About
Born in Toronto, Canada, and currently residing in Dallas, Texas, Rose Devika is an award-winning singer-songwriter whose unflinchingly honest verse disarms with its vulnerability and raw daring. Painting with sparse guitars, mellow upright pianos, and majestic string arrangements, Rose Devika creates intimate spaces for listeners to crawl into and explore.
With a strong background in writing, Rose won first place at the 2017 Say Word LA Poetry competition and was placed on a poetry team that toured across Southern California for five months. At the international slam poetry festival, BNV, Rose performed in front of an audience of 3,000. Rose became a Los Angeles Youth Poet Ambassador and was selected as a finalist to be the Youth Poet Laureate of Los Angeles in June 2017.
Moving to New York with nothing but a 3/4 Yamaha guitar she had been gifted, Rose attended Sarah Lawrence College as an English Major, after being awarded the Lucinda B. Watson scholarship. She was selected as a finalist to be the Youth Poet Laureate of New York City and joined the Federal Hall Fellowship Program through Urban Word NYC. She joined a volunteer program, 'Right to Write' where she facilitated weekly writing
workshops at the Westchester
Correctional Facility for male inmates,
ages 18-24
"Hauntingly visual work. Devika's talents and experiences belie her youth."
-Richard Aloiso, New York Times Art Director
Formed in the fall of 2017, Rose's band, 'January Grit' spent two years traveling and performing across
New York, Toronto, and Southern California. In May of 2018, January Grit won Universal Music Canada's
Underground Sounds Competition. In September of that year the perfume company, Map of the Heart, featured January Grit's song, 'Sway', on their Map of the Heart V.7 Commercial. January Grit worked with producer Antoine Arvizu (Sublime) to record and release their full-length debut album, 'Here in Fahrenheit,' which was released to all streaming platforms in January 2019.
"Rose Devika is a garrote of a writer. She can thin language down to a wire around your throat and leave you breathless, wondering where her hands have been the whole time."
-Donny Jackson, Executive Producer of "Dear...," Director of "Still.," and Author of "boy"
After moving to Dallas, Texas in 2019, Rose decided to pursue a career as a solo artist and began working with producer, Ty Macklin (Erykah Badu, Indie Arie) at AOE Studios. In July 2020, Rose Devika was offered a book publishing deal for her full-length manuscript of poetry and lyrics by Imperium Publishing. Her book, 'The Anatomy of an Arsonist' was published in January of 2021 and can still be found on Amazon, Barnes & Noble, Walmart, and more.
Already a well-versed musician with some experience in recording and running live sound, Rose found herself fascinated with the Recordings Arts industry and enrolled as a student at MediaTech Institute in August of 2021, where she earned her degree in Applied Science in Recording Arts. She was hired
by MediaTech as a Studio Technician prior to finalizing her degree and was offered a position as a full-time Instructor in the Recording Arts Department only one month after graduating in May 2023. By November of 2023 she was voted 'Recording Arts Instructor of the Year.' She continues to teach AV Tech, Live Sound I, Live Sound II, Music Theory & Production, and also oversees the Studio Tech department.
Rose thrives on versatility, refusing to limit herself to a singular pursuit. As a Live Sound Engineer, she runs sound on a DigiCo SD9 at Converge Church in McKinney on a weekly basis. Moreover, she channels her expertise into recording, producing, mixing, and mastering for an array of studio clients. Rose records, engineers, produces, mixes, and masters her own compositions in the studios at MediaTech Institute. Her self-titled EP is set for release on July 5th, 2024.
"Rose Devika digs into the dark corners of relationships and looks for the light. Beautiful, haunting, and real. A soul laid bare."
-Ruthie Darling, Freelance Writer and Photographer, New Yorker, New York Times & Buzzfeed
"Beyond the scope of lyrics and verse these are words that speak truth to me in such a way that I find myself reading some as a daily affirmation. I believe that we each have the ability to find our own truth and that we are never fully realized until we do. Rose has found her truth and her writings help me justify and solidify my own."
-Erik Chandler, Bowling for Soup & Erik Chandler Band
"Raw and daring, Devika's work will linger in the recesses of your mind as a constant reminder that life is to be lived with courage."
-Robin Theiss, Author and International Speaker