About Ryanna Rogue
Science teacher by day. Independent artist by night.
Somewhere along the way, a squirrel got involved.
Hi, I’m Ryanna Rogue, an independent singer-songwriter and creator from Pennsylvania.
By day, I’m a middle-school science teacher with more than 20 years in education. My background is a little eclectic in its own right —
My music turned out much the same way.
There is no single genre that defines Ryanna Rogue. One song might be an emotional ballad, the next might be rock, pop, dance, electronic, phonk, country, theatrical, orchestral, funky, funny, strange — or some combination I decided needed to exist.
For me, the connection between the songs isn’t necessarily a genre.
It’s the story, the idea, and the point of view.
It Started With My Mom
My relationship with music began long before I ever thought about creating my own.
Growing up, my mom introduced me to songs and artists from all kinds of genres. Music wasn’t simply something playing in the background in our house. She made listening interactive.
She would quiz me:
“Who sings this?”
“What’s the name of this song?”
I learned to recognize voices, artists, songs, and styles. More importantly, I learned to listen without worrying about whether something belonged to the “right” genre.
If I liked it, I liked it.
Looking back, I can see how much of Ryanna Rogue started right there.
The music I create today can jump from one end of the musical spectrum to the other because that’s how I’ve always listened to music. I grew up appreciating different sounds, different artists, and different ways of telling a story through a song.
Some of the artists who later had the biggest impact on me were artists like Queen, Meat Loaf, and Lady Gaga — artists who showed me that music could be larger than life. It could be dramatic, theatrical, visual, emotional, strange, beautiful, and completely committed to its own world.
That stuck with me.
I Don’t Just Hear Music. I See It.
One of my earliest memories of listening to music is imagining stories and scenes while the songs played.
I’ve always done that.
When I hear music, I see things: characters, places, colors, movement, expressions, relationships, entire scenes.
Sometimes it’s almost like a little movie starts playing in my head.
That instinct became one of the foundations of Ryanna Rogue.
When I create a song, I’m rarely thinking only about how it sounds. I’m thinking about what it feels like, what it means, what the story is, and what I can see happening while it plays.
That’s why the visual side of this project has become so important to me. The artwork and music videos aren’t simply decorations around the songs. They’re another way of telling the story.
Where the Songs Come From
Pretty much anywhere.
Some songs come from my own experiences. Some come from emotions I’ve carried around. Some are inspired by things I’ve watched other people experience. There are songs about love, loss, anxiety, resilience, getting older, relationships, work, memories, frustration, hope, and finding your way through difficult moments.
Then there are songs inspired by everyday absurdity.
Because life is funny, too.
Sometimes a phrase catches my attention. Sometimes somebody says something that makes me think, “That sounds like a song.” Sometimes I get an idea that is so ridiculous I have to find out whether I can actually make it work.
And sometimes the answer is apparently a song about copier juju.
I don’t want everything
I create to be serious.
I don’t want everything to be funny.
I don’t want every song to
sound like the one before it.
There are songs that come
from very real places and
mean a great deal to me.
There are songs designed
to tell a story.
to make you think.
There are songs meant to
make you feel something.
And there are songs whose
primary purpose is simply:
This is fun. Turn it up.
Why So Many Genres?
Because that’s how my brain works.
I’ve never wanted to decide, “This is my genre, so this is all I’m allowed to make.”
If an idea needs guitars, give it guitars.
If it needs strings and piano, give it an orchestra.
If it needs electronic bass, techno kicks, a saloon piano and a jaw harp…
Well, apparently we’re doing that now.
I love discovering what happens when sounds that aren’t normally put together suddenly meet.
Sometimes it works.
Sometimes it definitely does not.
And then I try again.
That experimentation is part of the fun.
The genre can change dramatically from song to song, but the creative fingerprint remains the same: storytelling, personality, emotion, imagery, experimentation, and a willingness to follow an idea wherever it decides to go.
Creating Ryanna Rogue
Ryanna Rogue started with music, but it didn’t stay there for very long.
My background in art and technology naturally became part of the process. I started creating artwork around the songs. Then came music videos. Then recurring visual details. Then Easter eggs.
Then characters started showing up.
Then those characters started showing up again.
And before I knew it, there was an entire Ryanna Rogue Universe developing around the music.
None of that began with some enormous master plan.
It grew naturally, one idea at a time.
That’s actually one of my favorite things about this project. I can make plans, but I’m also willing to follow the unexpected things that happen along the way.
Sometimes those unexpected things become the best part.
The Process Behind the Finished Product
I love experimenting with creative technology, including AI-assisted tools for music and visual creation.
But my process is rarely one prompt, one click, and finished.
Not even close.
I write and revise. I experiment with arrangements and styles. I listen again. I change something. I create another version. I compare them. I discard things. I change lyrics. I rethink artwork. I adjust tiny visual details that probably nobody else will ever notice. I create variations until I find the voice, mood, image, performance, or moment that matches what I had in my head.
Sometimes there are a lot of versions before anyone sees the final one.
For me, the technology is a creative tool.
The decisions are the art.
The idea, the lyrics, the story, the direction, the revisions, the things I keep, the things I reject, and the point where I finally say, “That’s it” — that’s the creative process I love.
And I’m still learning.
I hope I always am.
And Then There Was Floyd
Yes.
The squirrel.
Floyd began as a character in the Ryanna Rogue world and somehow developed into a personality all his own.
He’s recognizable by his sunglasses, his mohawk, and a level of confidence that is not necessarily supported by his actual qualifications.
Over time, Floyd stopped being simply a character who appeared in an image. He became a recurring part of the project — appearing in artwork, videos, community posts, stories, celebrations, and livestreams.
He’s also given himself several promotions.
I don’t remember approving any of them.
Floyd eventually gained friends, including Felix, Sheldon, Leo, Madame Mirage, and others, and what started as a collection of recurring characters has grown into the Ryanna Rogue Universe.
They have adventures. They have inside jokes. They have lore. They hide in artwork. Sometimes they show up where you least expect them.
And yes, Floyd has his own page on this website.
Of course he does.
Look Closely
One of my favorite parts of creating is hiding little things for people to discover.
There might be a character tucked into a scene, an object that connects to another song, a visual joke, a callback, or some tiny detail that rewards the person who actually looks at the artwork instead of scrolling past it.
I love when someone notices.
Those little Easter eggs turned the project into something more interactive. You’re not required to know any of the lore to enjoy a Ryanna Rogue song.
But if you want to look a little deeper…
There’s usually something there.
Ryanna Rogue vs. The Person Behind Her
The finished music and visuals can be polished, dramatic, cinematic, and carefully planned.
The person making them?
Considerably less predictable.
If you’ve watched one of my livestreams, you’ve probably figured that out already.
I don’t want to create a perfectly manufactured version of myself for people to meet. I’m a science teacher, an artist, a music lover, a storyteller, a technology enthusiast, and a person who gets genuinely excited when I finally figure out how to make the webcam work.
I can be talking about a new song one minute and suddenly explaining scuba-diving hand signals or the meaning of a double entendre the next.
I get distracted.
I laugh at myself.
Technology occasionally wins.
And yes, I have been known to hold complete conversations with Floyd despite receiving no audible response.
That’s part of the fun.
The songs are where I obsess over polishing every detail.
When I’m just talking to you, you’re getting me.
What This Is Really About
Creating music has given me a place where so many different parts of my life and personality can exist together.
Science and art.
Technology and imagination.
Serious stories and complete silliness.
Real emotions and fictional worlds.
Music that makes you think and music that just makes you move.
I don’t expect every person to connect with every song I make. With this many different styles, that would be nearly impossible.
But I love the idea that somewhere in this growing collection, someone might find their song.
Maybe it’s one that makes them laugh.
Maybe it makes them dance.
Maybe it reminds them of someone.
Maybe it puts words to something they’ve felt but couldn’t explain.
Maybe they simply think it’s catchy and play it again.
That’s enough for me.
One of the most meaningful parts of this entire experience has been discovering that people I have never met, sometimes on the other side of the world, can hear something I created and find their own connection to it.
That’s something I don’t take for granted.
Welcome to the Ryanna Rogue Universe
If one of my songs brought you here, welcome.
Explore the music. Watch the videos. Look closely at the artwork. Hunt for the Easter eggs. Meet the characters. Come hang out during a livestream.
You might find a heartfelt ballad.
You might find a theatrical rock song.
You might find something you can’t quite figure out how to categorize.
You might find Floyd.
Actually, you’ll probably find Floyd.
My mom taught me to listen closely and ask:
“Who’s the artist?”
“What’s the name of the song?”
All these years later, I’m still listening, still discovering new sounds, and still wondering where the next song will take me.
Only now, every once in a while, the answer to that childhood question is:
Ryanna Rogue.
And I think my mom would get a kick out of that.
