Alessi Rose is becoming a more and more familiar name in the pop landscape. On the tail end of a year that’s included tours with Dua Lipa, she leans wholesale into the trend toward hyper-authenticity in pop, condensing thoughts of love and loss, of joy and mundanity, of disappointment and optimism into finely honed, irresistibly catchy tunes. Rock City played host to her Nottingham tour date...
"If people don’t want me to write songs about them they shouldn’t do bad things," says the bio for Alessi Rose's Spotify page, in what’s about as succinct a summation of an artistic identity as you could come up with.
Running in the same race as Olivia Rodrigo et al, Rose's willingness to engage with every facet of life and ability to address issues with a keen and empathetic eye has quickly earned her a legion of adoring fans and led her to a heaving Rock City as part of her Voyeur Tour tonight.
During a recent interview for LeftLion, she talked about how "growing up in Derby has helped me because, in the nicest way possible, writing about mundanity and suburban life and the desire to get out of there as a kid is something that is so relatable…" It’s clear that this relatability is striking a nerve, with her tonight completing a jump up from Bodega to Rock City in only 12 months, as her star continues to rise.
It’s an ascent that Rose alludes to throughout her packed out concert this evening, speaking from a stage she obviously respects and says she dreamt of playing as a kid, clearly being utterly genuine when she talks about how this homecoming-of-sorts show has been a focal point in the lead up to the tour. At one point she shouts out Dean Jackson of BBC East Midlands Introducing, showing that Rose is still keenly connected to her early days and to the underlying absurdity of a life that is changing around her as those dreams become real.
The stage is set with a central plinth before a light-up cross, with baroque flourishes across the set. It’s a playful set up that provides something that is not too intrusive, but which enforces the aesthetic of her brand marvellously.
Bearing in mind the crowd had already been screaming for the excellent déyyess - whose joyous celebrations of queer love whipped up the crowd beautifully - and even belting the lyrics to the intermission’s songs played on the PA, the noise that meets Rose as she takes to the stage is deafening in comparison.
She confidently jumps straight into That Could Be Me from her most recent release, Voyeur, which dominates the setlist. It’s a ferocious burst of energy that immediately lifts the room even higher. First Original Thought also proves a highlight, with its funky, fun bassline reminiscent of Madonna’s late 80s spell.
Rose says Voyeur is her attempt to take her music out of her bedroom, to look at herself in a new way, coming to terms with her identity as a musician. Played live, the songs evidence this expansion in thought and style in myriad ways, touching on a wider variety of genres and touchstones.
That’s not to say her earlier songs sound any narrower. imsochillandcool and pretty world are the standouts of the songs from her first EPs played tonight, nestling nicely between the new tracks, showing that her nous for crafting lyrics has been there from the start. They are a little bit brash, a little bit raw and very well crafted.
The inclusion of a live band is a welcome touch, too, punching up the sound and adding an auditory weight and heft that would have been sorely missed had a backing track been relied upon. Keeping instruments live also helped provide emotional weight to the songs, allowing Rose’s set to cross that bridge from being a mere performance to something altogether more impactful, which then also allows her to showcase her own skill as a singer and guitarist further.
Reflecting on her own journey, and in particular her OCD in numerous chats between songs, she encourages fans to embrace themselves, saying at one point ‘The thing that makes you different is the thing that takes you far’. It’s a very sweet moment and it’s heartening to see something like OCD being talked about so openly from someone like Alessi Rose, who throughout the set shows her care and sense of responsibility for the fans who follow her. ‘You make me feel ten feet tall’ she tells everyone, acknowledging her side of the eternal, mutually beneficial pact between performer and audience.
The set closes with the formidable trio of Dumb Girl, RIP and Same Mouth. These are all songs that could easily stand shoulder to shoulder with any of the output of the Rodrigos or Abrams of the world. They wow the already pretty wowed crowd tonight, leaving her fans clamouring for more even as the house lights fire up, and they will surely sound just at home on any of the larger stages Alessi Rose is bound to continue to find herself on, as that star keeps on rising.
Alessi Rose performed at Rock City on 3rd December 2025.
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