Meet Molly Rose Hansen

We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Molly Rose Hansen a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Molly Rose, first a big thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and insights with us today. I’m sure many of our readers will benefit from your wisdom, and one of the areas where we think your insight might be most helpful is related to imposter syndrome. Imposter syndrome is holding so many people back from reaching their true and highest potential and so we’d love to hear about your journey and how you overcame imposter syndrome.

I think most creatives would agree with me when I say that imposter syndrome never fully goes away. It is so easy to feel insecure about my talent and compare myself to everyone around me. That being said, I can’t let imposter syndrome get the best of me. When I start to feel my insecurities rise, I remind myself that there is no one exactly like me, and that’s what makes me valuable. Even though I am surrounded by immense talent in Nashville, I’m the only one who can tell my stories, and I deserve to tell them as much as anyone else. Another thing that helps me combat imposter syndrome is regularly playing through my catalogue. When I’m always trying to write the next great song, I often forget that I’ve already written many songs that I love. Keeping those accomplishments fresh in my mind reminds me that I love my craft and that I’m good at what I do.

Appreciate the insights and wisdom. Before we dig deeper and ask you about the skills that matter and more, maybe you can tell our readers about yourself?

Songwriting has been a hobby and great source of joy for me ever since I was about seven years old, but I never truly considered it as a career. I knew I loved to sing and write songs, but I kept my original music to myself (and occasionally my mom) up until the summer of 2020 when I released a five-song E.P. of demos. They were really simple, and looking back, I feel timid about releasing them, but I had no idea what I was doing. I just knew I wanted to take a leap and share my music with more people. The main catalyst for releasing those demos was the Covid-19 pandemic. I was about to start my senior year at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where I had been studying English and Communication with a focus in screenwriting. A few years prior, I had been certain that I wanted to move to L.A. after college and become a television writer, but the pandemic shifted my perspective. I realized how short and fickle life is, and songwriting always fed my soul more than screenwriting. At the time of making those demos, I did not think I would actually make the career shift toward songwriting, but it felt good to seriously explore other passions of mine.

After graduating in 2021, I moved to L.A. for an internship, and the whole summer I found myself agonizing over writing scripts but easily writing songs. L.A. didn’t feel like home, and I just felt lost. I also was long-distance with my boyfriend, Jake, which was much more difficult than I anticipated. I couldn’t help but feel drawn toward music–the songs I’d written and was continuing to write were gnawing at me, and I knew I needed to at least try and pursue the dream that I’d always suppressed. I thought songwriting seemed impossible, but I realized screenwriting isn’t much easier, so I might as well follow my heart. I moved back home to Charlotte, NC after the internship ended and lived with my parents until Jake graduated from college. I encouraged Jake to apply for a PhD program at Vanderbilt so we could move to Nashville together and I could pursue songwriting while he was in school. He was unsure about moving at first, but he fell in love with Vanderbilt’s biomedical engineering program and secured a spot at an incredible lab. We moved into our first apartment together in May 2022.

I immediately took a job as a tour guide at a distillery in Nashville part-time while working on songwriting. I played at open mics and writers rounds, learned how to co-write songs with others, and gathered as much information as I could about the ever-changing music industry. I am still constantly learning and growing here. At the end of April 2024, I decided to quit my tour-guide job and pursue songwriting full-time. It was a scary decision, and one I’m still trying to feel comfortable with. I am living off my personal savings, which often makes me feel insecure, but I’ve been in town for over two years now, and I want to see what happens when I commit full-time to my dream. My main goal is to get a publishing deal and write songs for other artists. I can’t even fully explain how much I would love to make a living writing songs and hopefully having them heard by more people. Knowing that something I had a part in making could make someone feel less alone, process difficult emotions, or inspire them to dance, cry, smile, or sing is what keeps me pushing through.

In addition to pursuing a publishing deal, I am occasionally releasing music as an artist under my full name: Molly Rose Hansen. In March 2024, I released my first single, “Isolated,” a pop track about the influence anxiety and depression had on my move to Nashville. My upcoming single, “Kindred,” will be released on September 27th. “Kindred” has a more relaxed, singer-songwriter vibe with country and folk influences and is about my best friend, Kylie. We always say that we’re platonic soulmates, and I wanted to write a love song that isn’t about romantic love. Soulmates and kindred spirits come in many forms, and I found it fun and refreshing to write about a different kind of love.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

One of the biggest helps in songwriting for me is my education in creative writing. I learned how to effectively tell stories in many different forms: scripts, short stories, performance art pieces, and poetry. I’m incredibly grateful for my education, and I recognize that it’s a privilege and not something that is accessible to everyone. For those who may not have access to creative writing courses, I think the best alternative is to consume as many different types of art, literature, and media as possible and try writing in different forms. It’s fun to write outside your comfort zone, and it’s really cool to see how the skills you develop overlap between styles.

Another thing that has helped me greatly in my journey is joining NSAI (Nashville Songwriters Association International), which helped connect me with many other songwriters. This was essential for me because I had never co-written a song before moving to Nashville, and NSAI gave me a safe and welcoming space to exercise those muscles and expand my network.

Finally, I believe my confidence has been impactful. My confidence wavers significantly from time-to-time, but I have to remind myself that I felt secure enough in my dream and talent to make the move to Nashville, so I should be confident enough to keep trying. I think a lot of people (including myself at times) think that confidence means you’re fearless or delusionally sure of yourself, but that’s unrealistic. To me, confidence is knowing that even through the ups and downs, I will persevere. No matter what happens, I will be okay because I know my worth even if it isn’t recognized by others. At the end of the day, the only opinion of me that matters is my own.

One of our goals is to help like-minded folks with similar goals connect and so before we go we want to ask if you are looking to partner or collab with others – and if so, what would make the ideal collaborator or partner?

I am always looking to connect with new artists and writers! I am mostly looking for artists at the moment, but I’m open to meeting new writers as well. I love to write in a wide variety of genres, but my specialties are pop, folk, Americana, and country. If you are interested in writing together or if you want me to write a song for your artist project, you can contact me via email at [email protected] or via instagram @mollyrosehansen.

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Swift Artists, Sheye Girl Coffee, Sarah Gargano

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