Rose McGowan Announces Debut Album 'Planet 9'

For the last three years, Rose McGowan has been at the forefront of Hollywood's #MeToo movement, and now the multimedia artist plans to reshape her art with her debut album Planet 9, landing on streaming platforms Friday.

The 46-year-old actress/activist finds the signature sound of her utopian world from her childhood named Planet 9, which coincidentally shares the title of the planet two researchers discovered in Pluto's absence back in 2015. With the help of French electronic musicians DJ Falcon (who produced her favorite Daft Punk song "Contact") and Punishment, McGowan's groundbreaking discovery brings fans uplifting music under the creed "art heals." She spent five years recording and filming the project in Paris, Biarritz, El Paso and Los Angeles, but since she's "not trying to be a pop star," her voice won't be at the forefront of the project.

McGowan's background in cinema sound design assisted the genesis of Planet 9. She posted a SoundCloud embed of her single "Green Gold" on her official website, a 10-minute sonic excursion to McGowan's safe place with space-sounding synths, sensitive piano melodies and Auto-Tuned sighs. Furthermore, she teased the project with a two-and-a-half-minute video, which features the star posing using abstract moves as a projector finally brings her unfiltered world to life right in front of her. Within the short film, she teases her soft-spoken, spine-chilling single "Now You're Here."

TV on the Radio's David Sitek also lent a hand to the project, which Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross' sound engineer Michael Patterson (The Social Network, Girl With the Dragon Tattoo) and Stuart White (Beyoncé's Lemonade) mixed and Paul Logus (Coheed and Cambria, Public Enemy) mastered. Planet 9 is available for preorder via Bandcamp, and 20% of the album's proceeds will be donated to COVID-19 relief efforts.

Read her full statement, watch the Planet 9 video teaser, and listen to a snippet of "Now You're Here" below.

Hello, I appreciate you taking the time to read this. I’m Rose McGowan and for a long time, I worked in a strange place called Hollywood. Being an actress was my day job, but behind the scenes I was honing my skills as a multi-media artist, writer and thought leader. After realizing I’d worked on sets for over 57k hours, I knew it was time to assert my own voice, so I directed a short film called "Dawn" which was nominated for the Sundance Grand Jury Prize. After "Dawn," I began a three-year writing project, my book, BRAVE. While writing about my life and thoughts on society, I needed to create art that would be soothing. I’d always loved using my voice, it was my favorite part of performing.   

When I was a small child going through tough times, I created a utopian world in my mind and I named it Planet 9. I felt safe on this invented planet of mine. I also used to wonder what sounds existed on my planet. As life went on, I forgot about how special my planet was, I forgot I could go there in times of trouble. Six years ago, astronomers found a new planet they named Planet 9 - it’s the new planet that demoted Pluto to a star. Holy s! They found my Planet 9! Around the same time, I met some French electronic musicians, and I decided to make music that has the power to lift your spirit. I know this, art heals. Planet 9 takes you on a very special journey. I am not trying to be a pop star, I will not be performing this album. By using my knowledge of cinema sound design, I carefully created the sounds and words for a better place, an unknown world in our own mind that we can all travel to. Planet 9 is an artistic endeavor that I hope will help others meditate in a unique way. 

Let go, come to Planet 9. 

RM