Rourke is a Los Angeles rock musician with a message for society. His multifaceted rock song ‘I Can’t Breathe’ calls back to the tragic killing of George Floyd and reminds the world it should not have happened. The five minute plus track is an emotional journey that captures the impact of his death and the larger ongoing problem the situation stems from.

Rourke is not someone simply seeing the oppression in the world, he’s empathizing with it. He has studied how oppression has lasted throughout history and is using his music to be a call to action to do something about it.  He wrote “I Can’t Breathe” after seeing how racist people were responding to the entire situation. The track takes listeners on a journey through feelings of fear, anger, sadness, frustration and hope both lyrically and sonically as the melodies change throughout the song. 

“I want people to know that this song is bigger than the phrase ‘I Can’t Breathe.’ The struggles of the black community go back all the way to Jim Crow and even further back to 400 years of slavery. And there’s still so much racism in the world today.” he said. 

Protest songs have been written across the decades and Rourke believes music is one of the most effective and quickest ways to get a message to people. With the short attention spans people have today, he believes putting a message in a song can go a long way. As people scroll social media they are overstimulated with news, images, and videos of all kinds but a song can spark their interest, break the doomscroll they’re in and pull them into something worth paying attention to. 

The fire of creative expression has always been lit within Rourke whose artistic endeavours began in the film world. He attended film school and even at that point, the films he was making were socially conscious and relevant. Rourke explained how for him, there is a direct correlation between film and music. 

“Some songs are just inherently cinematic. I feel like I see and hear things cinematically…Growing up my mother was a fighter for minority groups…I’ve always had this burning desire for social activism. I always wanted to create films that would make people think about things.” he said. 

The track “I Can’t Breathe” comes from Rourke’s upcoming album titled Starstruck. The album’s creative process is one that speaks to the power of technology and the legacy of musical talent. Rourke plays and sings on the track but he also has contributions from a who’s who of the rock music world. Richard Fortus, the guitarist from Guns N’ Roses and Rami Jaffee, the keyboardist from Foo Fighters both appear on the album. He also has contributions from a friend of his producer, a drummer who lives in Estonia, a country in Europe. 

“I never played with any of those guys in the same setting. They all sent their contributions digitally.” he said. 

Rourke’s track “I Can’t Breathe” is just one of multiple songs in his discography with a socially conscious message. His passion for spreading awareness and knowledge is evident in everything he does and he plans to continue to share these messages through all of his creative endeavors with passion, grace and intentionality. 

“I Can’t Breathe” is available on streaming services now. 

You can hear more of Rourke’s message by keeping up with him on these platforms.
Linktree | Apple Music | Spotify | YouTube | Instagram | Twitter | TikTok | Facebook

The Starlight PR Team thanks Rourke for taking the time to speak with us.