Anna Rose on Her Famous Father, Upcoming Album and Latest Release 'Alameda': 'It Made Me Brave' (Exclusive)

Anna Rose didn't grow up watching Disney movies.

Instead, she grew up watching somebody write the song that would soundtrack the Disney movie. Arguably, everything she needed to know about music composition she learned as a child.

So, by the time Anna Rose was just 7 years old, her father, famous Disney composer Alan Menken, was already providing his daughter with notes on the original songs she was writing.

"He'd sit there and go, 'OK, well, that's…'" the singer-songwriter, who was born Anna Rose Menken, trails off, imitating her father. "He would never treat it like it was nothing, but he would sit there and go, 'OK, now rewrite it in the style of Elton John. OK, rewrite it in the style of Sheryl Crow. OK, rewrite it in the style of ABBA.'"

The fact that Anna Rose even knew what her father meant with such feedback is proof enough that a knack for making music runs in the family. Fast forward some 30 years, and the independent artist is celebrating the latest release of her upcoming album Last Girl of the Rodeo.

The song is called "Alameda," and it's a track about escapism, courage and dreams.

"I've actually never been to Alameda," Anna Rose reveals to PEOPLE. "It's a place in California, near San Francisco. It's a little island, and I fictionalized this place that I could run to. I was going through a really difficult time, and I was trying to leave a lot of things behind in my life."

"'Alameda' was autobiographical to the point of being very painful to write, but I'm glad that I did. It really made me brave and allowed me to leave a situation that wasn't right for me anymore," she added.

Anna Rose is also kicking off a tour with David Ramirez beginning in mid-April, and despite the deeply personal nature of "Alameda," she says she can't wait to perform the track out on the road.

"This is a song actually that as soon as I wrote it, I started playing it live. It's a song that people are excited to hear the recording of because I've played it so much live. This is the first song that people have really sung along and sung the words back to me," she says.

As for her album, which will arrive in August, Anna Rose is proudly touting the project as the "best record" she's ever made. And, only one word comes to her mind when she's asked to describe its music: honest.

"I'm not saying that with any exaggeration or need to promote. I am really, really deeply proud of this record. It is both very autobiographical and also very much a concept record, and playing a character of the showgirl who's getting a little older in the business, who's got a few years under her and knows her way around a stage now," she explains of the album, which she's debuting in a rather unorthodox way.

"I'm actually releasing every single song in order until the release of the record in August," she says. "There's only one song that won't be released as a single, and you'll just have to wait to hear what's waiting on the record for you."

"Alameda" is the third song to be released so far, following "Back On My Bulls—" and "Whatever Gets You Through The Night." Anna Rose calls the rollout plan "cathartic," though there's always an element of fear involved when doing something out of the ordinary.

"It's also scary because not everyone does it this way, but what are we here for creating and making music if we're not pushing boundaries and creating more space for something else new and exciting to come?" she asks. "Otherwise, we're all just doing the same thing over and over again."

And, as Anna Rose prepares to make her stand as the Last Girl of the Rodeo, part of her identity is celebrating all of the people who have managed to ride successfully before her.

"I am such a fan of people who have made their way through the music industry and gotten their music heard under extraordinary circumstances with every door being shut in their face," she says. "And many times, that was women. I have more and more of an appreciation for women and non-binary folks who have pushed their way through. Everyone's stories deserve to be heard."

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Sometimes, those stories sound similar, and Anna Rose hopes others hear their own journey reflected in her lyrics.

"I write these songs for me, but I've released them for you. I release them to connect, to find human connection in a world that is increasingly separated and divisive," she says. "I guess what I hope people take away is themselves."