Caroline Rose website  instagram  facebook. twitter  youtube Superstar isan underdog story, and one not far off from Caroline Rose’s real life. After ayears-long struggle to release what would ultimately become 2018’s LONER,deemed “a singular artistic statement from it’s unforgettable album art all theway down” (Pitchfork), Rose found herself in the midst of a new widespreadaudience, one both delightfully intrigued and perplexed about how and where toplace her. That, combined with a developed set of studio skills and a challengeto “make something from nothing,” marked the beginning of Superstar. Gone arethe polished Hollywood hunks and starlets of olde. Here is a shamelessly oddhero, or rather anti-hero, on a quest to become a someone. Inspired by cultclassics such as The Bitter Tears of Petra Von Kant, Mulholland Drive and themockumentary Drop Dead Gorgeous, Superstar plays out like a film with abeginning, middle, and an open ending. In album opener “Nothing’s Impossible,”the protagonist receives a mistaken phone call from the glamorous ChateauMarmont hotel. Taking the call as a sign toward a star-studded future, they(gender neutral pronoun) leave behind everything in pursuit of a newlyestablished destiny. What ensues is a cinematic paradox that in one momentfinds them strutting down a neon strip in full Saturday Night Fever hip-swingdonned in their finest threads, and the next sipping a dirty martini at therundown apartment complex pool, dwelling on life’s unfortunate turns. It’s anarrative Rose pulled directly from the somewhat shameless desires of her owngrowing ambition, as well as the public breakdowns of several notablecelebrities. “To me, the satire is in what we’ll do and put up with in order tobe successful. I wanted to make a story out of those parts of myself that arefor the most part undesirable, then inject them with steroids.”Rose worked onthe album in order of the story’s timeline, ensuring each track represented achapter of the narrative in her head. Songs bursting with self-aggrandizementoften reveal moments of vulnerability. “Feel The Way I Want” leads us withboisterous confidence through heartache by refusing to let pain get the best ofus. Disguised as a Prince-infused bop, “Do You Think We’ll Last Forever?”expresses the uncertainty and anxiety that come with seeing a new partner,ending in a full blown freakout of bottled up nervous energy. TheS&M-fueled love song “Freak Like Me” and the darkly comedic “Command Z”ultimately expose a fragile person coming to terms with their own humanity.Rose sings, “I looked around at all the people there / as I thought everyone weknow will know will someday be dead / God, I just don’t want it to end / Undo,I’m gonna do it again”.Rose began formulating the songs and ideas for asequel-esque follow-up to LONER in between the band’s near-incessant touringschedule, from playing sold out headline shows across the country and beyond,to becoming fan favorites at some of the world’s biggest festivals. “Two yearsago I started touring with nothing, not knowing if I’d even have a career. Thenall of a sudden we were playing to hundreds of people in a town I’d never heardof. The whole thing was fascinating. It got me thinking, just how much can youbuild from nothing?” As a result, Superstar was written, recorded and producedby Rose in her 10’x12’ home studio, as well as on a portable rig she’d set upin green rooms while on tour. Superstar is a bigger, badder, glitter-filledcinematic pop record for weirdos. “I realized at some point that I’m not goingto fit into any one box, and maybe that’s a good thing. This new record is meembracing feeling like an outsider making my own path,” Rose says. One partsatire, one part self-reflection, Rose’s anti-hero personifies much of what weas casual on-lookers are wont to poke fun at, dismiss or denigrate, yet deepdown likely aspire to be. Someone who, whether warranted or not, refuses to letanyone dictate their own life’s narrative. Number One Popstar website  instagram  facebook  twitter  youtube At the crossroads of charm and cynicism stands Number One Popstar, the indie synth-pop moniker of singer Kate Jean Hollowell. With a sharp sense of songwriting, N1PS’ music is a perfect blend of clever humor and undeniable hooks. Clash, PAPER, MTV, and V Magazine have praised the project as ultra-contagious, irreverent and infectious. Hollowell, the wild-eyed genius behind N1PS, honed her musical talent fronting the irreverent Los Angeles-based punk band Slut Island and has taken her humor to the dark world of indie pop. With a focus on jaw dropping visuals and hilarious storylines, Number One Popstar is here to serve the kind of quirky pop that doesn’t take itself too seriously, but you will seriously love it.