Baby Rose brings the art of ‘YEARNALISM’ to Cal Poly
Following a summer spent opening for Olivia Dean’s North America tour, The Art of Loving Live, Baby Rose stopped in San Luis Obispo on Sept. 29 to perform for an intimate audience at the Performing Arts Center.
Hosted by ASI Events, the show was free for Cal Poly students to attend.
The evening was opened by Cal Poly Contemporary Jazz, setting the tone for a night of R&B and soul. Before Baby Rose graced the stage, her band, which was composed of one electric guitarist, one bassist and one drummer, tuned and set up their instruments in front of a large “BABY ROSE” projected sign.
Adorned in black boots, a custom “Baby Rose and the Yearners” jean jacket and sunglasses, Jasmine Rose Wilson, better known as Baby Rose, walked on stage with a magnetic energy. Kicking off the evening with an opening performance of “On My Mind,” from her 2024 collaborative EP “Slow Burn” with BABADNOTGOOD.
She then went straight into Fleetwood Mac’s “Landslide,” a cover which she originally recorded in 2024. Her version swaps the acoustic fingerpicking in the original for a keyboard and bass section, adding her own take on the song. Students began to sing along with her, and afterwards Baby Rose formally introduced herself to the audience.
“What’s up, yo how you feeling? My name is Baby Rose and I’m a yearner, are there any yearners in the building?”
On July 10, Baby Rose released her third album “YEARNALISM.” The 12-track record explores themes of unrequited love, romance and self-improvement — all of which are an ode to the artist’s inclination towards longing.
After her greeting, Baby Rose took over the stage as she played “Dressed In Metal” followed by “Better.”
“Yearning is not always about romance, sometimes you just yearn for peace of mind,” she said. “I wrote this song to remind myself of that, of what home feels like.”
Launching into “Sunday,” Baby Rose delivered the song seated under warm lighting, each lyric sinking a feeling into the audience and transporting them to whatever place they call home.
Baby Rose then reminded the audience of how important friendship is, dedicating “Believe me” to the friends that stick around even when you may not treat them the best.
Like a true vocalist, Baby Rose picked up her green cup of tea and continued with it casually in hand for the entirety of “Is This Love,” setting it down for “But, Nvm,” “Friends Again” and “The Reason.”
Near the end of her set, Baby Rose gave some advice to the audience.
“We’re so young and as much as we have yearning in our hearts. If you love someone, sometimes it’s the best thing, if you love me, just let me go,” she said, before diving into “Let Me Go” and “One Last Dance” — another song off of her and BADBADNOTGOOD’S EP.
“I think we all got our PHD’s in yearnalism tonight,” Baby Rose said.
Closing out a night of beautiful music, Baby Rose introduced her final song “All My Love.”
“I hope you yearn for my new record ‘YEARNALISM’ Before I go, I gotta give you ‘All My Love,’” she said.
Leaving her evening at Cal Poly, Baby Rose embarks on her four-night, eight show tour in Los Angeles and New York City.
