BABYRAT Bring Beautified Grit and Biting Attitude to Debut Single ‘Roses’
After winning over crowds across Ireland and the UK without officially releasing a single track, Cork four-piece BABYRAT are finally letting the rest of the world in on the chaos.
Their debut single, Roses, is a snarling introduction to a band who know exactly who they are — and aren’t interested in making it pretty. Built around biting guitars, sharp-edged lyrics and an unapologetic pop sensibility, the track turns heartbreak and frustration into something loud, spiteful and seriously fun.
Described by the band as “pop music dressed as rock music”, BABYRAT bring together the punch of The Strokes and Arctic Monkeys with the pop instincts of Olivia Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter, all delivered with the explosive energy of Paramore. They call it ‘bitch-pop’, and Roses makes a convincing case for the name.
But beneath the attitude is a song about finding your self-worth, walking away from relationships that no longer serve you and accepting that doing what’s right for yourself can still leave a sting. It’s personal, pointed and packed with the kind of lived-in frustration that makes the track hit harder.
That honesty is rooted in the Cork music scene that brought BABYRAT together. From nights spent at local venues The Roundy and An Bróg to the community that helped shape their songwriting, the city is woven into the band’s identity — and now, their first official release.
Having played Roses live more than 75 times, BABYRAT have already seen what happens when those guitars kick in. Now, as they move from building a following onstage to releasing music into the world, the band are ready to find out just how far their beautified grit can travel.
We caught up with BABYRAT to talk about the story behind Roses, their DIY rise through the live circuit, the meaning of ‘bitch-pop’ and the Cork community at the heart of it all.
‘Roses’ has already opened your live set more than 75 times, so it feels like the perfect introduction to BABYRAT. What is it about this song that makes it such a strong way to kick things off?
Long story short, it says who we are. - Jamie
The song takes heartbreak and turns it into something much more spiteful and fun, with the line between anger and having a good time becoming pretty blurred. What was going on in your lives when you first wrote ‘Roses’, and how did that shape the song?
When Roses was written, it was a real time of realising my true self-worth and really finding my place in the community that is the Cork music scene. I feel that sometimes in young, immature relationships and friendships it’s easy to lose your sense of self, and you can find yourself just going through the motions and pretending to be someone you’re not because it’s all you know. This song was really about the moment I realised ‘I know there’s so much more out there for me, so much more to discover and figure out, and I’m never going to achieve it by sitting comfortably’. In the result of making that choice, I had to lose a lot of those close to me. I feel that Roses is a bit of an explosion of that series of events in my life, and the song got a lot of pent up frustration and spite that was left in my system out. I think what’s really special is that although the lyrics are spiteful, it’s still evident in the song that even though sometimes you have to do what’s best for you, it doesn’t mean it won’t leave a lasting sting. - Zoe
You built such a strong following through live shows, demos and word of mouth before officially releasing any music. Why was it important to build BABYRAT from the live room out rather than starting with streaming and releases?
Building out from the live room was a real happy accident! We didn't birth the band with a masterplan to not release music, but every time we played a gig, someone in the crowd would offer us another gig. Next thing you know we're playing up and down the country every week, taking trips to the UK, and somehow people start turning up to gigs knowing the words of songs that aren't released. The feeling of how special those moments were was undeniably addictive, so we just kept going with it! But eventually it became time for change, and now we can't wait to see how our world of live performances is affected by releasing. - Jamie
3. You describe BABYRAT as ‘bitch-pop’, while the music pulls from power-pop, punk, indie-rock and bigger pop production. What does ‘bitch-pop’ mean to you, and what do you think ties all those influences together?
To us, BABYRAT is pop music dressed as rock music. We're landing somewhere between Olivia Rodrigo and The Strokes, and we're leaving some bite marks while we do. Instrumentally, we're showing the influence that The Strokes and Arctic Monkeys had on us, then taking the charming lyricism and pop sensibilities of Ms Rodrigo and Sabrina Carpenter. We take all these features to their heights, to aim for an epicness that's reminiscent of Paramore. And the 'bitch' part comes down to an undeniable force-of-nature attitude which unapologetically spits out all the lyrics with true meaning and feeling behind every word. - Jamie
4. ‘Roses’ is rooted in very specific places and experiences in Cork, from The Roundy to An Bróg, and the video was also filmed around the city. How important is Cork and the community you’ve built there to BABYRAT’s identity?
It’s really special to us! The Cork music scene is how we all met. We were all members of different bands in the same era, so we spent a lot of time around each other as it’s such a tight-knit community here! I suppose the scene that you come from will always be a part of your identity. The references to Cork bars in the song were just the words that spilt out when the song was initially written.
There used to be acoustic sessions in The Roundy every fortnight where everyone in the local scene would share new music and have sing-songs together. Naturally when closing time came around and we got the boot, we all ended up in The Bróg to party it out! So that’s where ‘The girls from The Roundy go to Bróg to dance’ came from. I think it’s quite special that it’s referenced in our first release, after all it was these nights sparked the songwriting between BABYRAT members, leading to the bands formation. - Zoe
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