Jenny Wilson on the cover of Hardships! and live in Paris. Photo, right: Julien Bourgeois

“This album is more hard-core, perhaps because I’ve got children,” Wilson says. “I really needed to build my own universe to get back into creating music again. Everything changes when you become a mother, and I want to change music- and creativity-wise as well.” (Excerpts from an interview with Swedish music blog PSL.)

Hardships! was released in 2009. It was a much longed for follow-up of her acclaimed first album, Love and Youth from 2005, which brought quirky beats, sweet melodies and witty lyrics. After her debut, she stepped aside from the music scene for a few years to direct her focus on giving birth and raising two children.

Mama Wilson

Wilson is a powerful feminist; she celebrates her new motherhood through her poetic, powerful R&B-infused pop songs. The soft-spoken vocals along with intelligent lyrics and creative compositions make Wilson one of the most interesting acts on the Swedish indie scene. In Sweden, we like to call her indie queen.

And with her latest album, Wilson clearly demonstrates her royal status by singing about life, love and lust in the role of a majestic mother. The subject of being a mother is not too often discussed in music lyrics, so it was important for Wilson to embody her moments in motherhood through her music. 

Becoming a mother had a profound impact on Jenny Wilson's life. Photo: Julien Bourgeois 

“I think it’s quite hard to write about being a mother, because many women think that they have to be so perfect,” she tells the New York Times online guide About.com. “But I don’t want to talk about how I act when I’m a mother, or how I think you should act when you’re a mother, that’s not my point. I was just trying to write stories about motherhood as this grand topic of study.”

Rave reviews

The constant return to motherhood in her music adds an interesting angle to her music, being part of a male-dominated music world. She has admitted that she was quite nervous about how the lyrics would be received. But after the release she had every reason to be surprised.

“In Scandinavia, I got so many amazing reviews, mostly from men, which is so surprising,” she says to About.com. “They really seemed to have understood it totally. I’m almost confused how it could turn out so well; how people could just know why motherhood and war should go together as themes. I’m confused, but very, very happy.”

Jenny Wilson looks like a diva, sings like a queen and warms every audience.

Digging through old diaries

Born in Sweden in 1975, Jenny Wilson first came to the attention of music fans as a member of the group First Floor Power. The indie pop band was founded in 1997 and released their first single one year later.  First Floor was described as a creative constellation of art students and music nerds. The band members are Sara Wilson (Jenny Wilson’s sister) Karl-Jonas Winqvist and Per Lager.

After a few years, Jenny Wilson quit the band to focus on her own musical career. And in 2005, Love and Youth took the Swedish indie scene by storm.

“With Love and Youth I was inspired by my old school days. I searched through old year books and diaries to find that juvenile spirit that I wanted to achieve,” Wilson says to PSL.

Down-to-earth diva

On stage Wilson is a pretty pleasure for sore eyes. Through the years, fans in Sweden, the United States, France, the United Kingdom, Australia and other places around the globe has witnessed the flamboyant outfits she graciously wears: red silk capes, turquoises satin draped dresses, gold hats and bright red lips — it’s a luminescent live show courtesy of Wilson.

But she always manages to retain a sophisticated approach to her music. In a non-diva-esque manner Wilson invites the audience to an intimate and engaging setting, her warm personality reaches everyone from the orchestra seat to the balcony. Leaving the audience touched by the royal glow of a remarkable pop queen.

In January 2010 Wilson put together a concert together with Tensta Gospel Choir, an arrangement that clearly expressed Wilson’s stage charisma. (Tensta Gospel Choir also sing with Wilson in "Like A Fading Rainbow," in the video on the right.) March 27, 2010, she takes the stage in Paris, as part of the French indie pop festival Les Femmes S’en Mêlent — to touch some more French pop souls.

Lydia Kellam

Swedish/American Lydia Kellam is currently living in New York City, where she runs The Swede Beat Magazine, an online magazine dedicated to the creative kings and queens of Sweden’s contemporary culture scene.

The author alone is responsible for the opinions expressed in this article.