Before her sixth album, Tove Lo realised that she should have more answers, which made her completely shut down.
"I had the feeling that I should be in a certain place, as a woman of this age. That I should have a plan and be orderly - everything that I am not," she says, laughing.
But during a month of writing in Sweden, the lockdown was loosened and her contradictory sides were allowed to emerge in her songwriting. Maybe also the messy side?
Yes, that's what I struggled with, because I'm not writing about a new person.
Sets the rules
Tove Lo has always sung openly about sex, and so has her new album. But the public's reaction has shifted. At first, people often said, "Does she have to keep going?"
Now I think there is greater acceptance of women's sexuality, says Tove Lo, but she thinks it is also "starting to go backwards again."
Some - often men - ask if it's not time to stop singing about sex.
So you'd rather hear a young girl do it because you find it attractive? As a grown woman, I feel confident in my body and my sexuality - should I stop singing about it then?
She highlights the power of women, with lines like “source of life between my thighs.” Tove Lo also points out that pop is no longer a young genre, and that artists like Robyn, Lykke Li and herself allow music to evolve with their own lives.
We're setting the rules a little more now.
Bucket list
The album's title, "ruin," sums up the dilemma when the body says "procreate" but the mind says no. Tove Lo has been happy with her husband Charlie for nine years, in a "pink house in the mountains" in Los Angeles, where they DJ and party together.
But the thoughts about children are there.
It's because of Charlie. Poor guy, I'm throwing him around left and right, just: "Now I feel like this!" But we'll see how it goes, I still don't have any answers.
She doesn't sing about running away anymore, songs like "I'm your girl, right" are instead about the particular vulnerability of staying in a relationship and needing someone.
The song has both the animalistic, dominant, physical in the verses, then it's "I just want you to love me."
Soon, Tove Lo will have her biggest Swedish gig ever, at Avicii Arena, where she worked in the wardrobe after school in high school. She got to see concerts for free - and that's where her artist dreams really took off.
She thinks that taking the stage there "feels crazy."
It's a real bucket list.
Facts: Tove Lo
Name: Tove "Tove Lo" Nilsson.
Lives: In Los Angeles.
Background: Released her debut single "Love ballad" in 2012 and the following year her breakthrough single "Habits". Since then she has released the albums "Queen of the clouds", "Lady wood", "Blue lips", "Sunshine kitty" and "Dirt femme".
Toured with Katy Perry in 2014. Debuted as an actor in Erik Poppe's "Utvandrarna" in 2021.
Current: With the album "Estrus" and a tour.
... the collaboration with Stromae, in “Des fleurs”:
"It was absolutely wonderful. He's a legend in my eyes. Unfortunately, we weren't in the studio together, but I wonder if it was better, because I would have been too nervous. I first met him when we were making the music video in Paris. It was an unexpected collaboration so it felt fun. I've been trying to work with him for ten years."
... to make a living from touring:
"If you're not just doing sold-out stadium or arena gigs all over the world, it's difficult. The costs are very high when you have a band and production. I think live music is the best there is and I think you should be able to tour at my level and deliver a show you're proud of without going backwards."
