Seventeen-year-old singer-songwriter Annika Rose displays a level of emotional awareness far beyond her years in her latest single ‘In The End’, where she lets her tender, honest voice do the brunt of the work in exploring the depth of her emotions.

Reckoning with her self-destructive tendencies, Rose muses on whether these dangerous patterns of behaviours matter in the end. This pop power ballad does not only allow this young artist from Los Angeles, California to speak her mind through the most pristine, delicate platform of song, but it also enables her to extend her voice to the best of its abilities. Raw, powerful and immensely relatable, her sound echoes the angst and achiness of the early 00s’ Avril Lavigne, where her strong-willed sassiness and insolence communicated those raw vulnerabilities that grounds all artists.  

The production choices in the song are designed to enhance rather than mask Rose’s authentic voice, something so clear and stark that it captivates the attention of the listeners till the very end. And just when listeners begin to think that they have figured out the structure of the song, Rose pulls the rug from under their feet and reveals the fast-paced, techno beats of the song that acts as an outro refrain throughout the rest of the song. At just seventeen, Rose is already proving herself to be highly capable of experimenting with a variety of genres and instrumentation. Whereas the percussion-heavy outro injects a heap of madness and hysteria into the song, the piano and the subtle but refreshing use of the acoustic guitar helps convey the sensitive themes of the song. The sound has been designed to frame the experience of fear, self-doubt, regret and most notably, that of longing. 

Rose is not pulling any punches as she reflects on those mistakes and how they might affect her and her closest relationships. It is a disarmingly daring song, one that should, if there is any justice in the world, lift up her talent into the soaring heights of the music industry. In Annika Rose, the listeners do not only have their pop icon or their dance queen---they have an individual who can share incredible, relatable experiences through their words, bringing the listeners closer together to themselves and each other. 

 Pop