(via Shutterstock)
I have loved Scandinavian everything.
Perhaps it’s because there’s likely Swedish blood flowing in these veins from away back or perhaps it’s all that ABBA I listened to in the ’70s or the Agaton Sax books I devoured from my local library (I still can’t work out how a small library in a country town had the whole set but I am so glad they did)?
Whatever caused this grand and unceasing love affair, I am very happy it is there because so many good things come from that part of northern Europe including these five (six if you count the collaborator on one) singers who have created and recorded songs that mirror that great Scandinavian gift for beautifully juxtaposing the good and the bad, the light and the dark in one perfect pop nugget.
This lusciously real and emotionally honest combo gives us songs that tickle the tears and feed the mind and the heart and honestly who can ask for more from their music?
“Sunshine Trippin'” by Violet Days
(courtesy official Violet Days Facebook page)
Raised singing Swedish folk songs in a small countryside village, Lina Hansson have turned this familial musical heritage into an electronic pop career under the name Violet Days.
While she made it onto the public radar with 2016 hit, “Your Girl”, it’s her latest song, “Sunshine Trippin'” which is attracting all kinds of attention and a ton of repeat listens.
A song with music as vibrantly upbeat as its title, it’s all feel-good vibes and calls to hit the road and see where it takes you; there’s a sense of vivacious escapism to the track that makes you feel like are walking on the very sunshine that is inspiring Violet Days to let her inner nomad do its thing.
It’s danceable existential thoughtfulness, a brilliant combo of the upbeat and the meditative that absolutely works and has you incredibly eager to see where life might take you next, all soundtracked by this infectiously wonderful piece of pop perfection that should fuel you well and truly for the duration.
“Cold Turkey” by Nea
(courtesy official Nea Facebook page)
Swedish artist Nea aka Anna Linnea Södahl has spent a considerable amount of time penning songs for a host of artists such as Zara Larsson, Tove Styrke, and Tinie Tempah to name just three.
But she’s clearly kept a real gem for herself with “Cold Turkey” which sports a super bouncy retro girlband sheen that contrasts rather nicely with some really obsessive dark lyrics which turn romance into something less Hallmark and more Pet Sematary.
Of course, with all the gorgeous effervescent pop bubbling to the highly listenable surface, you’d never suspect the singer of anything approaching murderous thoughts but clearly she really likes the object of her affection and doesn’t want to leave her.
She really, REALLY doesn’t want them to leave her.
Whatever her lyrical intent, the song is an absolute banger of a song and as Scandipop rightly observes, ” the spiritual successor to the superb ‘A Lover Like Me'” which begs you to never leave it along unplayed and unloved.
You have been warned …
“Childhood Dreams” by Grandi
(courtesy official Grandi Instagram)
Still in Sweden not surprisingly, it’s time for use to realise our “Childhood Dreams”, whatever they might be, courtesy of songwriter-producer duo Elsa Levahn and Stella Ringdahl.
The talented twosome have come a long way since 2021 when they were signed to artist Laleh’s own label PALANG and received some great mentoring from one of the biggest artists currently at work in Sweden.
The result of all that hard work is what the duo term “pop with a dance-electronic sound that turns everyday boredom into party mode in a heartbeat” and it’s on gloriously good display in “Childhood Dreams” which is all gushy enthusiasm that all but demands you dance and bop along to it with fervent excitement.
Given how hard being a grown-up can be, it’s no surprise they’re excited about living out their childhood dreams, and you should be too with the song, all skittering upbeat melody and frantic joyousness the kind of song that can only elevate your day.
“Intensjoner” by Jonathan Floyd
(courtesy official Jonathan Floyd Instagram)
Stepping over into Norway with “Intenjonner (Intentions)’, Jonathan Floyd serves up what Scandipop term “dark and dramatic electropop, elevated by a melody penned with the kind of melancholia that renders it borderline unsettling”.
It may be a song about the artist dealing with a very messy break-up which sees the ex making life more than a little difficult for him but it sounds like some sort of euphoric slice of declarative pop heaven.
It’s that dichotomy between the dark and the light that makes listening to Scandinavian pop such a hugely rewarding experience and it’s on full display here with the upbeat music melding seamlessly into lyrics which dive frantically into the more twisted side of love.
Or, at least, its twisted aftermath which may not be pretty emotionally but which makes for a damn good, highly listenable pop song.
“Let’s Get It” by KIDDO x Rxseboy
(courtesy official KIDDO Facebook page)
Collaboration often results in some pretty catchy pop, bringing the best of the artists involved together in one hugely intoxicating mix.
Case very much in point is “Let’s Get It” by singer-songwriter-rapper KIDDO who’s given musical voice to people like Dagny and Icona Pop and has been making music under her own name since 2018.
For her latest catchy slice of beat heavy pop, she’s joined forces with Rxseboy aka Anthony Tubbs, an American who is a “lo-fi rapper with an earnest and conversational approach” and who brings a deliciously low key but imapctful edge to this romping piece of jaunty pop.
“Let’s Get It” has a fantastic retro vibe percolating through it with Scandipop declaring that “takes us back to … early ’90s house hits!”, adding that the “compulsion to bop is high here, and it’s best all round if you just give in to it.”
You heard them … let your feet move and let this infectious piece of rambunctiously bouncy pop take you somewhere very cool …
SONGS, SONGS AND MORE SONGS EXTRA!
Honestly, I cannot conceive of a song as catchy as “Padam Padam” by Kylie Minogue which has spent months keep our earworms well and truly occupied, and happily so, but the songwriters who feed the Australian artist her songs clearly do because here is “Tension” which is such a piece of glittery dancefloor fabulousness that you can’t help but move your feet and yes, get a little lusty into the bargain …