FEATURE:
Modern Heroines
Part Fifty-Six: Tove Lo
___________
I am going to get…
PHOTO CREDIT: Moni Haworth
to Tove Lo’s most-recent album, Sunshine Kitty, in a bit. That was released in 2019. The Stockholm-born artist is one of the most-promising there is. I think that, if one cannot consider her one already, Lo will go on to be an icon of the future. Real name Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson, the Swedish artist is someone who has an incredible talent. I am going to come to a review of her latest album. I also want to pepper in some interviews that Lo has conducted. Before that, I want to bring in AllMusic’s biography of a modern-day superstar:
“Crafting a raw, confessional brand of pop shaped by her love of grunge as well as the pristine sounds of her Swedish homeland, Tove Lo is an award-winning performer and Grammy-nominated songwriter. The way her 2013 single "Habits (Stay High)" swung between joy and despair and frankly depicted drug use and sex made it a distinctive, relatable, multi-platinum hit and a fitting introduction to her uncensored style. She followed it with more uninhibited, autobiographical music: Her 2014 debut album Queen of the Clouds and 2016's Lady Wood upheld her reputation for confronting the darker side of love and relationships with thoughtful, provocative, and catchy songwriting. On 2019's Sunshine Kitty, she took a slightly more lighthearted approach without losing any of her edge or candor. Lo also established herself as an in-demand collaborator by working with the likes of Coldplay, Charli XCX, and Nick Jonas; as a songwriter, her credits include songs for Lorde and Icona Pop, as well as Ellie Goulding's Grammy-nominated hit "Love Me Like You Do."
Tove Lo was born Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson on October 29, 1987 in a suburb of Stockholm. When she was three, her godmother gave her the nickname Tove Lo after a lynx the young Nilsson loved at the local zoo ("lo" is Swedish for lynx). She began writing poetry and short stories at a young age, and had written her first songs by the time she was 11. While growing up, she was fascinated by the rawness of Courtney Love and Kurt Cobain's music and by their relationship, and also found inspiration in the work of Robyn, Lykke Li, Jeff Buckley and Charlotte Gainsbourg. She went on to study at the famous Rytmus Musikergymnasiet -- a music-oriented high school comparable to the U.K.'s BRIT School -- where she befriended Caroline Hjelt, a future member of the duo Icona Pop. After graduation in 2006 Lo began making music with other Rytmus alumni in the math-rock band Tremblebee. When the quintet broke up in 2009, Lo decided to focus on her own songs, spending six months in her shed studio recording her demo while working as a session singer.
Truth SerumAt a party celebrating Icona Pop's first record deal, she used the opportunity to give her demo to a staff member at their label, leading to a publishing deal with Warner Chappell and a trip to L.A. to work with fellow Swede and pop songwriting/production supremo Max Martin, who became a mentor and frequent collaborator. In October 2012, Lo self-released her debut single, "Love Ballad," a catchy, beat-driven pop track that showcased her powerful voice. It was followed in 2013 by "Habits (Stay High)," a dark breakup anthem that generated such Internet buzz that it led to a deal with Universal. "Habits" and its follow-up, "Out of Mind," which was in much the same vein, appeared on her debut EP for the label, Truth Serum, in 2014. The EP reached number 13 on the Swedish Albums Chart, while "Habits" peaked at 13 on the Swedish Singles Chart and hit number six in the U.K. During this time, Lo also established herself as a songwriter, collaborating on tracks for Icona Pop and Victoria Justice.
The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1 [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]In September 2014, her debut album Queen of the Clouds arrived, featuring "Habits" -- which reached number three on the Billboard Hot 100 -- as well as other raw, confessional songs about love and heartache. The album was a Top Ten hit in Sweden and a Top 20 hit in the U.S. and U.K., and the subsequent single "Talking Body" was a similar success. Her 2014 collaboration with Alesso, "Heroes (We Could Be)," was another hit, reaching the top of the U.S. dance chart and becoming a Top Ten hit in Sweden and the U.K. In late 2014, she contributed a song to The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Pt. 1. She also Martin's Wolf Cousins songwriting collective and co-wrote songs for Cher Lloyd, Lea Michele, and the Saturdays.
Earned It (Fifty Shades of Grey) [The Voice Performance]In January 2015, Lo underwent surgery for cysts on her vocal cords and couldn't sing for two months while she recovered. That month also saw the release of Ellie Goulding's "Love Me Like You Do," a song Lo co-wrote with Martin and others for the Fifty Shades of Grey soundtrack. It became a number one hit in the U.K. and a Top Ten hit in the U.S., and later earned a nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Media at the 58th Grammy Awards. Lo also won a pair of her homeland's Grammis in 2015, Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for "Habits (Stay High)." Following the release of a deluxe version of Queen of the Clouds, she embarked on her first headlining tour. Late that year, she lent her vocals to Coldplay's seventh album A Head Full of Dreams.
Bridget Jones's Baby [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]Lo's busy 2016 included collaborations with Broods and Flume, while her single with Nick Jonas, "Close," became a Top 20 hit in Canada, New Zealand and the U.S, where it was certified Platinum. She also co-wrote another song for Goulding, "Still Falling for You," from the soundtrack to Bridget Jones' Baby, and contributed the song "Scars" to The Divergent Series: Allegiant soundtrack. In October 2016, she returned in 2016 with her second album, Lady Wood, which delivered more of her signature mix of cool synth pop and frank lyrics. Buoyed by the singles "Cool Girl" and "True Disaster," the album hit number one in Sweden, and landed at number 11 on the U.S. Billboard 200.
Fifty Shades Darker [Original Motion Picture Soundtrack]In 2017, Lo contributed the song "Lies in the Dark" to the Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack and co-wrote the Lorde song "Homemade Dynamite." That November, she released her third album, BLUE LIPS, a companion piece to Lady Wood that featured the single "Disco Tits." The album reached number 138 on the Billboard 200 and number 15 in Sweden. Lo created two short films featuring songs from BLUE LIPS, Fire Fade and Fairy Dust. In December, she appeared on "Out of My Head," a track from Charli XCX's mixtape Pop 2. In June 2018, Lo returned the favor, releasing a remix of BLUE LIPS' "bitches" that featured XCX along with Icona Pop, Alma, and Elliphant. Lo's fourth album, Sunshine Kitty, arrived in September 2019. Featuring collaborations with Kylie Minogue and Jax Jones, its songs reflected Lo's happier, more confident frame of mind. The video for single "Glad He's Gone" was nominated in the "Best Music Video" category of the 62nd Grammy awards”.
I will come to a couple of interviews conducted around the time of Sunshine Kitty. I want to briefly take things back to 2016’s Lady Wood. Tove Lo’s second album, this interview from The Guardian interested me. Among the subjects discussed, Lo’s approach to sexuality is explored:
“She had no idea that her candidness would provoke such a strong reaction, nor that her debut album, Queen of the Clouds, would do the same. Sure, its overt sexuality was playfully on the nose at times – “If you love me right, we fuck for life,” she sings in Talking Body – but, she insists, she’s hardly in uncharted waters. “We’ve heard that in music since I don’t know when. I just feel for me, sex and music have always been very connected. Being open about being a woman, and being open about sex, is not a bad thing. And the other thing is like, would they ever ask a guy this? Ever?
“I feel like I grew up in a place where nudity and sex is something natural and not shameful. Here [in the US] they’re like: ‘Oh, you’re a bad girl, aren’t you? You go against the rules.’ That’s not at all what I’m trying to say or do here. It’s about just not feeling like it’s something bad. All of a sudden, I’m fighting this fight I didn’t know I needed to fight.”
Not that Lo has taken this as reason to tone things down on her new album, Lady Wood, with its winking title and the accompanying artwork – a closeup of her hand pulling down on her own shorts, the Os of Tove Lo shaped like vaginas. It was inspired by the Rolling Stones’ Sticky Fingers cover, though the Swedish interviewer from this morning, to Lo’s chagrin, assumed she was copying Madonna.
It’s not something she has ever been particularly good at either, bottling up her emotions – though she tried for a while. “From a very young age I felt very out of place. I did have a really dark mind and I would notice when I started talking about those things … it would not be the best of moments. So I was like: ‘OK, I probably shouldn’t.’ It’s very different what goes on up here,” she points a tattooed hand to her head, “and what you see out here, and I think my music and making videos, that shows the more intense side of me that I’ve kind of shaved off growing up, because it was never really OK to be that person. But when I’m creative, that’s when I feel fully free to be that.”
In person, that intensity comes only in flashes. “I think when people meet me they’re like: ‘She’s gonna be a fucking mess or just crying or stoned out of her mind’,” she laughs. She is, as far as I can tell, neither of these things. Now more relaxed after venting about this morning’s interview, she sits in a Lady Wood emblazoned onesie, her legs tucked beneath her as she sips an almond coffee (“I’ve gone from six a day to one a day, I think that’s pretty good”). So unguarded is her presence that it’s easy to forget this is a professional encounter. Perhaps that’s why she has found herself hit with some wildly inappropriate questions over the years – that, and the fact that people take her lyrical candour as licence to intrude.
“I remember sometimes thinking, ‘How the fuck did they know that about me?’” she says of interviewers’ tendency to ask invasive questions. “And then it’s like, ‘Oh yeah, because it’s in the fucking song.’” Still, there’s a difference between what she’s willing to sing about, and what she’s willing to divulge in conversation with a stranger. “For me to sit down with someone I’ve never met before and [for them to say], ‘So, pick up daddies at the playground?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, do you want me to tell you about when I was way too young and dated this really old – this dad that I met? It’s not …” She trails off and exhales something between a sigh and a laugh”.
I really love Tove Lo’s music. I think that every interview she gives reveals something new. She comes across as very honest and fun. There is plenty of depth and humour. It is not hard to see why she is so popular and respected! This interview from GQ in 2019 uncovered new layers and revelations from the Swedish treasure:
“Sad bangers are all the rage and no one makes them better than Tove Lo. Once dubbed “the saddest girl in Sweden”, the pop star – whose real name is Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson – became a global name when “Habits”, a still-inescapable 2014 hit about getting high all the time to forget an ex, hit No1 in the US Billboard Top 40. Since, she’s put out banger after banger, each one as raw, unfiltered and autobiographical as the next, all with synth and bass-heavy, ridiculously catchy beats.
Tove Lo’s tracks rack in more than 300 million streams each on Spotify and she’s also had huge success as a songwriter for other artists. In 2015, she was nominated for a Grammy for her work on Ellie Goulding’s “Love Me Like You Do” and has written for the likes of Hilary Duff and Adam Lambert. Lo’s also collaborated with some of the biggest names in the business, from a feature on Coldplay’s “Fun” (requested by Chris Martin personally) to Major Lazer and Wiz Khalifa. She’s far from your average pop princess, however: Lo’s got a grungy, bad-girl image, fuelled by her honesty around drink and drugs, predilection for flashing her chest during shows and deeply personal songs about sex (the title of her 2017 album, Blue Lips, is, she says, a reference to the female version of “blue balls”).
The first time you realised you wanted to be a musician…
“I was 13 and I had a friend who was in this pop group called ‘Play’. They were teenage stars. I wasn’t blown away by the free stuff, the travel, the cool things they got; the moment that I thought, ‘This is the dream’ was when I got to go with her to the studio. They were recording a song and we sat and listened, then I went in and tried the microphone. That’s the moment I remember realising, ‘This is amazing. I want to spend the rest of my life in this room.’”
The first time you made money out of music...
“The memory that sticks out here relates to when I was working as a personal assistant for a vocal coach in Stockholm – she’s a bit mad but a very talented woman and it was amazing to learn from her – while doing cover gigs, back-up singing and sessions on the side. I remember the feeling of quitting that job and realising, ‘Wow, I’m only doing music now – maybe not what I want to be doing, but I can pay my rent and eat.’ I was 22 and it felt incredible.”
The first time you were starstruck…
“It was in Gothenburg when I was eleven and Robyn was sound checking for a show. I didn’t understand that she was sound checking, I just thought it was the show, so I was losing my mind over the fact that there was no one there and no one seemed to care that this was Robyn! I was standing at the front of the fence taking photos and she waved at me, actually acknowledged my presence. It’s a crazy memory now I think of it, because she’s been such an inspiration for me”.
Just before I get to a review of Sunshine Kitty and wrap things up, there is a fabulous interview from NME that warrants investigation. I would encourage people to read the whole thing. I have selected a few choice passages:
“When Tove started writing ‘Sunshine Kitty’s formidable lead single ‘Glad He’s Gone’ in a vodka-fuelled session with Shellback, “it originally started to form as a break-up song and I was like: ‘No, I’m not in that place right now.” Her eyes cartwheel. “I don’t think I can gather any more from that well!” she laughs.
So it ended up as a pep talk aimed at a recently dumped friend which, despite containing lyrics such as ‘Did you go down on his birthday? (Yep) /Did you let him leave a necklace? (Yep)’ boasts a killer chorus so undeniable that even Ann Widdecombe would find herself helplessly humming along.
Tove Lo is a burgeoning gay icon. “I love that there are so many queer artists at the front of pop,” she says. “For me, sexuality is a fluid thing and it’s hard to be just the one way.” She adds with chuckle: “But maybe that’s just because I like both!”
She grew up buffered by relative wealth and privilege (her father founded a financial technology company) in Stockholm, a city that enjoys a relaxed attitude to nudity, weed and sexuality. So ‘coming out’ was never an issue for her. However, she has played places around the world where tolerance is slender, where, she explains, she has been warned, “’You can’t do propaganda for being gay or wear rainbow flags’”.
Kylie’s not the only one smitten. Lorde, who Tove looks up to, was the first person who fangirled over her – telling her of ‘Habits (Stay High)’: “‘’What a chorus! You’ve definitely got a Top 40 on your hands!’”. They eventually co-wrote ‘Homemade Dynamite’, a standout moment from Lorde’s 2017 album ‘Melodrama’.
Courtney Love posted the ‘Habits…’ lyrics in 2015 on Instagram with an invitation to hang out. Despite being a huge fan of Hole and Nirvana, it’s an offer Tove still hasn’t taken up: “Our paths haven’t crossed yet but I’m hoping for it one day!”.
The same year, Taylor Swift invited her to duet ‘Talking Body’ on a date of her blockbusting ‘1989’ World Tour. “It was an unreal moment to hear 56,000 people singing my song back at me with pyrotechnics and Shawn Mendes behind me,” Tove says.
Does she ever feel pressure from people expecting her to be provocative?
“I never feel like I need to ‘top’ my last sexual output,” she laughs. “I just go with the vibe and energy of the song. If you start thinking about what other people are going to think about your creation, it stops being for the real reason that you’re making it.”
“I know it’s pop but I still think of it as my artistic expression and how it’s me working through my shit, whether it’s happy or sad or sexual or angry. So if I start to think ‘Oh I can’t do this, what are people going to say?’, it won’t feel authentic; it will be forced. So it has to come from the heart – or from the body!
“If people are saying ‘Why wasn’t she naked in this video? She was naked in the other one’ – then I think they’re listening to my music for the wrong reasons”.
One of the most fascinating and inspiring modern Pop artists, we are going to see a lot more from Tove Lo in future years. On Sunshine Kitty, she produced some of her finest work. Whilst some were a bit mixed towards the album, there was plenty of positivity. This is what NME wrote in their review:
“It’s been six years since Tove Lo released sad banger ‘Habits (Stay High)’, the hazy, self-destructive break-up bop that soared up the charts, won awards and exposed the Swedish artist to an international audience. The sparse production and brazen lyrics (the song opens, “I eat my dinner in my bathtub, then I go to sex clubs / Watchin’ freaky people gettin’ it on”) were edgy, fresh and exciting.
And these are all things Tove Lo has remained in the years that have followed – just look at the pandemonium caused when she played a tiny NME gig in London last week. Since her emergence as a pop star, she’s released three albums, all stuffed with the slinky, expansive electronic pop tunes bristling with vivacity, and all still full of lyrics you wouldn’t want your nan to hear (on 2017’s ‘Disco Tits’ she whispers, “I’m wet through all my clothes / I’m fully charged, nipples are hard / Ready to go”).
‘Sunshine Kitty’, Tove Lo’s fourth album, follows the suit of its predecessors. It’s another record rooted in the sparkling electro-pop that Lo has become renowned for; the album boast a host of intelligently written and slickly produced songs. The scintillating ‘Really Don’t Like U’, a collaboration with Kylie Minogue, is a reminder that Lo is an expert at crafting glittering tunes filled with fizzing hooks. ‘Glad He’s Gone’, meanwhile, where Lo comforts her pal after they’ve split with a fuck boy, is filled with sun-drenched tropical beats and electronic falsetto vocals.
Midway through, we come to Jax Jones collaboration ‘Jacques’, a slick, house banger that really dazzles, standing out among the shimmering electropop tunes that make up the rest of the record. It breathes a new life into Lo’s already exciting music, with the throbbing bassline and smoky reverb on the vocals, and evokes the excitement ‘Habits (Stay High)’ created when it first dropped.
Tove Lo’s fourth album sees the star largely stick the formula that made her successful in the first place, but that’s no bad thing: it features some of her best work in years as she boldly embraces new sounds and unusual collaborators. Exhilarating and fearless, Tove Lo has ensured she’s stayed relevant with a bold, brash and at often quite brilliant record”.
I wanted to salute and highlight a wonderful young artist who has put out so much incredible music. She is someone to look out for and follow. I have no idea what the rest of 2021 holds in store for Tove Lo. She will be keen to perform live, though many will wonder whether any new material is coming along. It is exciting to see what comes next. She has a rising and committed fanbase. For that reason (and many more), I wanted to spend some time getting to know…
AN amazing artist.