Equal parts soul, hip-hop and rock 'n' roll, Shea Rose's music is soaked in heartbreak. Her oeuvre rides the roller coaster of life's letdowns, both romantic and otherwise.

It was only a few years ago, after taking and leaving her dream job as a writer for MTV in New York City, that Rose even started singing. Feeling overwhelmed by New York, Rose came home to Boston and started performing with neo soul and classic rock acts. She tuned into Jimi Hendrix, Janis Joplin and Led Zeppelin, liked the freedom she found in rock, and found ways to work it into her sound.

In 2007 she enrolled at Boston's Berklee College of Music and quickly became a class favorite. Rose has a lot of appreciation for the opportunities Berklee afforded her, namely the chance to study abroad in Athens and a spot in the school's Women in Rock show in 2008. There she met rock drummer Cindy Blackman who, impressed with Shea's talent, invited her to Italy to record a full-length album. That untitled project has yet to be released, but a separate self-produced EP titled "Rock 'n Rose" will come out this spring.

Rose describes her sound as Lauryn Hill meets Lenny Kravitz. On stage she calls to mind the raw energy of Rage Against the Machine's Zach de la Rocha, especially in the emotionally charged "You Can't Call Me," a song Rose's younger brother wrote for her after a break up. She'll get the whole crowd jumping up and down, almost yelling the lyrics, "You can't / Call me anymore / Changing my number / I ain't taking your call."

The raw honesty in her performance is different from the polished, produced sound found in her recorded material, but Rose's stripped-down stage setup - sans drum kit or bass - really complements her presence. Rose is refreshingly just as down-to-earth in person, always striving to strike a balance between ego and being alone. While it may not be glamorous, she admits, outside of music she's very focused on her family and staying healthy. She's a juicing enthusiast, for example, particularly partial to beets.

Today, Rose can be found performing with three other powerhouse Berklee students: Dwight Rivera on keys, Marcio Philomena on guitar and Jorge Perez Gonzalez on percussion. Recently, the four were joined by local underground funk superstar Nephtaliem McCrary of the Nephrok! Allstars at a benefit show for the One Brown Girl Camp Caribe Fund at the Alchemist in Jamaica Plain, Mass. Though they had never met, Rose recognized McCrary and pulled him on stage for an impromptu solo and then duet. And that was just one example of her passionate, spontaneous nature. Throughout the set she held the audience in her pocket, alternately stunning people to silence and riling them up for call-and-response sequences. She even got away with performing her single "Rock N Rose" twice.