Never The 1

Album: 20mg Of Happiness (2021)
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Songfacts®:

  • On her debut EP, 20mg Of Happiness, ROSIE (Rosaileen Scher) takes us on a journey through the five stages of grief - a concept introduced by Elisabeth Kubler-Ross in her 1969 book, On Death And Dying - after the demise of her relationship. "Never The 1" represents the final stage, acceptance, as the singer-songwriter finally realizes the romance is over. Counting backwards from 10 ("I could write 10 songs about the nine ways you f--ked me over"), she concludes that she was "never the 1" for him.
  • ROSIE found overnight success on TikTok when she posted this in September 2020. After nearly giving up on her music career, she took her brother/manager's suggestion to try out TikTok and created a song-a-day challenge on the platform to boost her confidence. On the fifth day, she remembered a catchy little breakup song she wrote and recorded a quick video in her college apartment (featuring an accidental cameo from her roommate). After posting the video, she went for a walk and came home a star. It was a chaotic scene - she was locked out of her apartment with a dead phone and a mostly dead computer as friends tried to clue her in to her sudden fame.

    She told the Songfacts Podcast in 2023: "I opened my computer on the stairs outside with 1% and I texted my roommates, 'Guys, I locked myself out. I realize I don't have a key yet. Can you let me in?' And they're like, 'Yes, we got you.' And suddenly like 30 texts flood in - 'ROSIE, you have to check TikTok.' I was like, 'I'm just trying to fend for my life here. What do you mean check TikTok?'"

    When she finally got back on the platform an hour and a half from posting the video, it had 996,000 views.

    "It was really in that moment, I was like, 'Oh, something's happening,'" she continued. "So we stayed up and we watched the numbers. A million, 2 million, 3 million... went to bed, woke up, and it was 8 million, 9 million. And it kept climbing. I'm a firm believer in the universe, I'm a firm believer in hard work, I'm a firm believer that me and [her brother] Matteo and everyone - we put the work in to get here. But that was a sign, I was like, 'Okay, this is my sign to take advantage of this opportunity I'm getting.'

    I'd say within 12 to 24 hours, 10 labels reached out - publishers, lawyers - you name it, and it was all because of this one song. Since then I have not questioned once that this is what I love and I was given this opportunity. I just try to make the best of it."
  • ROSIE believes the song caught on because of the catchiness of the numbers combined with the theme of loss.

    "I don't know a single person that didn't go through some type of loss during the pandemic. I mean, the entire world was going through a loss," she said.

    "I think the reason any of my music has resonated in the last couple of years is because we've experienced a lot of trauma and a lot of loss, and a lot of scary things in the last couple of years, and in our lifetimes, and I just am not afraid to write about it."

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