It’s been three years since we last spoke with Rocco, and a lot has happened in that time. What started as a young singer-songwriter sharing his music with the world has grown into a journey filled with new experiences, new places and plenty of moments that have shaped the person and artist he is today.
Rocco has always had a clear love for storytelling. Whether it’s through a song, a visual or the feeling he wants a listener to walk away with, there’s always a story behind what he creates. That approach continues with A Comedy Romantic (Act. 1)-EP, a project that brings together the different pieces of what makes Rocco’s music feel so personal.
After years of writing, performing and continuing to discover new sides of himself creatively, Rocco is ready for fans to experience this next part of his story. We had the pleasure of catching up with Rocco to learn more about the story behind A Comedy Romantic (Act. 1)-EP, a project that showcases his growth as an artist while highlighting the storytelling and creativity that continue to shape his music. Read our full interview with Rocco below.
Sweety High: For readers who are just getting to know you, can you introduce yourself? Who is Rocco?
Rocco: Hey, guys. What’s up! I’m Rocco. I’m an indie, bedroom pop, alt-pop—whatever you want to call it nowadays. I’m a singer-songwriter. I just love telling stories, and we’re about to step into this next chapter, which is super exciting.
(Image courtesy of Fast Friends)
SH: It’s been three years since we last talked! Looking back at that version of yourself, what’s changed the most—both as an artist and as a person?
Rocco: I mean, literally, I’m older, but I feel like that has manifested in different ways. You can see that through my songwriting and the amount of life experience I’ve had ever since then. It’s been so crazy. I think I went on maybe three tours since then, so just life on the road, going through touring, recording music and being an artist full time. Around the time when we first talked, I was just a kid. I was starting to do music full time, and now I feel like I’ve really refined my sound.
Honestly, I feel a lot more like I did back then than I have over the past couple of years. I feel like I’m returning to my roots—how I was creating before, when it was just very free creatively. I didn’t have any limits to what I wanted to express, and I really feel that side of me coming back, which is really fun. But now it’s just better, and I feel like you can definitely hear that growth and elevation in the music.
SH: Since then, you’ve released multiple projects, toured, and played festivals like Outside Lands. Was there a moment over the past few years where you realized, “Okay, this is really happening”?
Rocco: Yeah, I think there is. All of those things you just listed—you put one on top of the other, and then you kind of realize, wow, this is my life. You do a festival like Outside Lands, and then you release a project, and it doesn’t really hit you until maybe a few months later. You’re like, “Whoa, I just did that.” You’re always on the move and always thinking about the next thing.
It really helps to have those moments where you take a step back, feel grateful and appreciate all the things you just did. The moment that was probably the biggest “oh, crap, this is really happening” moment was during one of the earlier tours that I did. I would say the Rocco Revolution Tour. There were so many incredible shows, but the sold-out show at the El Rey was crazy. It was like 850 people screaming all my music back at me. It was so fulfilling as an artist to experience that. Every time, especially live, when I’m in front of a crowd and I see all these people who waited who knows how long for me to get on that stage and spent their hard-earned money to see me, it’s so crazy. I think that really grounds me. It gives me that feeling of, “Oh, crap, this is really happening.”
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SH: Your new EP drops July 24th. After spending so much time creating this project, how does it feel to finally let fans hear the full story?
Rocco: I was in a spot right after my last tour where I was kind of drained, to be honest. I was especially spent creatively. It was off my first album, and I had just done this very hard tour with a very harsh routing. I didn’t really have much time to rest. It took a couple of months to have that moment where I stepped back. Not necessarily relax, but I didn’t create, record or write anything down. I kind of just chilled for a little bit, which I think every artist needs to do every now and then.
Once I started getting back into the groove of writing, it was such a cool moment because I was able to find this really cool sound that I wanted to explore. I was really inspired by the early ’90s and 2000s, so stepping into that lane was super cool. Especially since you’ve been to my shows before, you know how I like to amp up the energy. Before, my older songs were very calm and tame. Now, it kind of spices things up and almost turns into a rock arrangement during the live shows. I feel like a lot of people wanted to hear that in the live recordings—the moments where I’m reaching for notes and there’s a little bit more of an edgy feel. The ’90s and 2000s have a lot of inspiration that I could pull from, so I went in that direction. For the past seven months, I’ve just been writing, doing sessions, meeting great people and also writing with the people I’ve always worked with—my brother and my homie Joe Cho. The fact that we sat on this music for a while, and a lot of these songs are pretty old now, gave us the time to make it as perfect as it could be. I’m really happy that it’s finally starting to roll out. Like I said earlier, it’s a new chapter, and I’m just really excited for everybody to step into this world.
SH: Every project captures a different version of an artist. Who was Rocco when you were making this EP?
Rocco: Honestly, this is probably the truest I’ve ever been with myself and the most in tune I’ve ever felt. I feel like there was the most alignment between who I am as a person and who I am as Rocco the artist. I feel like all artists can relate to the fact that who you are as a performer and the face of your brand is totally different from who you are when you’re just hanging out with your friends. But I feel like I’ve kind of bridged those two together because I think authenticity is what really separates you as an artist, as cliché as that sounds. I truly think that’s some of the best advice you could give another artist. The more authentic you are with yourself, the less you have to try with everything else. I’ve just been having so much fun creating this music. This version of Rocco was very fun. It’s very free. Like I said, I revisited a lot of the old ways I used to do things. The way I’m approaching the music and making it feels very true to me. It’s stuff that I’ve done before, but now it’s just way cooler, I guess. So if you’re new to me and you’re new to my music, I think this is the perfect time to step in and join the Rockovers.
SH: You introduced this era with “Break.” Why did that feel like the right song to open the door into this new chapter?
Rocco: I just feel like it checked off all the boxes. A lot of the music this time around is very nerdy. I also think it captured that pop-rock feel where it’s a little heavier, but my light vocals still kind of shine through. Everybody I was sharing the music with beforehand—my close team and my friends—they all unanimously agreed, “Oh, that song’s a heater.” So I felt like it was the right song to lead with. It checked all the boxes, and I think it was a good representation of what we’ve been doing this past year.
SH: Fans have been trying to decode the “Everybody Has a Lucy” teaser videos. Without giving too much away, what can you tell us about Lucy and where the idea came from?
Rocco: One of the videos I posted wasn’t a real episode. It was more like one of the EP trailers called “Everybody Has a Lucy.” I think that pretty much explains Lucy as a character and where the idea came from. Everybody has a Lucy. Lucy represents that one person—that one girl, that one guy—you just can’t forget. They’re not necessarily your partner. It’s that person you’ve always pined for, that person you’ve always yearned for. It’s kind of like the one that got away… but there’s still a chance.
Lucy is really just a universal symbol and a representation of that feeling. Literally, Lucy is this girl named Andrea Stoker. She’s the actress who’s played a huge part in everything, and she’s been killing it, helping me and the boys make these videos. But I think Lucy could be whoever you want it to be. When you watch those videos, I really hope they feel close to home. I wanted them to have that nostalgia—that feeling of, “I’m watching this right now, and this reminds me of somebody from my hometown.” That’s the feeling I wanted people to have. Lucy is a culmination of a bunch of my own experiences, but at the end of the day, she’s whoever you want it to be.
SH: There’s a sense of longing and yearning throughout this era. Was that an emotion you intentionally wanted to explore, or did that theme reveal itself while making the EP?
Rocco: I think it revealed itself while making the EP. Fun fact: a lot of the songs came from writing through the lens of, “Okay, what does this Rocco and Lucy story need?” It honestly made songwriting feel like a lot less pressure. Instead of asking myself, “What happened in my life at this time? Let me write about that,” it became about serving the story. We thought about the EP like a movie. We were asking ourselves, “Why don’t we make the songs serve as the soundtrack?” What songs do these scenes need? As we were writing those scenes and building this bigger, overarching story, we’d ask ourselves, “What does this interaction with Lucy feel like? What does this moment need?” That’s really how we wrote the music. We were meshing my love for film and music into one project, which was super, super cool.
SH: Was there a song on the EP that surprised you the most—whether it was the hardest to write, the easiest to create, or one that ended up meaning more than you expected?
Rocco: Even though this EP is pretty short—I mean, it’s only four songs—I could talk about each one. But I think the most surprising one was probably “Palm.” Once you listen to the sonics of the whole EP, it’s the last song, but it gives more of a Dijon vibe—kind of like Justin Bieber when he collaborated with Dijon. It’s a lot different. We didn’t go into that session thinking, “Let’s stick to the ’90s and 2000s sound.” It kind of just happened. That session was with my good friends Jason Suwito and Micah Premnath. We tried two different ideas first, and nothing was working. We were struggling because it was our first session together. Then, out of nowhere, Suwito pulled out this crazy, weird time signature. It’s a weird song, but I kind of just sang over it. Piece by piece, it all came together, and it turned into this really cool bittersweet tune that I think was the perfect ending to the EP. So “Palm” is definitely the one that surprised me the most.
SH: Is there a lyric or moment on this EP that feels like the best representation of where you are in life right now?
Rocco: I’d say “Nobody.” “Nobody” is a pretty happy song, and I feel like I’m a pretty happy guy right now. With all the music coming out, the visuals finally coming to life, and the amount of positive feedback I’ve been getting, I’m just so grateful to be in the position I’m in. So I feel like “Nobody” is probably the best representation of where I’m at right now.
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SH: When fans listen to this EP from beginning to end, what’s the one feeling or thought you hope stays with them after the final song?
Rocco: I just want them to apply it to their own lives. If you listen to this EP and you’re able to resonate with it in your own way, like I said with the visuals, that’s all I could ask for. If it reminds you of somebody, reminds you of a happy time or inspires you to go chase your Lucy, then I think that’s a job well done on my part. That would make me feel fulfilled as an artist. If someone can take something away from the music and apply it to their own life, that’s everything. Every time somebody tells me, “Rocco, your song reminds me of a time when I was really happy,” or, “I just went through a breakup, and this song helped me through it,” I’m just like… what? It’s so crazy that my music can actually affect people’s lives. I just hope I’m able to help people in their own lives and that my music is able to touch them in that way.
SH: It’s so cool that everyone has their own interpretation of music. You could write about something completely different, but someone’s like, this song was the happiest song ever, and it could be the saddest song you’ve ever written.
Rocco: Yeah, exactly! That’s the beauty of songwriting. You just said it perfectly. I could write something from a totally different headspace or with a completely different intention, but somebody else could interpret it in their own way. I think that’s really cool.
SH: If your fans could spend one day with you, what would probably surprise them the most?
Rocco: I think it depends because I have different types of days. On one of my slower days, they’d probably be surprised by how much I sleep, play video games and mess around with my action figures. That would probably catch people off guard. On my more active days, they’d probably be surprised by how active I actually am. I’d take them to the gym. We’d go through a workout, eat some lean meal they probably wouldn’t even enjoy and then go play basketball later. They’d probably be like, “Damn, you actually do this?” Sometimes—not all the time.
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SH: When you’re not making music, what’s something that instantly helps you reset after a busy week?
Rocco: Oh, basketball. My Sunday morning basketball league. Easy. 100&. Everybody has their own version of therapy that isn’t conventional therapy. For a lot of people it’s music. For other people it’s a hobby. For me, it’s always been basketball. Ever since I picked one up, it’s been somewhere I can escape. I love it because my whole men’s league team doesn’t do music. They’re just the homies. I get to escape the work, escape the stress, and do something I genuinely enjoy. I’m the team captain too, so I’m probably the most invested in it, which is funny. I also love that it’s on Sundays because it’s the end of the week. I get to play a game, chill out for the rest of the day, and then get back to work.
SH: You’ve learned a lot over the past few years—not just as an artist, but as someone building a career in music. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to your younger self or to fans who are chasing something they really believe in?
Rocco: I touched on this a little earlier, but I’d say stay true to yourself. Be shameless. Don’t be afraid of embarrassment. I feel like nowadays a lot of people get caught up in trying to be nonchalant or trying to look cool. If that’s genuinely who you are, then that’s you. But I think a lot of people force themselves into that box. If you want to put yourself out there, you’ve got to be shameless. You really do. You also have to believe in what you’re making because people can see right through it if it feels like you’re just selling them something. Especially with how music promotion is nowadays, there are so many different ways you can go about it. But my advice would just be to be confident, be shameless, post that stupid video, because you never know what’s going to pop off. Just be yourself. Stay true to yourself. That’s all you’ve got to do.
(Image courtesy of Fast Friends)
SH: To close things out, is there anything about this EP, this era, or your journey over the last few years that you want fans to know before they experience it for themselves?
Rocco: Yeah, that’s a deep one. You always save the deep one for the last question. I think one of the biggest themes I’ve been carrying with me through everything I’ve been creating is that change is a beautiful thing. Change, heartbreak—a lot of those things can be painful. They usually have a negative connotation. But if you’re able to find the bittersweetness and the good in those moments, that’s where you can really find happiness. Something I’ve been thinking about lately is that when I first started making music, I was only 20. A lot of my fans were around 16 or 17. I’m 23 now. They’re going into their first years of college. Some are finishing college. Everybody’s growing. Everybody’s getting older. I feel like everybody’s growing with me, and that’s so special. Having everyone on this journey with me has been really cool. Don’t be afraid of change or growth. Welcome it. That’s what I’ve been trying to do. Every single time, I try to be better than I was before, and I feel like I have been. Change and growth are beautiful things. Don’t be ashamed of them. Embrace them. Let’s all grow together.
You can listen to the EP in full here:
For a throwback with Rocco, click HERE to read our 2023 interview with him on “l-o-v-e.”
