First Listen: Teenage singer Donita Rose shines on “Leave”

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(September 30, 2021) Donita Rose brings a great deal of maturity to the pensive and torchy ballad, “Please Don’t Leave Me.” She’s just 18, but Rose has experienced a great deal in those 18 years. She’s a native of Denmark and is of Philippines descent. Rose was taken from the custody of her mother at 11 months old, and would not be connected with a foster family until she was three. She remained with that family until the age of 10 when Rose was placed in a group home/assisted living facility, where she remained until that that institution closed.

Still, in the six years that Donita Rose stayed in the facility, she found stability and support that had eluded her for much of her early life. However, the institution’s closure left her on her own as a 16 year old high school student. Fortunately, Donita Rose found her way to local community agency that helps youth. She worked with a music teacher and then met a producer at a music workshop, and that is where she recorded “Please Don’t Leave Me” in their first session.

The tune has a feel that is both pop and folksy as it tells the story of a someone who is at their most vulnerable point as they feel the person that they love slipping away from them. As a person who has experienced her share of losses in her life, Donita Rose endows the song’s lyrics with a sense of longing and desperation. Her sweet and intimate vocal style might remind some of Taylor Swift.

This is a song that seeks to elicit emotions ranging from regret, jealousy and longing from those who listen, and Rose’s ability to conjure those feelings marks her as someone who possesses a level of maturity that is beyond her 18 years. Check out “Please Don’t Leave Me,” here.

By Howard Dukes

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