Empowerment, belief, and upliftment form the foundations of December Rose’s latest album ‘Raise Your Voice’. The contemporary pop dominant project is keenly personal, reflecting Rose’s own journey and challenges across her life while simultaneously celebrating her path to being open and courageous enough to reflect and move on from these hardships. Rose has endured a lot, both while growing up, and while starting her musical career. There’s been no shortage of barriers and pits that have impeded her growth, yet somehow she’s stood tall against it all defiantly. It’s that power of perseverance, that innate drive to succeed and overcome that resonates throughout her second LP.
Undoubtedly, Raise Your Voice is a commercial pop album, both in terms of style and in substance. And while there may be those who sneer at the genre, that’s a folly based on ignorance and nothing more. The sheer gust of upliftment that Rose is able to blow onto you is enough to have you determined to move on with your day with a renewed sense of gusto. December believes that the spark that lead to the album’s creation was her moving away from her childhood home. For years, she endured abuse that traumatised and debilitated her.
In 2015, Rose was actually offered a record deal by Invitation Records while she was just fresh out of university. She worked closely with industry veteran Russ Regan until he suddenly passed away in 2018.
““I was like, man, where do I go from here?” reflects December Rose. “Naturally labels maintain ownership of the masters, so I really did have to start from scratch. I knew I couldn’t just start making a bunch of new music until I really asked myself who I am as an artist. This was the most relevant and the most difficult question I had to ask myself, because it’s hard to see ourselves from an objective standpoint. I knew what I wanted to talk about, I just didn’t know how to package it.”
The album’s highlight comes in the first track itself, the resounding and beautifully progressive ‘Mama’. As Rose sings, the production builds more and more, compounding to a magnificently cathartic crescendo that comes crashing down on you. Most of Raise Your Voice is built on similar tones, a powerful build up and an even more satisfying crescendo. Fans of contemporary pop music will be delighted to hear this refreshing and empowering record.
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