Alt-pop artist Annika Rose has released her deeply personal new single “Tainted State of Mind”, accompanied by a live performance filmed inside a fully operational newspaper printing facility.
Annika Rose is continuing to build the world around her forthcoming EP READ ALL ABOUT IT with the release of “Tainted State of Mind”, a brooding new track that explores complicated family dynamics, emotional conflict and the difficulty of seeing someone you love in a different light.
Released on September 16, 2026, in partnership with Broke Records, the single represents one of Rose’s most personal releases yet. Rather than presenting the story as a straightforward confrontation, “Tainted State of Mind” explores the messy and conflicting emotions that can emerge when family relationships become complicated.
The release also arrives alongside a particularly fitting visual: a live performance filmed inside a working newspaper printing facility, bringing together the themes of Rose’s music and her increasingly ambitious self-publishing project.
Annika Rose Explores Complicated Family Dynamics
At the heart of “Tainted State of Mind” is Rose’s experience of watching her father begin a relationship with a woman close to her own age.
The subject matter could easily have been turned into a simple story of anger or betrayal, but Rose instead approaches it from a more complicated perspective. Her relationship with her father remains central to the song, with the artist attempting to process the situation without reducing someone she loves to a villain.
“My dad is one of my best friends, and I never wanted the song to turn him into a villain, because that isn’t how I see him,” Rose explains.
The song therefore sits in an uncomfortable emotional space, moving between disbelief, anger, hurt and confusion while attempting to make sense of a situation from both a daughter’s and a young woman’s perspective.
That emotional tension is reflected in the production. Restrained verses gradually build towards an explosive chorus, with Rose’s increasingly unfiltered vocal delivery giving the track a sense of escalation.
From the Recording Studio to a Newspaper Printing Facility
The live performance takes the concept of READ ALL ABOUT IT quite literally.
Rather than filming in a conventional performance space, Rose chose a fully operational newspaper printing facility as the setting for the visual. The location connects directly to The Bond St. Bulletin, the self-written and self-published newspaper that Rose has been creating alongside her music.
For Rose, the newspaper has become an extension of the stories explored through her songs. Putting the live performance inside the machinery responsible for producing newspapers creates a visual connection between the music, the physical publication and the experiences behind both.
“You can hear the song, read the full story, hold it in your hands, and become part of it,” Rose says.
It turns what could have been a conventional single release into something considerably more physical and immersive.
The Bond St. Bulletin Expands the World of READ ALL ABOUT IT
The release of “Tainted State of Mind” coincides with the fifth edition of The Bond St. Bulletin, with the latest issue serving as the second edition created around the forthcoming READ ALL ABOUT IT EP.
Rose has personally distributed more than 6,000 copies of the newspaper across the US, while also selling hundreds directly to fans.
The publication has additionally found its way into independent Los Angeles institutions including Licorice Pizza, Freakbeat Records and Skylight Books.
The project gives Rose a way to physically document the ideas and stories behind her releases, turning each newspaper edition into another part of the wider creative universe surrounding her music.
Rather than relying solely on streaming platforms and social media, Rose is creating something fans can physically pick up, read and keep.
Who Is Annika Rose?
Annika Rose is an alternative-pop artist, songwriter and independent publisher whose career began at just 13 years old, when she signed to Simon Cowell’s Syco Entertainment as part of an all-girl band.
After leaving the label at 15, Rose subsequently navigated a number of different deals before eventually reclaiming control of her career and pursuing an increasingly independent creative path.
She has since released three EPs, appeared on G-Eazy’s “In My Head” and completed her first US tour as an opening act. Her audience has also grown to more than 500,000 people across social platforms.
Rose has received support from artists and musicians including Louis Tomlinson, Sam Harris of X Ambassadors and Nick Littlemore of Empire of the Sun.
Her sound combines pop melodies with indie influences and alternative production, while her songwriting frequently draws on personal experiences and emotionally direct storytelling.
The Bond St. Bulletin has become a particularly distinctive part of that approach, allowing Rose to transform her songwriting into a physical archive that exists alongside her recorded music.
What’s Next for Annika Rose?
“Tainted State of Mind” is the latest glimpse into READ ALL ABOUT IT, Rose’s forthcoming EP, while the fifth edition of The Bond St. Bulletin continues to expand the project’s physical world.
With its combination of music, live performance and independent publishing, the project is becoming more than simply a collection of songs. Rose is building an interconnected creative universe where the stories behind the music can exist across multiple formats.
For “Tainted State of Mind”, that means a song about complicated emotions can be heard through headphones, experienced through a live performance and explored through a newspaper that can quite literally be held in your hands.
