, ragu, and a brownie - before a cab whisked them to a friend’s nearby house, where her closest friends leapt out from behind a curtain. A few hours at a club followed, then Dickinson revealed his final surprise - a party bus, packed with yet more friends, blasting her then-unreleased album. ‘Harris had sent it to them,’ she grins.
‘We just danced all night. I really like to party, but I try to stay balanced. I’ve done some all-nighters on coffee,’ she laughs. ‘People are so sensible now - have you seen the clean girl aesthetic, on TikTok,? "It’s 5pm, I’ve done my face routine, time for bed". I definitely have my moments where I like to go wild. Maybe in the middle of summer I'll do a little Eat, Pray, Love moment and disappear.’
The rise of Rose
Gray grew up in Highams Park and Walthamstow, where house parties blurred into raves and the local pub DJ could make or break a night. Creativity was in her blood - her parents were actors - and she spent hours at the piano, writing music.
But her first record deal, at 16, was a brutal lesson in industry politics. ‘I signed publishing, record, and management all to the same people,’ she recalls. ‘When you’re young, you don’t see the red flags.’ Stuck in a deal she couldn’t escape, she hired a lawyer and fought for her freedom but was barred from taking over 100 songs she had written with her. ‘It was horrifying,’ she says. ‘To be so young, pushed out of the industry, and back at square one.’
After working the guest list at London’s Fabric before its closure and juggling countless other jobs, Gray’s break came after a chance meeting with her current management at a BBQ six years ago. Progress was slow. ‘They say it takes 8-10 years’ she says, nodding to Sabrina Carpenter’s decade-long rise to stardom.
Now, with Louder, Please - released in January - she has fully arrived and on her own terms. Collaborating with the likes of Justin Tranter (who has penned hits for Britney Spears, Chappell Roan and Lady Gaga), it’s equal parts party soundtrack and emotional catharsis. Tracks like Free, Switch, and Party People capture the thrill of nightlife, while Hackney Wick and Angel of Satisfaction reveal her wit and introspection.
A brief separation from Dickinson became a pivotal period in her creative journey - a time of transition, both personally and artistically. ‘We had a break, and I lived just off here for two years,’ she says, pointing across the way from where we're sitting. ‘That’s when I wrote a lot of the album, during the end of lockdown. My friendships became everything.’
Everything changes (but Rose won’t)
Navigating public scrutiny has its challenges. ‘I’d be lying if I said I didn’t feel the pressure,’ she concedes, revealing she’s already faced harsh criticism. ‘There’s some mean stuff. A lot about my bum - “put it away, flabby bum.” And I’m like, are you serious? I was in the gym for months! I like to have my bum out,’ she laughs. ‘I don't feel as comfortable having cleavage, but with my bum, I just do!’
Self-perception is a tricky thing. She recalls a recent shoot where she didn’t feel like herself at all - yet when she saw the photos, they were some of the best she’d ever taken. ‘It was mad how, in my head, I was so not into it,’ she reflects. ‘I didn’t feel good, and then I actually looked like that. “You gotta believe in yourself, girl”.’
She’s also learning to embrace the theatre of the red carpet - its rituals, its scrutiny, its unspoken expectations. ‘I’m getting better at it. I used to find it really scary. There’s this idea that you have to be “on” at all times, projecting confidence even when you don’t feel it.
‘Sometimes, if I’m not quite in that headspace, I’ll just skip it. But then you get annoyed and think, “I got my makeup done and didn’t even do the red carpet.” It’s a constant process of feeling at home in my own skin, no matter the setting.’
Of course, the outpouring of love has far outweighed the negativity. ‘I’ve had the most beautiful messages, DMs, and paragraphs,’ she says, visibly touched.
Gray is on the precipice of something big, still figuring out how it all fits. But as the stages get bigger and her fanbase grows, she’s not just making music - she’s creating a movement. A reminder to let go, turn it up, and live a little louder.
Rose Gray's debut album Louder, Please is out now
Photographer Sammy King; Fashion Stylist Rebecca O’Dwyer; Make-up artist Elaine Lynskey at Premier using CHANEL Les Beiges Golden Hour Collection and No.1 de CHANEL Body Serum-In-Mist; Hair stylist Emma May Fordham using Oribe. Manicurist Claudine Cooke at Premier using Essie in shade Reign Check; Props Stylist Beatrix Blaise; Editor in Chief Claire Hodgson; Art Director Alex Hambis; Video Lead Megan Beattie; Entertainment Director Nicola Fahey; Bookings Director Sophie Leen; Photo assistant Ian Blackburn; Fashion assistant Olly Cook; Video assistant Jaaf Shubber-Barton; Cosmopolitan intern Summer Aspin
