Rowlene gets candid in emotive new album Some Strings Attached

Whoever started the “new music Friday is dead” rumour must have fallen and bumped their head because artists and fans alike still look forward to this tradition. In today’s edition, R&B and pop artist Rowlene’s (Rowlene Nicole Bosman) new album Some Strings Attached is the latest item to add to your playlist.

Dissecting the music

Listening to the track Disconnected, I caught myself wondering what an a cappella version of this song would sound like because it is not heavily instrumental. Rowlene explains later during our interview that most of the songs on this album were deliberately designed to be acoustic and string-based.

Interestingly, the strings in No Strings Attached are impossible to ignore.

“That’s kind of the play on the project. Not everyone is going to pick it up but I enjoy doing these interviews and talking about the project because it creates more of a community,” Rowlene says.

For me, the line “you don’t call it love but you move like it’s true” is reminiscent of Luther Vandross’s If I Didn’t Know Better. Rowlene affirms this because it’s the same theme of not knowing where you stand with people. 

SEE: Parklive Jozi 2026: The ultimate guide to this year’s festival

I'm touched when she points out that my attention to detail means there are people who genuinely care about what musicians do.

Another contrast is in the track Hurts 2b Reminded, which is almost too dance for a heartbreak song. When she explains the importance of celebrating the good times when a romantic relationship goes south, it reminded me of Dave Koz’s The Dance with Bebe Winans on vocals.

“The experience and knowledge you gained from it and the love that you received while it was still there…the break-up doesn’t make any of these things any less real,” she asserts.

Asked what she looks forward to most about her upcoming ParkLive Music Festival performance, Rowlene says she is going to perform both her new and old music, and sharing the stage with all of the artists who are part of the festival presents the opportunity to introduce her sound to their fanbase and hopefully unlock a new market for herself.

A candidly personal album

While Rowlene sounds like a real “lover girl,” she’s also cognisant of how we sometimes give away too much of our power to things that no longer serve us when it comes to romance.

“It was really hard for me, I didn’t want to make any songs. Having to remain mindful of what you’re saying while also trying to be kind and honest at the same time can be daunting,” she reflects.

Sometimes artists draw from the experiences of those around them when writing music, sometimes they use the power of song to process their own emotions. This album represents the latter for Rowlene. She candidly lets me in on how Last Seen is her lived experience with a former lover who had a baby with someone else while still in a relationship with her.

It’s even more painful when she shares that this was someone she still had to work with.

Listen before you go Some Strings Attached on Spotify

“Every single song on this album…the happy ones, the sad ones, the confusing ones…I just wanted something that’scohesive and honest at the same time.

“These are songs I’m gonna have to sing forever and every time I perform them, it will be like reliving those experiences.”

Rowlene knows this all too well because the song Creeping on her last album is one she describes as very real, adding that she almost loses herself in the performance when she delivers it live because it takes her back to where she was when it was written.

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