Emma Rosie, Demi Hawks [verified] May 2026

Though one hails from the fog-soaked folk trails of the Pacific Northwest and the other from the gritty, synth-heavy basements of East London, both artists share a singular mission: to weaponize vulnerability. They are not just singers; they are archivists of the messy, beautiful chaos of young adulthood. If you close your eyes and listen to Emma Rosie’s 2024 breakout EP, Saltwater Stains , you can smell the rust on a fire escape and feel the humidity of a sleepless summer. Rosie, 23, possesses a voice that cracks like old leather—warm, worn, and impossibly honest.

“I used to think songs had to be grand,” Rosie says over a grainy Zoom call, her vintage flannel hanging off one shoulder. “Then I realized the most devastating thing you can say is just, ‘You said forever, but you meant next Tuesday.’ ” emma rosie, demi hawks

Her rise was accidental. A classical piano prodigy who rejected conservatory at 19, Rosie spent two years working graveyard shifts at a 24-hour diner in Portland, Oregon. She wrote songs on napkins about customers: the trucker who cried into his coffee, the newly single mother counting quarters. Though one hails from the fog-soaked folk trails

Whether alone or someday together (a joint tour is the holy grail for their fanbase), one thing is clear: Emma Rosie and Demi Hawks are not fleeting trends. They are the whispered beginning of a new canon—artists who remind us that the most radical thing a young woman can do in 2026 is be unflinchingly, messily, gloriously real. Seek out the unofficial “Sad Girl Starter Pack” playlist on Spotify, curated by fans, which alternates Rosie’s “Lighthouse” with Hawks’ “Concrete Angel.” Just keep tissues nearby. Rosie, 23, possesses a voice that cracks like

Lyrically, Hawks is a poet of the digital age’s loneliness. Her song “DM Slide” isn’t a love song—it’s a forensic takedown of performative intimacy, set to a beat that sounds like a dying Game Boy. Meanwhile, the piano-driven ballad “Social Housing” chronicles her childhood with a chilling simplicity: “The walls had mold / But they held / Better than the people.”

Neither artist entertains the rivalry. In fact, when Rosie was asked about Hawks in a recent NME interview, she smiled. “Demi scares me in the best way. She writes like someone who has nothing left to lose. I write like someone who’s afraid of losing everything. Same coin, different sides.”

Hawks, upon hearing this, laughed. “Emma is the sister I never had. She makes you feel held. I make you feel seen. There’s room for both.” Emma Rosie is currently in seclusion in a remote cabin in Washington state, recording her debut full-length album with producer Blake Mills (Perfume Genius, Fiona Apple). Rumors suggest a more electric, percussive sound—what Rosie calls “folk music that kicks the door down.”