Canadian Country Artist Olivia Rose on her Latest Single, “Gold”
Drawing inspiration from country classics such as Loretta Lynn and contemporary country favourite Maren Morris, Canadian country artist Olivia Rose craftily blends the best of both sounds in her own music.
Hailing from the small-town of Elkpoint, Alberta is Canadian country artist Olivia Rose. Making her debut in the music scene at age 9, it only took her a few months before she won her first award; being named one of the division winners of the 2009 Global Country Star Search (Rose). Since then, she has opened for widely celebrated country acts such as “Dan Davidson, Brett Kissel, and Aaron Pritchett, participating as a Project WILD Finalist in 2018, and attending Canada’s Music Incubator in Toronto. Olivia Rose’s 2019 single, “Put It Like That” — her first collaboration with Juno and CCMA Award-winning producer Bart McKay — earned digital success (120,000 streams on Spotify) and regular rotation on CBC Country/Sirius XM, capturing the eyes and ears of the industry at large and a multitude of new fans.” (Rose). In 2020, she was also nominated for Country Music Alberta’s Rising Star Award. Earlier this year, the young artist released her latest single, “Gold” which was added to Canadian radio on March 15th. Gold is also the strongest single she has released to date. As she stated, “I released my first single when I was 14, so my other songs I have out are a bit older. Gold is the strongest lyrically and musically that I have released and demonstrates my personal growth as an artist.” (Rose).
Gold is an upbeat, catchy song that speaks to the powerful connection two people experience at the beginning of their love story. The song takes melodic inspiration from Lady Gaga’s 2016 album, Joanne. As for the lyrics, they were inspired by a Pinterest post she came across with the phrase “Solid Gold”. “I had “Solid Gold” written in my notebook for a year, waiting to get the right vibe for it. When I went into a write with David Borys, I showed him the hook and we ran with it.” (Rose). Prior to writing Gold, Olivia was writing a lot of breakup songs. As she mentioned, “I’m not going to lie — my own dating history has led me to write my fair share of sad break-up songs. With David, we went in the opposite direction by starting at the beginning of a relationship instead of at the end, and we came out of it with something happy and upbeat.” (Rose).
As for the recording process for Gold, all the bass and instrumentals were done at Velveteen Studios- with Ryan Davidson on lead guitar, Chad Melchert on drums and Travis Switzer on bass. As for the production for the song and vocals, they were done with Bart McKay. As Olivia explained, “He’s super awesome and we worked on my last single together. We recorded all the vocals and harmonies in one day since it’s a long drive to Saskatoon and I wanted to make it worth the trip. “My advice for anyone going into the studio and choosing a producer to work with is finding someone you can communicate with well. It sucks if you go record a song and it doesn’t turn out how you imagine it, because you worked with the wrong producer for you.” (Rose).
Olivia also released the official lyric video for the song last February, which was designed by local Albertan graphic designer Not Your Designer (Julianna Laine). As Olivia explained, “I’ve known Julianna since Project Wild in 2018. We’ve been friends for a while. She previously worked with all the artists in the Alberta country music scene. It was a no-brainer to work with her!” (Rose). As for the creative direction, Olivia envisioned (…). “I wanted it to have a scrapbook feel. I wanted to look like what they would write in their diary about the person they love.” (Rose). So she & Julianna collectively worked on a Pinterest board they used for inspiration for the video, before letting Julianna take the creative reins. The end result being a fun, collage-style video that will take the listener through all the emotions the girl in the song is feeling, one line at a time.
Looking back, 2020 was a challenging time for many and it especially hit the entertainment and music industry harder than most. Because of it, Olivia’s original plans for the release of Gold had to be revised. What initially was supposed to kick off with an Ontario radio tour and music video for the single, ended up being an early 2021 winter release. She wanted to wait it out until things passed, but seeing that it would be a while before it did, she decided to release it anyway. As she explained, “The song has been in my back pocket for a while, and I wanted to get it out there. So we did the best we could with Covid going on. “ (Rose). So far, the response has been great- with the single nearly reaching 3.5K Spotify streams in its first few weeks. But for Olivia, it’s about more than just numbers- it’s about what her fans experience when they listen to the song. As she explained, “I want people to sing this at the top of their lungs in the car with the windows down. Having that perfect match in your life is such a rush and I wanted to capture and celebrate the spirit of that feeling in the lyrics and flow of the song.” (Rose).
On a separate note, Olivia also had a positive takeaway from the past year. As she revealed, “I realized how much songwriting has been a light for me during these times. I’m in a long-distance relationship and my family lives far. Collaborating with fellow songwriters over Zoom helped with that human connection I missed. I got to write with so many people across the country. With everything being online, why not reach out to artists across Canada?” (Rose). The additional co-writes also helped her get her confidence back as a songwriter, and really learn to trust her skills.
Moving forward in 2021, Olivia plans to focus on new music. As she explained, “In light of the pandemic, it’s pretty hard to plan anything. I’m really just trying to go through this year with an open mind. I’m trying to see where things go. Although I may or may not be working on my debut album.” So be sure to keep an eye out for the much-anticipated official announcement.
Listen to “Gold” Now:
To learn more about Olivia Rose, be sure to check out her music and socials:
Instagram: @OliviaRose_Music
Facebook: @OliviaRoseMusic
Twitter: @OliviaRoseMusic
YouTube: smarturl.it/OliviaRoseYouTube
Spotify: smarturl.it/OliviaRoseSpotify
Website: https://www.oliviarosemusic.com
Works Cited
Rose, Olivia. Interview. Conducted by Kyla Pearson, Mar. 15 2021.
Unknown. “Featured: Canadian country artist Olivia Rose”. Photo courtesy of Olivia Rose. Accessed Mar. 15 2021.
Not Your Designer. “Official single art for Canadian country artist Olivia Rose’s single, Gold”. Photo courtesy of Olivia Rose. Accessed Mar. 15 2021.
Originally published at https://www.kylapearson.ca on April 12, 2021.
