ROZES

Words by Emily Richardson

There comes a time in every person’s life when they must stand up and fight for what they believe in, and what they hold to be important and true. For Elizabeth Mencel (otherwise known as her stage name, ROZES) that time is now. Releasing two singles so far this year, “Halfway There”, the anthem of the 2019 Women’s March, and “Call Me”, Mencel has been hard at work establishing her indubitable voice and message as a songwriter and performer. Here she is on the process and message of “Call Me”, as well as some words on what advocacy as an artist means to her.

So, you wrote "Call Me" at some sort of songwriting camp? Can you tell me a little bit about that experience?

Yeah, I wrote “Call Me” at the Alicia Keys “She Is The Music” writing camp, which is an all female based writing camp to give women the opportunity to show their talent within the industry. Basically, the song is written, produced, mixed, and mastered completely by women, in which is a really rare thing to see in the music industry because a lot of really talented women are unknown. The idea was that we would write songs then show Alicia, and then she would take what she wanted for her own records. Me, Alex Hope and Sophie Frances ended up writing “Call Me” in one of the sessions, and I was just like, “I need this.” I needed this song. It was just everything I needed to say, just my life in that moment. And kind of always, so yeah, I was able to release that. It was the perfect, most beautiful thing.

That's amazing. Like you said, it's very important to you; obviously I don't want to overstep boundaries, but if you're comfortable, could you talk a little bit about the story of the song?

Definitely. I travel a lot for work and, sometimes, it’s hard to be there for everybody in my life. Somebody very special to me was struggling with their mental health, and I was freaking out. I just didn’t know what to do. I didn’t know how to be there, so I just kept saying, ‘call me’, ‘know you can call me,’ ‘you can call me,’. It was just sitting with that I could literally only reach out through the phone, but in the end that did help this person, and I could recall all the times that the same thing had helped me. This was kind of around a time, too, when a lot of my idols within the industry were struggling with their own mental health issues, so I thought it was a message that we all needed and wanted to talk about, so it was just perfect that I was put in the room with these two girls. We all were kind of feeling the same way. The first lines came to my head, and from there, we were coming up with things that are the telltale signs of depression, for example when you just can’t get out of bed, or when you’re staring blankly out the window.. Sometimes we just don’t notice that stuff in the happiest people. So yes, it was just something that I really wanted to say. And when that happens, you tend to write the most unfiltered songs.

"It's an important time to say something about the things you believe in."

You released "Halfway There" earlier this year in support of women's rights. It seems, alongside "Call Me",your music really has a lot to say about social issues.

Yes! I think that with my music lately, I’ve decided that it’s an important time to say something about the things you believe in, and I notice a lot of celebrities kind of just staying in the background. I felt like while there’s a lot of people that say stuff like ‘you’re a sinner’ or ‘don’t have political views’ or stuff like that. I think that it’s so important that I do and it’s so important. I think that a lot of the youth need people who are talking about these things. Very openly as human because I, personally, didn’t really have a lot of people doing that when I was growing up. That’s what I’ve been trying to do through music: stand up for people who need a voice.

That's exceptional. Any plans for the near (or far) future that me and my readers should know about?

I have a lot of new songs and collaborations coming this summer, so be excited for those!