Hanh Truong on August 11th, 2020

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Annika Rose is making young pop-loving hearts flutter for the third time this year with her single, “Butterflies.” It joins “Bittersweet” and “Naive,” which bloomed earlier this summer. The song comes with a rosy, sunshine-tinted music video, which was directed virtually by Luke Biggins and Rebekah Bird using Zoom.

The daughter of a musician father and songwriter mother, Rose has been immersed in music her whole life. The Southern California pop singer grew up listening to Alanis Morissette, The 1975 and Fiona Apple. Now, at the age of 18, a year after she put out her debut EP, “Ventura Boulevard,” Rose sings about growing up.

“Butterflies,” written and produced with Erik Hassle (Rihanna, TV On The Radio) and Tim Randolph (Imagine Dragons, Whethan), swarms with nostalgia, as Rose charismatically reminisces of the days when she was younger and more carefree. Butterflies are usually symbols of transformation, notably, because the wormy-insects eventually turn into multicolored, winged creatures with time. So it is with Rose.

“I found myself reflecting deeply on childhood naivety and the freedom from the realities of the world and growing up, back to what often feels like a simpler time,” Rose says. “Catching butterflies is a metaphor for that lost innocence and purity of life when we’re young. Especially lately, the intensity of this feeling has grown with everything happening in the world and I want to use this song and my music to connect with others who may be feeling a similar way.”

Thinking of lost time and new responsibilities only puts salt into the wound of what has currently been going on in the world. But Rose’s syrupy voice and mellow, yet trancey electro-pop beat melt reality into a haze for a little over three minutes.

||| Watch: The video for “Butterflies”

||| Also: Stream “Naive” and “Bittersweet”

||| Previously: “Ventura Boulevard”