RØRY keeps their bio close to the vest, but maybe that’s because she wants her music to speak for itself. The British singer-songwriter finds inspiration in ’90s power pop and pop punk. They tell us more about “Uncomplicated”‘s origins and their coming out process.
Explain the title of your song.
“Uncomplicated” came from a comment I made on Avril’s TikTok! I saw she was releasing music again and wrote “it’s 2006, I haven’t dropped out of uni, my mum is still alive, I still talk to my brother, life is uncomplicated and all ahead of me.” That comment went viral so I turned it into a song. It’s a play on her song and how now as an adult I have way more to be angsty about than I did as a teenager.
Who are some of your musical influences?
I grew up on my dad’s music, sad singer songwriters… Jackson Browne, Leonard Cohen. Then as a teenager, Blink-182, Avril, Dashboard Confessional pulled me through. People on TikTok often say I’m like an emo Dolly Parton which I guess makes sense 😂
Do you start off with the music or lyrics first? Why?
When I write alone it happens at the same time, messy bits coming out and then I refine it so it feels right. I’m always aiming at telling the truth, I dunno it just hits differently. The best way to make people feel something is to feel it yourself you know?
When I write with others I sometimes get a lot of anxiety so I go in with a concept or lyric. I’m a lyrics person at heart – so I’ll always be more concerned with the truth of the story. That’s why I like to collaborate with people who are as obsessed with melody as I am with lyrics, and producers obsessed with sound. If it was up to me it basically be poetry over a sad acoustic guitar.
How do you feel your coming out journey plays into your music?
I never really came out as bi. I just was. I just am. But being non binary is a really confusing journey for me, one I am still in the middle of, it’s full of doubts, insecurities, joy, questions, uncertainty… I’m trying to find my place in this world, and I think that feeling of not knowing my identity comes out in my music. Like I’m desperately searching for a place to call home.
What’s the first concert you ever attended? What do you remember about it?
The Buzzcocks. I wore a purple swimming costume and sat on my dad’s shoulders in a tent full of drunken punks.