Meet Elena Rose: The Hit Songwriter Behind Selena Gomez, Jennifer Lopez + “Picachu”
Elena Rose is Latin music’s secret pop weapon who is behind all the recent hits. The Venezuelan-American singer has written for Rauw Alejandro, TINI, and Jennifer Lopez. She also helped write Selena Gomez’s Spanish EP Revelación. Rose is crossing over as an artist with her new single “Picachu.” In an exclusive interview, she talked writing for herself, other artists, and the stories behind those hits.
“Picachu” is Elena Rose’s latest single.
“When I write a song for another artist, I have to get in their world,” Rose tells mitú. “I have to find a point where we can relate, the both of us. When I write for myself, it’s different because it depends on what I want to put out into the world.”
Rose officially launched her music career in April 2020 with her debut single “Sandunga.” Since then, she’s released a number of songs, including “La Ducha” and “Pimienta.” Her latest single is “Picachu,” which is based off the popular Pokémon character. (Note: Her personal favorite is Jigglypuff.) In the sweet love song, Rose sings in Spanglish.
“I’ve never done anything in Spanglish, pero it felt so natural,” Rose says. “It’s the first time I did that.”
Elena Rose is breaking down her co-writes like Rauw Alejandro’s “Tattoo.”
The first big hit that Rose co-wrote was Becky G and Myke Towers’ “Dollar.” Last year, her name took off as a co-writer on Rauw Alejandro’s breakthrough hit “Tattoo.” Camilo later jumped on the remix and launched the song into stratosphere.
“At that moment, we didn’t write the song for him,” Rose says. “The song would’ve never been what it was without [Rauw] honestly. He’s such an amazing soul. I don’t think I would have wanted it any other way. It changed my life forever.”
Jennifer Lopez and Maluma’s “Pa’ Ti”
Following “Tattoo,” Rose scored a one-two punch of hits for co-writing Jennifer Lopez’s “Pa’ Ti.” Lopez recorded that song with Maluma for their upcoming movie Marry Me. Both of those songs went into the top 10 of Billboard‘s Hot Latin Songs chart.
“We were in the middle of a J.Lo writing camp here in Miami,” Rose says. “This was the first song I ever wrote with my friend Edgar [Barrera]. I was really nervous because he’s a superstar. It just flowed. We wanted to keep J.Lo on her queen, amazing pedestal but also show that she’s just a person. A real bad a*s person.”
Selena Gomez’s Revelación EP
Selena Gomez entrusted Rose as her co-writer for her first Spanish EP Revelación. Rose co-wrote on the whole project, including the hits “De Una Vez” and “Baila Conmigo” with Rauw Alejandro. The EP was helmed by Puerto Rican hit-maker Marco “Tainy” Masís and his NEON16 team.
“Selena is one of the most beautiful souls in the world,” Rose says. “She sent ice cream to my house when the single dropped. It was a lot of work. More than that, it was an opportunity to work with NEON16 and Tainy. They became my family. They believed in me. We saw each other almost every day for a year and a half because that’s how long it took us to create the whole thing during the [COVID-19] pandemic.”
Thalía’s “Mojito”
Rose recently crossed paths with Shakira. (Hopefully it was for Shak’s new album.) Another Latin pop icon she worked with this year was Thalía. They wrote the refreshing “Mojito” for Thalía’s latest album DesAMORphosis.
“Thalía is the sweetest thing in the world,” Rose says. “We wrote another song together, but ‘Mojito,’ the idea was already there. She was just so involved in the process. She’s awesome. A legend. She looks so young and full of life. That was very inspiring for me. It was a lot of fun.”
TINI and Maria Becerra’s “Miénteme”
One of Rose’s compositions shot to the No. 1 spot on Billboard Argentina’s Hot 100 chart. She co-wrote the smash hit “Miénteme” with Argentine pop stars TINI and Maria Becerra. The music video has over 142 million views on YouTube.
“[That was] one of the best times ever,” Rose says. “I wrote it with TINI in L.A. And with Andrés [Torres] and Mauricio [Rengifo]. They’re some of my biggest mentors in the industry. TINI, we clicked the first time we met. She is an angel. I love her endlessly. We wrote many songs that are on their way to come out.”
Elena Rose will be a likely nominee for this year’s Latin Grammy Awards.
This month Rose was nominated for her first award as an artist at Premios Juventud. With the Latin Grammy Awards coming soon, it’s very likely that she will be nominated for the work that she’s done for other artists and herself. Rose promises “a lot of music” is coming soon.
“I want to be closer to everyone and that means I have to show myself for what I really, really am,” she says. “I want to keep putting that in my music and the music I write for other people. I want to keep juggling those two things for as long as I can. A lot of things are happening in a good sense and I’m excited.”
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