Constellations: Fine Tuning and Discovery
by tim parks
Shakespeare’s “A rose by any other name would smell as sweet…” is the perfect quote to characterize the music of Ariana and the Rose, due to the tangible inclusiveness they offer in illustrating the human condition. Set to a synthesized beat, each song definitely tells a story on their latest EP, Constellations – Phase 1: from the heartache of “You Were Never My Boyfriend,” a decidedly haunting and stripped down take on NSYNC’s “Bye, Bye, Bye,” the club-ready “Honesty” or their powerfully inclusive anthem “True Love.”
The Rage Monthly spoke with lead singer Ariana DiLorenzo about her time in the spotlight, the inspiration behind “True Love” and who her musical influences are.
She said of the latter, “My influences sort of range a little bit, but I really fell in love with artists like Goldfrapp and Robyn and bands like M83 and MGMT, who use synths and that sonic scape of that ‘80s, tinged synths and arpeggiators. I feel like the songs are there and that’s what I loved about it. It’s music you could take all of that away and the song is still heart-wrenching and real, something you can dance and cry to at the same time.”
When you listen to Ariana and the Rose, the aforementioned ‘80s inspired musical vibe is definitely there, yet it retains a contemporary song styling. When asked if that was a difficult balance to pull off, DiLorenzo said she “endeavors towards being unique, yet familiar enough to draw in listeners” and she “really just makes what she likes.”
It’s also the collaborative nature that informs her musical chops, “I’m fortunate to have been able to work with really talented producers and do co-writing sessions with songwriters that I think are so gifted,” she shared. “So for the most part, I’d like to think a lot of that stuff feels at this point, effortless. Everything is about constantly working to be better and to hone songwriting, so that it feels like you’re creating something that sounds like you. I think that’s what all artists strive for.”
According to her website she says she considers herself a performer rather than a musician, something we asked her to elaborate upon. “I think I refer to myself as a performer first, but I definitely am a musician. I write all my music and I play piano. When I think about the reasoning, everyone asks, ‘Why did you chose to do this? How did you get into it?’ For me, my motivation was performing,” DiLorenzo explained. “That being said, I do have to say that sitting down at the piano and writing has become a sense of release for me. When you’re writing you want to be performing and when you’re performing you want to be writing. Writing the songs is the vehicle to go out and play shows and connect with people.”
Piggybacking on the subject of performing live, DiLorenzo expanded on how it feels for her to bond with an audience. “It feels so good to play a show with a crowd that is into it and you are connecting with! It feels like the best version of a date that you can go on,” she opined. “We did a tour in March where we opened for a band called Weathers. We were playing the smaller capacity venues, but the crowds were so into it, amazing and responsive… I felt like I was having a conversation with them every night. It feels good to feel like people are getting what you hoped they would through your music. It creates such a dialogue and that’s all you can ever hope for.”
Ariana and the Rose’s recently released EP Constellations – Phase 1 will have a follow-up next year, which begs the question: Why did they choose to do it in two parts instead of releasing it as a full LP? DiLorenzo explained, “I wrote more than the EP and I knew that I was going to want to write more. I didn’t want to make it an album, so we split it up into two parts because I wanted to have this consistent cascade of music for a really long time,” she shared. “I felt like if I had put it into an album, you sort of release the album and that’s it, it’s over. I thought from an artistic and creative point-of-view, it was kind of nice to go through one EP cycle and then see how that affected the songwriting and what I wanted to do on the next one.”
Since their 2014 debut EP, Head vs. Heart, Ariana and the Rose have also put on an immersive, multi-sensory live show/party light + space, both in New York City and London. DiLorenzo talked about its genesis and why they made it an all-inclusive event.
“They came about when I was living in London and going back-and-forth to New York. My family is from New York and my friends all live there, so it was this mix of seeing this immersive movement happening in these two cities with different shows,” she observed. “I saw how people were so excited by it and so into it and I didn’t have anywhere for music to do that. There wasn’t anything for me to try and get booked on that had any of the same kind of things, so that’s how I came up with it.”
“We did the first one in London at the end of 2016 to see if people would like it and it sold out. We brought it to House of Yes in fall of 2017, which is a very famous queer space in New York, and we’ve done eight shows since then,” she continued. “I wanted to make an inclusive space and that party has grown. The first show I ever played was in a gay club and I’ve spent a lot of summer’s playing Pride events. The LGBTQ community has been so unbelievable to me and I wanted to give back—it’s for everybody. Specifically, as an artist, I wanted to give back to a community that I feel like has welcomed me.”
It’s not surprising then that the group released their anthem “True Love” during June’s Pride Month. DiLorenzo is very proud of its message and the accompanying video, which features six real-life couples who “identify” differently. “They all come from different racial backgrounds and different parts of the world and we asked them to be themselves,” she continued.
“The song is really about any kind of love, whether it’s romantic love or family love or friendship. There’s a main lyric in it that says, ‘As long as we’re breathing, we still believe in true love…’ It’s just about finding someone—one or two or however many people you are lucky enough to have—who you feel like you get to wholly be yourself with. With the video, I felt like it was an opportunity to showcase what love really looks like today. I felt like that was an opportunity to show that and put that into a video, rather than me just singing to the camera didn’t feel as important. It was amazing to see how their dynamics came out.”
Constellations – Phase 1 is available now. To purchase the EP, to check out their videos and keep up with Ariana and the Roses, log onto arianaandtherose.com
