Tove Styrke 'Kiddo'

Anybody feeling the 'Kiddo' album?
Definitely album of the year for me so far, but doesn't seem like people are really picking up on it.

Killer melody after killer melody... a bit of a new-pop playground chant + admiration for novelty (bits of Betty Boo in the attitude, right-side-of-novelty vibe too)... not overly fussy or craft-y... some 'smash the patriarchy' lyrics (at times in an awkwardly winning English-as-second language vibe)... hell, the record is so good, I don't even mind her lapsing into a Jamaican patois on "Borderline", and that's usually punishable by hanging (at least).

She also gives good quote:
"Styrke explains (the song) is... “a shocking pink f-ck-you to all the people who think their penis bands are automatically more talented than one twenty-something girl on stage"
BRAVO.

Anyway, just found out about the record when Spotify was all like "oh. you listened to Tove Lo. here, have another Tove", and have been listening obsessively for two weeks now. Three quarters of the record is 8/10 level stuff... and there's only one track I skip by. It's a wonderful thing (, baby).

Solid Gold Pop Songs: Snaren, Ego, Borderline, Number One, Even If I'm Loud It Doesn't Mean I'm Talking to You, Decay, Walking a Line, and (the rather good Spotify bonus track) Working Song

Anybody seen her live?
Tried to dip into the first record, but ended up back at 'Kiddo' in a flash. Should I give it more time?

I have a preference for her first album at the moment, though that might just be familiarity. They are both terrific.

I've seen her live a couple of times and she is very good. They have only been low-key, stripped down gigs with a couple of dozen people in the audience - I'd assume a proper tour would be more expansive.

I nearly started a thread on this album myself. It's sometimes strange album: it's so obviously filled with melodic hooks and strong choruses, but it's got so many odd production choices - an acid line here, a bit of dub and reggae there. "Brag" is my favourite because it's got so much bravado for something that sounds so slight, but there's only one song that isn't stuck on repeat in my head.

Gave a shout out to this on the rolling best of 2015 thread. UK tour dates just announced!

I wish acts would include Scotland in UK tours. Same as the just - announced Suzanne Sundfør shows.

@Boxedjoy
Spot on. So many bizarre little touches. There are all of these typically unsubtle flavors like... acid squelches, Fun Boy Three playground melodies, primary color Betty Boo pop house moments (the instrumental bit after the first chorus of 'Snaren' with the organ and gunshots)... but they're all integrated into the overall vibe in a pretty subtle manner. The personality of the album is powerful enough to not be thrown off balance by the plentiful novelty.

The only track I'm NOT playing multiple times/day is "Who's Got News".

That's the same one I'm cold on. It sounds like what critics of Lykke Li hear that I'm relieved not to.

the individual sections of Number One are all pretty nice but it feels like it stays in chorus-mode for the whole song which feels pretty strange

I think that glistening synth in the background is part of the reason it feels that way, but mostly the fact the song is actually three choruses held together. If it wasn't for the idiosyncratic delivery and lyrics (I can practically see the <3 written on the notepad after "Britney Spears, she's fierce!" couplet) it would be such an obvious attempt at a break-out hit.

I realised today that the album reminds me of the MØ album from last year a lot, but taken a step up.

There's a lot of this album that's really fun to sing along to because the melodies are so strong, but it's actually hard to hit those notes - not because she's a strong voice but because she's got a massive range and works in different registers and makes it sound so effortless. I love the pre-chorus to "Ego" where she just soars upwards over the drums, it is timeless pop songwriting executed perfectly.

This is now my favourite album of the year so far.

yeah more people need to be listening to this record

Check out her cover of "...Baby One More Time" also.

Easily my fave of the year. Compulsive x 1000.

after a month of listening to nothing but Emotion this was an interesting shift. i've been a huge fan ever since the jukebox covered her years ago and it would've been an interesting shift anyway

i'm split on the massive and unexpected reggae injection, which is usually rmde territory, but the best thing about this album is how it smashes together these minor key and major key melodies. this whole album is really just a lot of unexpected smashing-togethers. Emotion is a really really great album with virtually no surprises; Kiddo i probably like less but it sounds positively experimental in comparison

there's some songs i'll probably never not skip (the three between ego and #1 tbh) but i've already ended up in endless repeat loops of ego and brag (and "Loud" like a year ago). very annoyed working song is spotify-exclusive, i want it on a cd not my dumb radio/phone connector

i just realized that Tove Stryke's "Even If I'm Loud It Doesn't Mean I'm Talking To You" is a 2015 revision of Tony Basil's "Mickey" in tempo, attitude and subject matter and I really really like it.

this is still fantastic, could listen to Ego forever

Haven't been many songs better than "Ego" this year that's for sure (maybe only one in my books). so perfectly, beautifully constructed; the firework sound effects at the end are an appropriate victory lap

As far as any kind of rankings go, this is my fourth favorite song of the year.

it's certainly top five for me at the very least, I love how effortlessly it flows, her voice in the chorus, the way the synths build at the end, everything

Yeah, Ego is in my top five songs of the year too. The whole album is great but that's the one I keep going back to.

I still listen to this like it just came out. Def all-time for me.

Trying to not have unrealistic expectations for the next record, whenever that comes!

wondering what she's up to led us to this from earlier this year:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkziIXxfMrg&feature=youtu.be

'miner's getting excited!
https://twitter.com/tovestyrke?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

Looking forward to this. I'm hoping that means a new album is coming soon. Both of her albums are so good.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mqRGB_1dULY

yes

Excellent.

my infatuation for this new single has made me revisit Kiddo and I think it's important to reassert that it is in fact the greatest pop album in many years

Acoustic version of #SayMyName produced by Björn Yttling is out now! 🍒🐻 https://t.co/F99XcFH6wm pic.twitter.com/O5nHNZc2pX

— Tove Styrke (@tovestyrke) June 16, 2017

i really really like "Mistakes", looking forward to whenever the album is out

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQDzUhHpJ6s

I read somewhere that she was done with albums for a bit and was just planning to release singles, "the way we listen to pop has changed" or something?

Anyway this is great in a weird way and I love how she manages to bring such personality to her songs through her style of singing, those "highs and lows" are so charismatically fun

'Kiddo' absolutely was the best pop record of the last however many years!
Was totally bummed she cancelled the NY show this month. :/

"Say My Name" was good, but this is a bit more like it.

xp This snippet seems to hint otherwise:

Mistakes is the second single from a new album she’s just cancelled a US tour with Bleachers to finish.

Great new track, and yes an album is coming.

very thankful for this update!

Lorde cover

https://youtu.be/eQTcXGk9BRk

another single: https://open.spotify.com/album/0OS6qPZSasimaoQwhAOKYL

This is a good, catchy song, but she sounds less and less distinctive with each new track.

Album is currently called 'Sway' and scheduled for early May:
https://www.scandipop.co.uk/song-tove-styrke-changed-mind/

yeah this is definitely the weakest of the singles so far. looking forward to the album, i still especially love Mistakes

I'm not going to start an ALMA thread (yet) and will just stick this here.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nZ7shdhEaHI

if anyone knows which rolling thread is for Nordic pop, things in the Charli XCX orbit, etc., it should go there too. maybe that's just the pop at this point.

She's touring with Lorde atm

not convinced by "Good Vibes", it feels particularly unambitious

Phew. "On the Low" is a proper return to form:
https://open.spotify.com/track/6MHzzzJkZlAPKaHdpq4EKK?si=nYsbZLtnR0S_ppOKHvL47A

also: we have album cover art
https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DaF2-_jV4AA7uWy.jpg

nice cover

really love this one, maybe the best from this album yet. i heard a live recording of this last year and have been eagerly awaiting the studio version ever since and it does not disappoint at all

ready to release this lil beast of an album 🥤🌹 #yayforSWAY #MayTheFourthBeWithYou pic.twitter.com/aojs4fO6mz

— Tove Styrke (@tovestyrke) April 20, 2018

album tracklist:

Sway
Say My Name
On the Low
Mistakes
Changed My Mind
I Lied
On a Level
Liability (Demo)

pretty disappointing that it's so short (26 minutes) and over half of it has been released already

it's quite baffling, and especially given that she cancelled a tour last year citing a need to complete the album as the reason

Much as I want this to be amazing, that doesn't seem a terrifically exciting tracklist.

How the hell do you follow Kiddo though? What a one-off burst of idiosyncratic joy that one is (except for track six, which i still never play).
Maybe Kiddo was so good it spooked her?

Feel like "Aftergold" beats most of these too.

On the "Low" and "Mistakes" are pretty cool though. Maybe this will be way better than I'm thinking? God, I hope so.

I don't see any reason to expect it'll be anything less than very good judging by the released tracks but I do have to wonder what's going on, did the label just insist she had to release what she had or something?

the remaining two tracks are very good as well

^Yep. I've done a 180 on "Changed My Mind" too.

Great (mini) album.

This sounds way better as an album than I was thinking it would.

This is a great EP. I wish there was more of it, the slinky minimalism suits her voice.

This is really good

production on this is great. best played loud. my favorite pop thing so far this year.

Can’t say I’m crazy about mistakes but otherwise solid

Really? That's the only song from this I'd keep.

Mistakes is my favourite song on here by some distance. Sway is a decent mini album overall, but after the way she brilliantly played with different genres on Kiddo (one of the best albums of the last few years), this all seems too safe. It feels like a backwards step. I don't think this is even as good as her debut which only hinted at how great she would become on Kiddo. I was really expecting something more from her. Hopefully it'll grow on me when the initial disappointment wears off.

this all seems too safe. It feels like a backwards step.

There's no daylight between this collection of songs and Dua Lipa or a dozen other people. Which is okay, but...just overkill.

these songs are way better than the Dua Lipa album!

it's a little safer/more on trend than Kiddo but I think it's a bit more consistent overall even if it doesn't quite reach the height of Ego. the only disappointment for me is the length

I've always felt that Styrke's melodies are a lot more intuitive than most. Like, "New Rules" is a great pop song but it doesn't feel as effortless as some of Styrke's best moments. Sway has some of the weirdest production I've heard in pop music in a long time but it doesn't feel integral to the songwriting or performance, its more like decoration.

this is a lot of fun to dance to when youre drunk btw

Let’s try

I think the problem I have with the liability cover is the kalimba has no sustain to it so it can't provide enough backing to the vocals, making it feel weird and empty

the liability cover is conveniently the last track so more often than not I abandon it

https://www.popdust.com/woman-crush-wednesday-tove-styrke-2564643785.html

What's coming up next for you?

I'm gonna go on tour with Katy Perry in Europe which I'm looking forward to like crazy. And then I'm gonna release more music! I've got some really good songs I'm super-eager for people to hear.

if we get another mini-album this year or something that'd be great

On a level rules

After the srsly otherworldly experience at The Borderline in London 2 weeks ago 👼🏼 it feels like such a rush to announce that I’ll be back w my very first UK headline tour: 🌹Sway UK Tour🌹 Can’t WAIT to SWAY with you guys 💕💕💕 Tickets on sale Friday June 29th. pic.twitter.com/vQnV06XX2K

— Tove Styrke (@tovestyrke) June 26, 2018

"UK tour", Scotland shafted yet again I see

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glwNAQMBRTY

Is this the most underrated pop album of the year? Every song in here has catchy, charming moments and fun production choices.

It’s better than the last Lorde album and the Dua Lipa one but maybe those have stronger singles or better marketing?, either way she deserves more hype.

she seems to be in a weird position where she's on a major label but has very little resources dedicated to her and also has never managed to catch much indie buzz either in the way that Charli and Sky etc have

certainly very underrated

Also she’s a much better live performer than those two. Every Dua Lipa performance I’ve heard is usually off-key or playback and Lorde is ok if a bit awkward live (which suits her) but has nowhere near the vocal range that Tove does.

https://youtu.be/d1PeZ8mJ09U

https://youtu.be/234LUxm1vYs

Charli XCX was also releasing very underrated, brilliant singles, what got people looking her way was her collaborations with Iggy Azalea and Icona Pop which were huge hits and Boom Clap for a teen movie soundtrack.

I feel like she didn’t quite take advantage of that fame though and she has reverted to indie stardom when she was already on mainstream level.

Agree with you Moka other than the record being better than lorde’s last one. Top 10 easy for 2018 tho

I love this album ("album") but I don't think it's anywhere near the heights climbed on Kiddo

probably the best EP this year easily

New Song!

NEW SONG ”VIBE” OUT OCT 19TH 🌊 pre-save it plz ❤️ https://t.co/tQNVdnt0Xm pic.twitter.com/Ms0v9q8L0R

— Tove Styrke [tuva stierka] (@tovestyrke) October 12, 2018

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CMXi0fqi-lw

Pretty good. I like the way it abruptly stops near the beginning. Incidentally, this has been slotted in as a new track 7 on Sway - can we call that an album now?

I had no idea that's how her name was pronounced:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FNg5_2UUCNU

New song with Ritual

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uG4BkxvcF2g

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BKVsvcF0QL8

There's a little bit of English scattered about this song, but this seems like she might have given up on trying to break outside of Sweden.

^^ I wouldn't be so concerned - this is a cover of a song from 1987, recorded for a Swedish TV program called "Så mycket bättre", the premise of which is (according to Wikipedia) "that each artist attempts to do their own version of another artist's well-known songs, with each person getting an episode featuring all of their songs being performed by the other musicians".

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cMRiFt9p-hY

Ah ok

She posted a a message to her socials basically saying that she's aware this might alienate her English-speaking fans but it won't be forever

I became aware of Så mycket bättre through this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X4c2xI4WGVE

(Petra Marklund, when she was still September, doing a pop cover of a Swedish rap classic. Warning Tove Styrke fans: not long after she would trade in English for Swedish as her main performing language)

I'm just always on edge about it because artists I liked that tried to break in the UK and US in the 00s have often just resorted to singing in their native Swedish/Danish/Norwegian after it didn't go, and that's if they're still releasing work at all.

New song!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a8-X0tAhO-Q

with all the goodwill I have towards her I'm really disappointed by this - it feels like a sketch that nobody could figure out how to write a bridge for so they just abandoned it, I was surprised that it finished so quickly. And there's none of the muscle that she brought to previous stuff, she sounds unconvincing as a "bad bitch" which is alarming when she's such a charismatic presence on Kiddo and Sway.

yeah absolutely, doesn't bode well at all unfortunately

Quite enjoying the new (very short) album

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M__gkNlczHw

Relistening Kiddo and Sway this morning. She had so much potential. Ego alone should’ve been a worldwide chart hit.

I think in retrospective the artist she reminds me the most of in path and style is Mø, but Tove never had her “lean on” moment.

Feel like her potential actually WAS achieved on those records. They're really great!

Sure, nobody gave a fuck... and, sure, she kinda started ironing off idiosyncrasies by the end of the Kiddo campaign with things like the Brit cover (though Sway was still a great record even though it was seemingly purpose built for providing only the most efficient pop possible). The last record has bits that I enjoy, but also a bunch of faceless/tasteless whatever. I feel like she went so far down the road of paring everything down that what she/we was/were left with was ultimately quite hollow.

Feel like she has more great music in her though.

You’re right. The potential of her music was achieved. The frustrating part is the missed chart potential. With a more savvy team behind her she could have been at a higher level of recognition.

Agreed!
I have on idea why those records didn't connect.
Kiddo in particular got played more than just about anything in this house!

Saw her at a small club on the Sway tour - was a helluva show - what a set list:
https://www.setlist.fm/setlist/tove-styrke/2018/the-red-room-at-cafe-939-boston-ma-3be96070.html

*NO idea