WWW.QNS.COM RIDGEWOOD TIMES MAY 24, 2018 27
BUZZ
Ridgewood-based singer left Wall Street to pursue her music career
BY RYAN KELLEY
RKELLEY@RIDGEWOODTIMES.COM
TWITTER @R_KELLEY6
Sitting outside the Milk & Pull cafe
in Ridgewood, Karolina Rose is
in a comfortable place. She oft en
uses the cafe, which is just a short walk
away from her apartment, as a space
to work on her songwriting. It’s a far
cry from her previous workspace: an
offi ce on Wall Street, where she used
to work in fi nance.
Rose is a singer and songwriter on
the verge of releasing the lead single
from her debut EP on May 24, but to
pursue her passion for making music
she had to leave behind a life that
many young people strive for.
After earning her bachelor’s
degree from The Wharton School
of the University of Pennsylvania,
Rose landed a job on Wall Street right
away. She moved out of her parents’
house in Philadelphia, lived on her
own in midtown Manhattan and
made good money doing research
on hedge fund managers — but something
was always present in the back
of her mind.
“I’d be in the middle of working on
a report and some lines which were
sort of like poetry would just come to
me,” Rose said. “I’d grab my phone or
a piece of paper and write it down.”
Though she sang melodies to
herself and loved karaoke all her
life, Rose said, she never thought of
herself as a singer, and never thought
of her poems as lyrics. Her epiphany
came while on a work trip to Paris,
when aft er a night out on the weekend
she spontaneously joined a group
of people performing on the street
because she knew the song they were
singing. A few songs later, she was
still singing with her new friends.
When she returned to New York,
Rose said, she couldn’t stop thinking
about that moment. She began making
connections in the music industry,
took some voice lessons and
taught herself how to play the guitar.
Before long, she found herself
inside the recording studio of Andros
Rodriguez, a Grammy-winning
producer who has worked with the
likes of Shakira and Florence + the
Machine — two of Rose’s favorite
artists — aft er sending him messages
over and over on Facebook.
It’s been just over a year now since
Rose quit her job on Wall Street to
pursue music full time, and she and
Rodriguez have already completed
her debut project. Rose describes
her style as a product of her unique
life experiences and wide variety of
musical idols that also include Gwen
Stefani, Alanis Morissette, The Cranberries,
Lauren Hill and more.
“I also have this European infl uence,
so I love Euro-dance music. I
really love music from Poland and I
speak French fl uently,” Rose said. “I
guess there’s like this romantic element
of me that I really want to get in
my songs. I think all my songs come
from this place of purity.”
Rose’s Polish heritage is also part
of what led her to Ridgewood, she
said. Her parents are both from
Warsaw, Poland, and she is the
fi rst American-born member of her
family. When looking for a more affordable
place to live, Rose said one of
her Polish friends from Ridgewood
told her about the neighborhood and
connected her to another friend who
was looking for a roommate.
The lead single from Rose’s upcoming
EP, titled “Goodnight, Mr. Moon,”
comes from a slightly darker source
of inspiration. Rose met the artist
Heide Hatry, who was working on
a project at the time that involved
making portraits of deceased loved
ones using their ashes, and Hatry
asked Rose if she could make a song
about death and perform it at a show
she was hosting.
Having experienced tragedy in the
past with the loss of her best friend to
a heroin overdose, Rose was moved
by grief and the images she saw in her
nightmares. The resulting ballad is a
metaphorical conversation with a lost
lover under the moonlight that has dark
undertones and an insightful theme.
The six-song EP is set to be released
on Aug. 2 and also includes songs
inspired by falling in love and the
criticism she received from leaving
her comfortable Wall Street job. Rose
is already working on her second EP
with producer Elliot Jacobson, and
she admits that she is still trying to
fi nd her way in her new line of work.
But in a way, that’s what the experience
is all about.
“That’s what music is for: it’s an
escape from reality to kind of build
your own world and build your own
ideal, like what is your perfect life?”
Rose said.
Listen to Karolina Rose’s single
“Goodnight, Mr. Moon” on May 24 by
visiting katerinarose.com or Spotify.
Photo courtesy of Karolina Rose
Ridgewood resident Karolina Rose's single "Goodnight, Mr. Moon" will be
released on May 24.
Glendale resident
inducted to Senate
Veterans’ Hall
of Fame
State Senator Joseph Addabbo recently
selected Glendale resident
Michael O’Kane as his 2018 inductee
to the Senate Veterans’ Hall of Fame.
O’Kane enlisted in the United
States Navy in 1966 and attended
the Great Lakes “Boot” Camp before
being assigned to the USS Implicit.
While serving on the ship, O’Kane
was deployed to WestPac
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