Track By Track: Rodes Rollins on her Young Adult EP

Young & Thriving

Los Angeles, Summer

I wrote this song in the middle of the night in an old, rickety bungalow in Los Angeles. It literally came to me in a dream. Immediately, I woke up, got out of bed and set up my ‘songwriting station’. I lit candles and began playing. The tremolo guitar line came first. Then the lyrics. I wrote this song about the fleeting nature of beauty and youth as I reflected that night upon my ephemeral position of privilege as a young, female songwriter.

Oh Dear, Wes

New York, Summer

I had never written lyrics so quickly in my life before this song. They poured out of me with such ease. This song tells the tragic story of my first love, Wes. Wes was an amazing person who was dealt a very unfair hand. When he was just 20, he was thrown in jail for something he shouldn’t have been punished for. It turned his world upside down, and broke my heart. It’s been many years since the incident, but I’ve always felt a burning need to tell his story. So I did it the best way I knew how.

Big Girls

New York, Winter

My music career took a major halt in 2014. I got sick with serve tonsillitis and wasn’t able to sing. I could barely speak at times. I was depressed and uninspired. I knew I would have to undergo surgery to take care of the problem, but I was terrified after speaking to multiple doctors about the fact that a tonsillectomy can dramatically alter a person’s voice. With little choice in the matter, I ended up having the procedure done. After recovering, this was the first song I wrote. My voice had changed slightly, and, miraculously, it had changed for the better. When I was writing this song, I felt like a young girl rediscovering her voice.

Wes Come Back

New York, Autumn

This is another song about Wes. I decided to weave different layers of his story throughout the EP. This song focuses more on our young relationship, and my worries of being in such a serious relationship at a very young age, knowing that there was a whole world I had yet to explore.

Feedback

New York, Spring

This song tells a story about a special person I met when I was very young. We had an undeniable connection when we met, but at the time, circumstances kept us apart. We lost touch for many years, and lived separate lives on opposite sides of the world. Just this past year, we reconnected in New York, and today, we are very much in love! I wanted to close this EP with a current love story, instead of just reflecting on past relationships and experiences.