Tens of thousands of rubber balls bounce in slow motion down a San Francisco street to the sound of The Knife’s track “Heartbeats,” interpreted by Swedish singer-songwriter José González. Sony Bravia’s commercial gave a real boost to González’s record sales. He is just one of Sweden's many success stories.
Go anywhere in the world and sooner or later you will likely encounter Swedish pop music—on the radio, at a nightclub or ... in a TV ad for Sony Bravia. Often, the listeners have no clue that what they are hearing is of Swedish origin.
When foreign music magazines feature the Swedish music scene, they generally focus on the unique melodies and sounds produced by both commercial and independent bands.
In their heyday in the 1970s, ABBA and their recording engineer Michael B. Tretow created an unusual audio picture, which many still imitate. However, Swedish pop music of the 21st century is complex, and often the only thing that the different artists and bands have in common is their native country.
José González. Photo: Luger
According to trade organization Export Music Sweden’s figures for 2005, Swedish music exports received SEK 3.1 billion*, of which royalties accounted for SEK 1.1 billion*.
ABBA set the standard
Swedish pop has maintained a presence on the international music scene since the early 1960s, when The Spotnicks, an instrumental rock group, had their breakthrough and then went on to tour the world for several years.
ABBA’s 1974 triumph at the Eurovision Song Contest in Brighton with “Waterloo” marked the beginning of an incomparable career. Songs such as “Dancing Queen,” “Knowing Me Knowing You” and “The Winner Takes It All” made them one of the greatest pop groups of all time, and its members, Björn Ulvaeus, Anni-Frid Lyngstad, Benny Andersson and Agnetha Fältskog, became international superstars. ABBA is still Sweden’s biggest music export ever, with more than 350 million records sold worldwide. The band’s break-up in 1982 left somewhat of a vacuum on the Swedish pop scene, at least as far as international exports were concerned.
Several years later Swedish music enjoyed an international resurgence. In the 1990s the pop duo Roxette and the hard rock band Europe achieved considerable success, with 75 and 15 million records sold, respectively. In the late 1980s and early 1990s Meja, Pandora, Ace of Base (whose debut album sold 23 million copies), Jennifer Brown, The Cardigans and Army of Lovers were some of the artists who entered the limelight. The dance-pop trio BWO (earlier Bodies Without Organs) is an offshoot of Army of Lovers. Their debut album was first released in Russia, then Sweden, and their fans are primarily Eastern Europeans and Scandinavians.
BWO. Photo: EMI
In 1998 vocalist Emilia became the decade’s one-hit wonder with her song “Big Big World,” which sold 3 million copies. Robyn’s road to success was different. In 1997, at the age of 18, she made waves on the US music scene with “Show Me Love,” and her debut album Robyn Is Here sold 1.5 million copies. Since then she has released several more albums and started her own record company. In the summer of 2007 her new single, “With Every Heartbeat,” catapulted to the number one spot on the UK pop chart.
Robyn. Photo: Fredrik Skogkvist/Family
The pop scene today
In recent years Swedish indie artists have played an important role in the music industry. These include Marit Bergman, winner of several Swedish Grammis Awards (the Swedish equivalent of the US Grammies), Jens Lekman, who tours regularly in Sweden and abroad, and ingenious Annika Norlin, who creates music under the monikers of Säkert! and Hello Saferide. Singersongwriter Anna Ternheim has also won several Swedish Grammis Awards, as has Håkan Hellström, who garners rave reviews for his poetic pop songs and unique personal renditions of classic Swedish melodies.
Other groups that have made it big recently are the politically inclined glam rockers The Ark, the soulful pop/rock favorite Moneybrother (Anders Wendin), and Laleh, who writes, performs and produces her own music. And then there is the unobtrusive Sophie Zelmani, who—despite her media shyness—has enjoyed the adulation of a large, dedicated listening public for more than a decade.
Two new stars that appeared in the pop universe in 2006—2007 were Salem Al Fakir, praised as a musical prodigy, and the expressive indie artist Miss Li (Linda Carlsson), who released three albums in rapid succession in 2006 and 2007, as well as a compilation.
Crossing borders
Because of the explosive growth of Swedish indie music, much of it has made its way beyond the country’s borders, attracting fans from all around the world. A perfect example is Love Is All, currently signed with indie record label What’s Your Rupture? in New York. They debuted in 2006 with the album Nine Times That Same Song. That same year, Peter, Bjorn and John released the song “Young Folks,” which became a global hit. Since then, they have appeared with the American hiphop artist Kanye West, and in the summer of 2007 they performed at numerous music festivals across Europe.
Shout Out Louds have been successful in the United States. Apart from having appeared on the David Letterman and Jay Leno late-night talk shows, the band has also written music for the popular US TV series One Tree Hill. The Concretes are indie pop sweethearts in the United Kingdom, and the band’s former lead singer Victoria Bergsman even signed a contract with a UK record label for a solo project, Taken by Trees.
Shout Out Louds. Photo: Luger
With its dark, innovative electro sound The Knife, with siblings Olof Dreijer and Karin Dreijer Andersson, represents yet another musical milestone. Their second album Silent Shout was voted the number one Album of the Year in 2006 by the staff of the prestigious music website Pitchfork. That same year, the reclusive duo won six Swedish Grammis Awards, but chose not to be present to accept their awards other than through pre-recorded video greetings.
The mellow acoustic cover version of The Knife track “Heartbeats” turned out to be the key to González’s success. It markedly boosted the sales of his debut album Veneer, which sold more than 700,000 copies. In 2007 González followed up this album with In Our Nature, and together with Kylie Minogue he also recorded a duet version of her global hit “Can’t Get You out of My Head.”
Currently the most famous Swedish band internationally may be The Hives. Since the release of their debut album Barely Legal in 1997, they have toured the globe extensively with their explosive, cheeky live shows, only taking breaks to record new albums. The Gothenburg rock band The Soundtrack of Our Lives have toured with Britpop superstars Oasis, and their third album Behind the Music received a lot of attention in the United States. It even garnered a US Grammy nomination. Sahara Hotnights are another band that have aroused a good deal of interest in Europe and are gaining a foothold in the United States, where they continue to aim for more success.
The Hives. Photo: Karl Haglund
Swedish songwriters and producers
Then there are those who contribute their artistic talents behind the scenes. Songwriters and producers have played a vital role in Sweden’s export successes, and since the early 1990s many foreign artists have looked to Sweden for their next big hit; these include big names such as Madonna, Britney Spears, Backstreet Boys, Take That, Jennifer Lopez and Ronan Keating. DJ, producer and songwriter Denniz Pop was the first one these artists turned to. His collaborations with Max Martin resulted in numerous hits, including Britney Spears’s breakthrough track “...Baby One More Time,” which soared to the top of the US pop charts. Other Swedish names that appear in CD liner notes include Anders Bagge, Rami Yacoub, Arnthor Birgisson and Bloodshy & Avant (aka Christian Karlsson and Pontus Winnberg).
In recent years music exports on the whole have slowed due to, among other things, the many new ways to access and spread music. Despite this, the 2006 figures from the Swedish Performing Rights Society (STIM) set a new record for foreign royalties accrued from music written by Swedes: SEK 342 million*.
The key to success
Other countries have found it more challenging to break into the global market with their music. This begs the question: “Why Sweden?” Theories abound.
Some people claim that the subsidized municipal music schools, which give children the opportunity to become proficient at one or several instruments, lay the foundation for a life-long interest in music. Others theorize that an important component is the Swedish inclination to embrace new trends quickly, whether it is in music, fashion or film. Something else that sets Sweden apart from many other countries is that most Swedes speak English fairly well, which also means that a majority of the Swedish artists who succeed abroad sing in English.
Over the last few years increased access to the internet has also played a decisive role; many Swedish musicians have chosen to use this worldwide medium to disseminate their music and become famous. The high school girls who make up Those Dancing Days first attracted a fan base for their dancefriendly tunes on the internet community MySpace. This quickly led to a label contract and performances at music festivals. The rising star Lykke Li also has MySpace to thank for her breakthrough. With new distribution outlets like these, success really can, and does, happen overnight.
The future
Swedish pop will most likely continue to flourish. New talents are clamoring for the limelight, and confidence is high; musicians have seen that it is possible to reach the rest of the world, even if their origins are in a little country like Sweden. Many artists even realize that it is necessary to leave Sweden to be able to support themselves with their music—their Swedish audiences are simply not big enough.
However, most are also aware that they do not have to achieve ABBA’s formidable sales figures to enjoy a satisfying career. Everything seems to indicate that we will continue to see new Swedish musical talents on the global charts
in the future.
Links
Export Music Sweden
www.exms.se
The Swedish Performing Rights Society (Svenska Tonsättares Internationella Musikbyrå)
www.stim.se
Swedesplease—blog about Swedish music
www.swedesplease.net
It’s a Trap—blog about Swedish music
www.itsatrap.com
Hello! Surprise!—blog about Swedish music
www.hellosurprise.com
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* 1 SEK (Swedish Krona) = 0.10 EUR or 0.16 USD (February 2008)
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