I love Sweden. The people are friendly. The country as a whole understands that socialized medical care is deserving of acceptance, not vitriol. The days are 22 hours long in the summer. The countryside is beautiful. Many are easy on the eyes and most speak English (note: I’m not xenophobic about learning languages, just practical… 10 million people speak Swedish, compared to some 400 million, 490 million, 900 million and 1.2 billion for Spanish, Hindi/Urdu, English and Mandarin respectively. For most foreigners, there’s little sense in learning Swedish, good on the Swedes for recognizing as much). Stockholm is a wonderful city, a rich mix of the charms of old Europe and the modernity we all associate with Scandinavia. If it weren’t so dark in winter, I’d move there. Even the currency — a singular krona, multiple kronor — has a cool name.
And the music? Oh, the music. Who can say what it is about living in Sweden that has captured the imagination of musicians? The raw number of fantastic artists coming from Sweden in recent years is staggering, even more so when considering that the country’s population is roughly equivalent to that of North Carolina.
The Knife, Fever Ray, Peter Bjorn and John, Adam Tensta, Lykke Li, Air France, Jens Lekman, The Tallest Man on Earth, The Radio Dept., The Sound of Arrows, the Swedish House Mafia (Axwell, Steve Angello and Sebastian Ingrosso), Eric Prydz, Shout Out Louds, The Mary Onettes, Teddybears, The Tough Alliance, The Hives, Basshunter, Agnes and Rosanna are all from Swedish and have come up through the ranks in the last decade or so. And it’s not just the sheer number of artists, it’s the quality of what’s being produced and the new directions they’re taking pop music.
As you’ve surely noticed, the first-lady of Swedish pop was omitted from the previous paragraph. No, I’m not referring to any of ABBA’s members, nor Nina Persson of The Cardigans… it’s Robyn who was conspicuously absent. This past weekend, at a ceremony to award Björk the Polar Music Prize for career musical achievement, Robyn covered Björk’s massive hit “Hyperballad” with the backing of a full orchestra, to splendid results.
The video came out yesterday, which was also my birthday, so I’d like to send a personal thanks to Robyn and the Polar Music Prize ceremony people for planning what they did, when they did. It was the proverbial cherry on top.
(Two funny things about this video: Björk did not appear impressed — though, I suppose it’d be weird to hear someone cover a song I wrote 15 years ago and probably have lost some of my connection to — and Robyn’s ear armor.)
