Totally Stockholm 1
C: And I think that really had an impact on us. W
e were both heavily pregnant towards the end of making the new album, and that’s when the hardest songs came about. We had been sober for so long, and there were no parties. We were about to become mothers. There was so much happening. A: We really made the hardest songs during the calmest periods. And during this change process we sat down and talked about what had been, what is, and where we want to go. C: All the difficult conversations that you never really have the time to have. Like, one of us saying ‘do you remember this thing that happened in 2019? I have been carrying that around’, and the other saying ‘huh, I don’t remember that’. A lot of conversations like that. I think the music sounds more grown up now. Is that because you are too? C: It’s funny you say that. Yes, I can guarantee we are. A: When you become a parent, I feel you don’t have any more time for bullshit, and that’s how we began taking better decisions. C: It got better for the whole team because we became a lot clearer. A: But I’m happy that you say it sounds more grown up. Like we have become grown-ups. Even if it’s hard to believe - I had to show my ID when buying snus the other day. It took you ten years to make a follow up to the last album. Was it a given that you were going to make another record? C: Absolutely, and we almost had a full album ready when the pandemic hit. A couple of those songs were remade and used for this album, but some others will have to wait. A: We have already began working on the next. C: It will come out next year. A lot of people, who have just made an album, are usually a bit tired of it all. C: Yes, but it feels like we’re in a good place. A: I think you and I are in sync in a way we haven’t been before. C: There are times in life when you almost re-make a decision about what it is you want to do. When something happens, and you stand there at a crossroads. It felt like we after this period really chose Icona Pop again, 100 percent. Even if we never stopped. A: And I didn’t know if it would feel like that again, after having a child. We spoke about that too, that we perhaps had different feelings about this. But my god, I love this. And it’s so cool that we get to do this. But let’s talk about Club Romantech. A: Yes! Club Romantech became our sweet escape. C: Our type of club, our type of room. We wanted to invite the fans into our world. A: And then our live set changed too, because it didn’t fit that well with the music we were making. We had to change everything. C: Which was so much fun, but I’ve never been as nervous as I was ahead of the show at Lollapalooza this year. Not just because it was at home here in Stockholm, but because there was so much to think of. A: We have no band now, and have to do everything ourselves, and have to remember to turn some things down and communicate. Did you need this challenge of doing it all yourself live, rather than ‘only’ singing and dancing? C: I actually believe that. Before, I felt a bit bored on stage at times. I love fronting a band, but sometimes I can have periods when I’m a bit shy. Especially if Aino is doing a part by herself, and I don’t really have anything to do. A: I also think it’s nice that there doesn’t have to be so much focus on us and that it becomes more like a party. C: And we have retaken control over our live sets this way. It’s great to do big tours as a support act, but there is a risk that you adjust to those conditions. The last time I interviewed Icona Pop, in 2016, they were living in Los Angeles and had just been touring 11 with Katy Perry and One Direction. A couple of days before the interview, they had performed on the Late Show with David Letterman. But Icona Pop started out back in 2009, when they wrote enough material over four weeks for their debut gig. Two years later, they released their debut single Manners, and about a year after that, something happened that would change their career forever. Out of all your songs, there’s this one that that stands out. What is your relationship with monster hit I Love It today? A: It’s incredible. People told us when we released it, that we’d hate it in ten years’ time, but now at shows I see kids in the audience, who had barely been born when it came out, who know the song. C: While their moms and dads, who thought we were cool back then, stand beside them. This summer Icona Pop have worked their way through many of the larger festivals in Scandinavia, like Lollapalooza and Malmöfestivalen. Then they headed to the US and Mexico, Before having two weeks off. Are you taking a break from each other too? A: No, we’ll most probably meet up in the park with a cup of coffee. C: I don’t feel any need to get away from Aino, which might sound weird. But away from work, yes. Just enough to start to miss it again. Club Romantech is out now.