Norwegian pop sensation Sigrid is about to release much anticipated second album
(Picture: Holly Whittaker)When we meet to discuss her highly anticipated second album, Norwegian singer-songwriter Sigrid is — refreshingly — a bit hungover (she was at a party last night with some other celebrities — FKA twigs among them).
We’re having lunch at pan-Asian cafe ULI in Notting Hill and despite the blustery weather she arrives looking impossibly fresh and unruffled. Slipping off her Burberry trench, she suggests ordering crispy duck with pancakes for us to share, “and a huge coffee for myself”. It is hard to predict musicians nowadays. Long gone are the rock’n’roll antics (all-night benders and TVs thrown out of windows) — the generation who’ve grown up in the age of the internet are preternaturally media trained and camera-ready. Happily, the 25-year-old who earned herself a reputation for calling out bad behaviour in the music industry has retained some of the candour she became known for early on — even as her celebrity has gone stratospheric.
“I was told, in a [song-writing] session not too long ago that I should just ‘stick to what I’m good at’,” she confides at one point. Yes, it’s annoying to be underestimated, she shrugs. “Sometimes I think if you’re a woman, and you’re being nice, that gets misinterpreted and people think you’re naïve. I don’t think the person intended to be offensive — but, I feel like I’ve proven myself. I know what I can do. I know what I’m worth.” A total of 1.3 billion streams, one million in album sales, sold out tours, playing Glastonbury — “yes,” she laughs.
We’re meeting to discuss her forthcoming second album — How To Let Go (due in May) and her new single It Gets Dark (an intergalactically themed homage to life’s tougher moments which was promptly designated ‘hottest record in the world right now’ by BBC Radio 1 when it premiered a few days after our lunch). She is, understandably, very excited — more about this record than any which came before. Thanks to the pandemic, it has been two years in the making and if the first single is anything to go by, will explore a new side to Sigrid as an artist.
That she’s still underestimated is a surprising revelation given that Sigrid’s 2017 debut single Don’t Kill My Vibe, was famously written as a clapback to music execs after a recording session in which she found herself being patronised by a roomful of older men (“they were basically telling me to stay quiet, that my references weren’t cool enough,” she says). It was an instant, viral hit — taken up as an anthem for the #MeToo movement, with the line “you think you’re so important to me don’t you”, a trilling, defiant f***-you to every man who’s ever talked-down to a woman.
You’d think those roomfuls of men would be more mindful about how they behave nowadays, though it seems bad experiences do still happen. “For a while I was like, ‘I feel sorry for writers and producers who work with me [after Don’t Kill My Vibe] because I thought ‘they know they have to be nice’. But I guess things take a long time to change.” It is, I venture, a symptom of the fact that despite a powerhouse stage presence, in person she looks younger than her 25 years. “I mean maybe, but it’s shitty. I think about younger artists; imagine you’re 19 years old, you don’t have the same authority as the people you’re writing with. I think there’s a massive responsibility to create safe spaces so people don’t feel overpowered and overwhelmed.” She doesn’t think music has had its #MeToo moment yet. “I think it had a tiny moment,” she says. “But you can always be better.”
There’s a massive responsibility within music to create safe spaces so people don’t feel overpowered and overwhelmed
Despite her forthrightness when it comes to feminism, her energy for much of our conversation is cautious. Many times she starts to answer then reconsiders, taking care to clarify afterwards. She asks as many questions as she’s asked — and at one point explains that nerves get the better of her in interview situations. “Maybe it’s a control thing,” she muses. “I am an overthinker. I like having control. But it’s something I’m working on because it’s not realistic to be in control 100 per cent of the time. Yeah, I think the new music is about that as well, about learning to let go and just live.” Later when we’re discussing why so few female artists appear on festival line-ups she sighs: “It’s often at times like this when I’m thinking like, ‘F***, this is a really important conversation — I wish I had a day to do some research.’ I guess I’m scared of saying the wrong thing.”
After the success of Don’t Kill My Vibe, the plaudits came thick and fast: she won the BBC Music Sound of 2018 and played the Nobel Peace Prize concert, dropped her debut album — 2019’s Sucker Punch, a joyous slice of Scandipop — and played Glastonbury, where she inspired such apoplectic, tearful devotion in one young fan that a picture of the girl crying along to Sigrid’s set went viral (Sigrid sought her out after the festival to thank her for her support).
She racked up 290 travel days in a single year while she was touring Sucker Punch. “I sometimes wonder what would have happened if life hadn’t come to a standstill in 2020,” she says thoughtfully. “I loved touring but it was intense; I was very tired. I would have probably kept going on that same trajectory… but yeah, I was very tired.” She was in LA when the pandemic hit and had just written It Gets Dark. The song offers an interesting insight into her mental state at the time, with a chorus that goes: “I have never ever been this far away from home… I’m travelling at the speed of light… It gets dark.” After spending almost two years in her childhood bedroom (she decamped to her parents’ house in Norway for much of 2020 and 2021), she’s ready to get back on the road for the next album. Probably for the best, as she has a full summer of festivals lined up (she’ll be playing Glastonbury again), followed by a winter tour.
At times like this I think ‘F***, this is a really important conversation — I wish I had a day to do some research.’ I guess I’m scared of saying the wrong thing
Sigrid grew up in the tiny port town of Alesund, Norway, the youngest of three siblings. Her parents still live there — her mother works for the local council and her father is a consultant for large industry. It was an idyllic childhood, her parents always encouraged the siblings in their views and opinions. “Although, I guess I was the shy one around the dinner table, I preferred to listen rather than talk.” She spent lots of time outdoors and her need to be near nature is why she never moved to London. Instead, a few years ago she bought a flat in Oslo (“I love hiking and skiing, so Norway is perfect for me”).
She took up the feminist cause early: aged 12 or 13 she remembers writing to a local newspaper asking them to correct an offensive headline: “It was about a new boat that was being named at the port,” she laughs. “The captain was female and I think the headline was something like, ‘big boat, little woman’. I showed my mum, like, ‘this just isn’t cool’ and she told me to go ahead and write a letter of complaint to the editor.” The newspaper issued an apology.
Clearly protest is something she always felt comfortable with, so she must have admired Neil Young and Joni Mitchell when they decided to take their music off Spotify earlier this year. It was in protest to the alleged anti-vax sentiment’s being parroted by the platform’s biggest podcaster, Joe Rogan. Does she think artists have a responsibility to take that kind of stand? She pauses before answering. “Oh wow, I’m not sure I can… Look, I love the question, at least you’re not asking me what my favourite colour is” (it’s green) “but it’s hard to…” She trails off for a moment.
A few days after meeting Sigrid, a record industry executive tells me that some labels have been coaching their artists on how to avoid the Spotify conversation — the streaming platforms are simply too powerful. Sitting back from the dictaphone with a wry smile, though, Sigrid eventually nods and says quietly: “Yeah, it was bad ass. It’s a cool move, I respect that… but that’s probably all I want to say about that.”
Later she points out that “Neil Young and Joni Mitchell are artists of that calibre. It’s a bit different for new artists. If you’re just starting out, and you’re saying, ‘I’m going to take my music away from the biggest streaming service’… yeah, it’s a bit, I don’t know. But of course I do feel that responsibility — to be the best role model I can be and also to be true to myself and what I believe in.”
The pressure to record a hit is always there
It’s not just the streaming platforms which have changed the way musicians operate. TikTok in particular has given rise to new kinds of artists — ones making music specifically for the low attention span era. “I think with a lot of songs [being made now] you get to the good part really quickly,” says Sigrid. “I guess that’s a sign of the times, though.” The invention of radio changed how songs were made, she points out, and now that formula is changing again. “I think people have started cutting the intro and the outro, going straight to the vocal to make sure that listeners are in it right away. It’s scary. And you do feel a pressure to make a hit.” Still, she’d rather not follow the trend if it means sacrificing quality in her music. “But the pressure is always there.” It’s better to learn to deal with it than to change the music, she points out, though she understands how hard the industry is to crack. “It’s not easy getting your music out there, and there are a lot of great talents on TikTok but not everyone gets discovered, which is a big shame.”
The crispy duck has taken the edge off the hangover — although last night wasn’t a big one, she says. “Just a few drinks, in fact, I was home by midnight.” The beady eye of social media means no one ever really lets loose nowadays. “It is hard to relax, there are cameras everywhere. I mean last night there was a guy with a f***ing Steadicam, it was full on. So [while] it was cool and really fun — of course, it’s not like when you’re just out with friends.”
Either way, she doesn’t think a drunk picture would hurt her image. “I think people have this idea that I don’t drink.” And to be fair she admits that when she was on tour last time she did take it all quite seriously. “This time around I’m going to let loose a bit more,” she says.
