My Inspiration: Lottie Willis – Rosie

North East pop artist Lottie Willis returns with Rosie, the first in a new run of singles produced in Sunderland with Connor Jobes (noyou). Raised in the city and shaped by its grassroots music scene, Lottie’s journey began with We Make Culture’s Young Musicians Project and now continues with a refreshed live setup and a growing list of achievements—including slots at Kendal Calling, support for Rag’n’Bone Man and Emeli Sandé, and playlisting on Spotify’s Fresh Finds.

Synthed-up keys straight out of an eighties movie, driving dance beats and electrified epic riffs combine to create a bold pop track with a hint of country that showcases Lottie’s soaring, impassioned vocal and her knack for a killer chorus.

Here, Lottie tells us more about the inspiration behind the release…

Rosie was a song I wrote last summer after watching the film “It Ends With Us” at the cinema. It was the first time I had actually sat down and tried to write a song for a long time but I felt it was the right time to do so after exploring some new sounds with the band. We’d played Kendal Calling earlier that summer and it instantly inspired us to get in the practice room and try to push ourselves to make some new music as soon as we got home.

The song actually came out pretty easily and was written in one sitting in just a few hours! I noticed that a lot of music I was listening to had songs with names in the title and really wanted to challenge myself to do the same as some of my favourite artists of the time. Rosie is my build-a-bear teddy who was on my bed next to me as I wrote the song, at first the name was just a placeholder until I came up with an actual name but after finishing the song and being so happy with how it sounded it after jamming it through with the band, Rosie ended up sticking.

I am buzzing with the sound of my new music at the minute and feel like building a strong team of musicians in the band and a close relationship with my producer Connor has really helped us to nail my exact aim. Taking huge inspiration from some of my favourite artists in the world, the likes of Nieve Ella, The Japanese House and Olivia Rodrigo, I wanted to create fun, catchy, pop songs and I really feel like we have managed together to create a perfect mix of all three in the music.