Annika Rose

At Just 18 years old, Annika Rose embodies a clarity of vision that's rare even among the most established artists. Strong-willed, self-driven and bubbling with charisma yet disarmingly sensitive, the L.A.-based singer/songwriter has devoted most of her adolescence to music, spending countless nights alone at the piano and carefully unearthing her most authentic voice. In that process she landed on a lyrical identity that boldly deviates from the usual pop milieu, revealing a seldom-spoken truth about the emotional chaos in coming of age.

Referring to her songs as "journal entries put to melody," Annika has deliberately stuck to the solitary songwriting practice she first adopted in her early teens. "When I'm writing it has to be past midnight, and everyone has to be asleep," she says. "I turn off all the lights and turn on my lava lamp, light some incense and just sit there until I'm literally asleep at the piano." As a result of that purposeful outpouring, Annika's body of work bears a raw authenticity that's so elusive in manufactured pop. "'The only thing I have to be vulnerable with is my piano, and luckily it doesn't talk back to me. This is my only way of fully expressing who I am and what I feel, and I'm not afraid of it anymore."