Georgia’s Sydney Rose sang about a friendship breakup. Then, it went viral.

“We Hug Now” is both calm and chaos.

The song, released in February, outlines the gnawing aftermath of a broken friendship. Most of the roughly four-minute track floats in longing and regret (“I think back to where you live and how you can see the entire sky/It’s occasional, sometimes I’ll see the moon and think of you”).

In the bridge, the track’s emotional intensity crescendos with resentment. Backed by blaring percussion and guitar chords, it peaks in the final lines: “I have a feeling you got everything you wanted/And you’re not wastin’ time stuck here like me.”

The single is anchored by the lush and delicate vocals of Sydney Rose, a Canton native who found creative inspiration after ending a five-year friendship.

“This song is kind of a love song in a way that’s like I miss what we had and I’m still way focused on this while the other person is not,” the 22-year-old told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution via Zoom. “I never wanted to be mad at them or say that they wronged me in any way. We just grew apart.”

“We Hug Now” went viral shortly after its release. On TikTok, Rose’s teaser of the track garnered nearly 15 million views. On YouTube, the official video reached over 5 million views. The song’s success, including 40 million streams across platforms, landed Rose a deal with Mercury Records, which released her latest and third EP, “I Know What I Want,” in April. Rose is touring behind the project, featuring a stop at Terminal West on Wednesday.

“All I wanted to do was play one show of mine, and now, I’m playing shows that I can’t even count anymore,” said Rose, who writes her own music and plays guitar and piano.

Born Sydney Rose Struchtemeyer, the singer/songwriter attended Sequoyah High School, where she participated in choir and theater. As a child, she grew up listening to Counting Crows, Phoebe Bridgers and Grace VanderWaal (who inspired Rose to learn the ukulele).

Rose sang in the choir at church and found a musical community at MadLife Stage & Studios in Woodstock, where she’d do open mics “just for fun.” But she didn’t take music seriously until 2020, at the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. Rose felt isolated in high school because of her intense interest in music, and the pandemic only intensified her isolation.

“That was when I locked myself in my room and showed the world my (music) on TikTok because I felt so alone.”

‘I Know What I Want’

Singer-songwriter Sydney Rose was raised in Canton, GA, where she sang choir in the Methodist church. Now, she lives in Nashville, where she's empowered by the city's bustling musical community. (Courtesy of Sofia Valladares)

At 16, she wrote her first song, “The Boy With the Same Shoes.” Today, Rose’s unpolished vocals on the track make her “genuinely want to take it down (from streaming).” Still, that was the first time she felt “maybe I can do music and maybe this is real.”

She gained momentum with her cover of Sleeping at Last’s 2011 song “Turning Page” (included in the hit film “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn-Part 1″). Rose’s version has over 70 million Spotify streams, yielding a record deal with Elektra when she was 18 and still in high school. She graduated in 2022. The following year, she moved to Nashville, where she currently resides.

Rose said moving was the best decision she ever made, finding a sense a belonging she didn’t receive in her hometown.

“I needed to be in a place where I could live alone and make music.”

With Elektra, Rose released two EPs and a debut album, “One Sided.” In 2024, she was dropped from the label amid massive restructuring at its parent company, Warner Music Group.

“I was itching for a chance to be independent for the first time. ... So it was kind of like a nice first few stepping stones to where I am now,” Rose recalls of the decision.

But she admits it was a “very interesting few months.”

“Am I a failure, or am I just working toward something else?” Rose thought at the time. “I guess it was working toward something else.”

Enter “We Hug Now,” the song that changed her life. Rose didn’t have any big plans when she wrote the song. She thought it would just be a filler to appease fans’ patience as she worked on a new project. She had no intentions of ever performing it live.

“I just truly felt like I was the only person in the world feeling this way. So when people started relating to it, it felt so great to be a part of a community that we were all heartbroken and we could all talk about it and grieve.”

“We Hug Now” is the lead single to “I Know What I Want.” The six-track EP encompasses the same longing and growing pains that are central to its focal track. Being in your early 20s is often filled with mass uncertainty (see the existential dread in “31″ and “5 More Minutes”). Rose’s piercing lyrics offer comfort in the confusion.

She recorded the project in New York City, all in one take. Rose began touring behind the music in October in Europe.

“I never felt so content and happy (when creating music) because it was exactly how I wanted it to be. As I grow older, I’m maturing more, and I feel more content with my voice and stuff.”

"I think the most honest I’ve ever been is either in therapy or in my songs," said 22-year-old Sydney Rose, a Canton singer who signed her first record deal while in high school. (Courtesy of Sofia Valladares)

Now, Rose is “constantly writing new music,” trying to decipher the sound for her next project. Her latest single, “The Holiday,” continues the themes of despair and anxiety of “We Hug Now” (Rose admits the song is inspired by the same friendship breakup).