Amsterdam DJ/producer/live artist/drummer/jazz pianist and now vocalist Rose Ringed’s long-awaited, deeply personal 17-track debut album ‘Mylène’ is out now in full on his Closed Eyes Recordings imprint. The Dutch talent is flying right now, supported by the likes of Joris Voorn, Tiësto, Armin van Buuren, Korolova, and with shows inc. Tomorrowland, Loveland, Lief Festival (NL), and his upcoming sold-out HRMNY Events showcase at Het Sieraad at Amsterdam Dance Event.
This incredibly special project is about the death of Rose’s beloved mother, a jazz ballerina, when he was only 11. Though inspired by a personal story, it also acts as a universal guide through grief; an example of hope, of pain transformed through creativity into art and even joy.
Alongside LP focus tracks ‘Gotta Let You Go’ and ‘So Much Love To Give’, the album features five album exclusives. To celebrate the release, we chatted to Rose Ringed about his biggest project yet…
Hey Rose Ringed, congrats on your new debut album, ‘Mylène’! How does it feel to finally put this out in the world? It’s 17 tracks, how long would you say it took to put this together and make sure the tracks were exactly how you wanted them?
It feels absolutely amazing, this whole process, has been such a personal rollercoaster. I’ve faced my deepest feelings, and found a way to heal through the process of making this album. I became a better and stronger person. This is the biggest gift to me of this album, the gift of changing myself for the better.
I like to talk in real terms of real work. So the whole album span was 10 years, but it was only in 2025 from April until September that I worked on the album for almost everyday. April was the most magical artistic period of my life, all the creative work was done in this month, almost all of the final vocal work. In May I did creative details and in June, July, August and September it was mostly finishing touches, mixing and working it towards a finished album.
For me the most Important thing in this album was that the story is as truthful as it could be, so I did not focus on mix downs that would be very loud, or focused on the dance floor. Every track should tell the story it was meant to tell, and when that was the case, the track would be done.
The album is a deeply personal one. Tell us a little about the story behind it and the origin of the LP name…
Mylène is my mother’s second name, and I wrote this whole album in honor of my mom who sadly passed away when I was 11 years old. The whole album started as a tribute to her, but it ended up being a personal catharsis. It follows the storyline of my healing, so if you’re going through the album you are witnessing my personal healing process. It is divided in 3 parts. Starting with “The Missing”, then the “Search for Truth” and finishing with “Acceptance and Letting Go”. Now I’m at the end of everything, I look back at an intense but very rewarding period of my life. And I can also truly say that I’m happy that I can close this chapter of my life.
One of your strengths and most engaging features as an artist is that, though your music has always been in some way inspired by your childhood tragedy, it tends to be euphoric, generous, celebratory rather than angry or bitter. How did this come about, was it early influences or a reaction to sadness?
This is such a beautiful question, I ask myself this too always. And I found the answer now I think. For me, underneath missing and grieving, lies a deep feeling of love. We miss and we grieve because we’ve loved so much. And this love, is so big, so strong in me, my mom was the most lovely person I’ve ever had in my life. The joy, the euphoria comes from this deeper part, that energizes me.
Also music has always been a way of healing for me ever since my mom passed. I always go and listen to certain kind of tracks in certain emotional periods of my life. And it’s the tracks that give me that deep, melancholia combined with an almost euphoric feeling of acceptance that hit me. I see it in this way, you connect to that emotion of that track, which is very deep, and you feel aligned: as in someone understands exactly how you feel. And then the energy of the track, gives you the power to accept, learn and go on. It is that, which is the core of my artistic vision, and makes the core of my sound.
Every part of this album was you, the writing, music, mixing, instruments, vocals… do you find that you’re a perfectionist when it comes to production when you are doing it all yourself? Were you more critical than you would be if working with someone else?
This Is an interesting topic for me because I had a philosophical thought about it: “trying to be perfect is impossible, it’s your ego trying to convince you that being perfect is the only way of being accepted, but perfect doesn’t exist, so your ego is trying to make you achieve something that is not even possible”. It will keep you stuck for ages.
So I wouldn’t say I’m a perfectionist, but I do for instance with this album check if every tiny detail which I hear was deliberately put there, with intention. I check for audio clicks like a maniac haha. It’s crazy because almost no-one would hear these, but I would haha. And also I want the message I tell, the intention, the story to be right. If that’s the case the track is done, the mix should translate that story and the master should also align with that.
I also think you should never wait to long with a track, because it tells something about you in a certain period of your life. With everything I make I know: “in 2 years I will look back at this and would do it differently”. And that change, is the growth you make, in skills but also as a person. So with that in mind you already know: it won’t be perfect and it will never be perfect. So the only thing that matters to me: Is this truthful to who I am right now. If it is, it’s good enough to put out.
Many of the tracks are songs, some quite heart-rending. Which track on the album was the hardest to write/produce, and which the easiest, and why in both cases?
I love your questions! There was such a big difference in the amount of time for some tracks. I think the hardest was “Deep Inside”. The vocal work on this was so much work, so many takes, so much editing of timing differences in the double takes haha, they made me crazy!
The least amount of time was “Without You” and that’s the longest track of the album with almost 10 minutes. It’s an ambient track and it was made in 1 take. This is the dream I have in production: Making something right in 1 go. Also “Gotta Let You Go” was somehow also done so quickly. The mix, the arrangement, everything fitted so perfectly that it did not take much time. Probably because this track has the format I have most experience in.
And, we have to ask – your professional name is intriguing – what does it mean, and what made you choose it?
It’s funny because as you might imagine I think through a lot of my ideas and projects. But “Rose Ringed” was such a quick idea. We have these green birds in Amsterdam, we call them “Halsbandparkieten”. There are many urban myths how they got here and I randomly looked up the story on Google. Then Google translated the word “Halsbandparkiet” to “Rose Ringed” and something in my mind said: that sounds like an artist name. So I made a Soundcloud with this name and started to make music that resonated more deeply with me and uploaded this to that account (I had many different artist names at that time). It ended up being my main project because my heart was in this music the most. So yeah, I’m named after a bird.
Rose Ringed ‘Mylène’ is out now on Closed Eyes Recordings. Listen on Spotify / Buy on Vinyl & Digital on Bandcamp.