Up & Coming Artists #1: Lykke Li

Lykke Li
Swedish Pop Princess

Lykki Li is most certainly the hottest new female singer in both talent and looks to come out of mainland Europe this year. Daughter of a mother music photographer and musician father, her life has always revolved around everything visually and acoutically facinating about the world. That also coinsides with the surroundings she grew up in; Stockholm, one of Europe's most stunning cities and one of the continents party capitals.

Sweden is the world's 3rd largest exporter of music after the US and UK. It's obviously most famous for Abba, The Cardigans and metal band Arch Enemy back in the day, but in recent years Robyn, The Hives, The Caesars, Basshunter, Placebo and Axwell who is famous for his club remix of Hard-Fi's 'Hard To Beat'. Sweden is a country with a massive music heritage and history and Lykki Li (Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson) is no exception.

Her music is simple and soothing. She feels that overloading tracks with strings and all sorts of instruments and computer-genrated sounds takes away some of the emotion attached with music. She much prefers a simple beat, backing chords and her voice pumping simple but thought out lyrics that will always conjure up strong meaning for anyone who comes across it.

I first come across the scandanavian singer when NME featured her back before christmas 07' in their Radar section under 'everyone's talking about...', so I thought I'd check her out.
The first track I heard was 'Little Bit', which she released a vinyl single and on an EP back in 07'.It's extrodinary minimal pop, every beat and chord has a life of its own and its accompanied by her unique voice. She does sound a little bit like Robyn, but she has a much larger range of voice. I suppose you could call her a bit of a hippy, shes got all the credentials to be a massive star outside of Sweden, but thankfully she certainly no Britney.


Her debut album 'Youth Novels' was released in Sweden on January 30th and it was released in the UK on March 3rd. The record opens with 'Melodies & Desires' an introduction into Li's interpretation and understand of the world around her. Her voice is so piercing and extrodinary, I can't compare it to anyone else; this is simple music, but so very clever at the same time. Her songwriting talent cannot be called into question, and it's really evident during 'Im Good, I'm Gone'; "And if you say I'm not OK/Then that's the goal".

Her real life and soul is to be found in the upbeat 'Let It Fall' and the previously mentioned 'Little Bit'. Shes said on many occasions she doesn't want to be like Robyn and welcomes negative criticism, because in the end it'll make her a stronger person and be able to make better music for her fans.
However, don't let her slow paced music draw you away from her personality, she's a strong woman who wants nothing more than to be a global superstar, famous for her talent and ability to touch people from all walks of life rather than her good looks and famous parents, that seems to be the norm these days. She's also fed up with being compared to Robyn, stating the only things they have in common is their nationality and gender. Speaking to NME's Radar again just last month, she stated she didn't want to just be this girl on stage that danced, she wanted to have the presense of her idols Iggy Pop and Cobain.


For me, she certainly has a lot more talent than Robyn, and a better hair cut for that matter! Although, its sad to say in this day and age of the music industry, but she's not going to touch artists like Madonna, Kate Bush and Courtney Cox if she's moping around on LL Recordings and Moshi Moshi, she needs to break away and sign with a quality Label, possibly Domino, famous for signing the Arctic Monkeys, who are not primarily concerned with controlling an artist, but let them do what they want; so long as they still rake in profit, of course.

If you're looking for an artist who you can listen to practically any time of the day, while getting ready for the town or sitting depressed in bed, then Lykki Li will certainly leave you hanging high.