Rourke’s Newest Single ‘I Can’t Breathe’ Delivers Compassion, Awareness, and Classic Rock N’ Roll

Rock n’ roll enthusiast, Rourke, blends classic rock, politics, and compassion into his latest single, “I Can’t Breathe.” The single is part of a wider album, Starstruck, set to release before the summer. 

Rourke writes about real people and events in his music, while maintaining the true spirit of rock. “My goal is to create a brand of rock that gets rock back to where it used to be. 70s meets 80s. Songs that stay in your head and you’re still hearing an hour later. That’s what’s missing from rock n’ roll these days. I want to bring rock back to basics,” shares Rourke.

Rourke’s musical journey began as a preteen, when he picked up the guitar casually but decided to go to film school instead. It wasn’t until more recently that he returned to music as a platform for his beliefs. 

“In 2016, I was spending a lot of time on social media arguing with people about politics. The anger and frustration didn't bring out the best in me, so I took a break from the online community. Instead, I picked up my guitar and focused on expressing myself with music,” tells Rourke.

Turning raw emotion into song became a way to connect rather than debate. Rourke began to write about a divided America and the issues that surrounded it. Within a short time, he found himself with more than 1000 unfinished songs. The moment to turn these ideas into a demo would soon arrive.

Over the past five years, Rourke has dedicated his spare time to developing Starstruck one story at a time. “The demo started as an acoustic demo inspired by Guns N’ Roses and 70s/80s rock. Little by little, it spiraled into electric bass and guitar and took on a hard rock sound. When it became an album, there were also Blues songs and more ballad-type stuff. The whole album is 10 songs with original artwork. The cover is a photo I took myself while driving in downtown LA that became a theme for division in the country,” explains Rourke.

“I worked with my producer in Los Angeles and studio musicians to help record it. It started out as a demo of four songs and changed over time into a full album with a full band — a full experience,” he adds.

“I Can’t Breathe” is the third single of the album and sends a powerful, evocative message. “It speaks about George Floyd and issues in the country. When I played it for a girl at work, she started crying at the bridge. It’s a song people get emotional about. Floyd wasn’t he first to die saying he can’t breathe. It’s about the bigger picture from an emotional perspective.” 

The song is broken down into five parts that take listeners through five emotions of the Black experience, beginning with fear, anger, sadness, and frustration — and ending with a sense of hope. “When I first conceived it, I wrote on the acoustic guitar,” tells Rourke. “The outro was a last-minute addition. It didn’t feel complete without it.”

With the help of childhood friend, Rami Jaffee of Foo Fighters fame, Rourke transformed the song into a moving statement piece. Jaffee plays keyboards on the other nine album tracks, while guitarist Richard Fortus from Guns N' Roses performs on two songs. The entire album offers additional introspection to be enjoyed song by song.

Listeners who are drawn to protest themes should also listen to Rourke's single "Rise," which Rourke describes as his "Michelle Obama" song.  When Obama said, "When they go low, we go high," Rourke transformed it into the chorus "When they go low, we rise." The lyrics offer a call-and-response formula, with Trump's bullying the “call” and Obama's “response” turning the song into a searing rock anthem some have compared to Bon Jovi and Green Day.

 “I Can’t Breathe” is available on all streaming platforms, with promotional support from Starlight PR.

Make sure to stay connected to Rourke on all platforms for new music, videos, and social posts.

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By: Nadia Sobehart