Lucky Lo: Swedish pop music with a twist

Miriam: Today, I'd love to dive a little deeper into the body of work, into the album, not specifically into one song. To start with, I feel like you've put your heart on your sleeve on this record. You have built up momentum and ground there like never before while keeping the softness. There's something so unbelievably comforting and optimistic about your music that uplifts my mood every time I listen to it. The Big Feel, the name definitely lives up to its name. Can you share more about the inspiration behind this album's name and the overall atmosphere you aimed to create?

Lucky Lo: I'm gonna try to explain it as best as I can. The Big Feel started actually with the title. I don't remember where I got the idea, but I usually write down my ideas in a diary where I write everything down. This title popped into my head, and then I thought that's a good title for an album, and I'd like to make that. That was during the tour when I was touring with the first album, Supercarry.

I already had this idea growing inside of me that I wanted to continue with certain aspects from the first album in terms of the way I've written the songs, that each song is a story. I wanted to continue to work with my band and the producer because I just love it so much. So, I had this safe space from the beginning.

I made a mood board for the album. I really like making mood boards. How I make mood boards is usually a sonic mood board. It's not necessarily pictures. I started with the title, The Big Feel, and I knew I wanted an album that was exploring dynamics more than the first album, to have some songs that were really big with strings and horns and then some songs that were just quite acoustic, focusing on the banjo more.

I wanted this kind of warm, modern, retro sound with a little flirty wink to the '80s. I started writing everything down and also making references to other songs. There were some Fleet Foxes there, and a lot of Kate Bush references. I really listened to Kate Bush.

After I had that idea, I needed to let the songs come on their own. I wrote a lot of songs. I think I wrote about thirty-something sketches or ideas, and from that, it filtered down into these nine final songs, each with its own story.

Miriam: That's insane that you wrote all these songs, but you came to filter them down. How did you even manage to pick out?

Lucky Lo: It wasn't very hard. I do think I've kept a couple of songs that I might release on another record where just the mood was different, but I wanted to have this red thread, which is the Lucky Lo sound of songs that are stating something very clearly and that always ends on a note of hope.

Some criteria needed to be fulfilled for each song. In the end, it's just a gut feeling that decides it. A Swedish song also ended up there, which wasn't really the plan at all, but it just happened. It was one of those one-hit wonders in the studio. I brought the sheet music and said, "Hey, let's try this." And then, on take three, we had the song. That never happened before.

Miriam: This particular song is such a captivating track. Even though I do not understand Swedish, it adds this unique layer to the album. How do you decide when to incorporate Swedish into your music, and what does it really bring to the overall storytelling of the album?

Lucky Lo: When I studied jazz music, I used to write songs mostly in Swedish, listening to a lot of Swedish jazz singers like Monica Zetterlund and the big ones. In this case, I wrote that song for a friend of mine as a comfort song for her and for myself. At the time, I didn't even consider releasing it.

But it was just so special. I loved it so much. In the end, on a whim, I just threw it into the mix in the studio. It became so nice that it wasn't even a question that it shouldn't be on the album. I did think, "Oh, it's a really smart thing to have it in Swedish," because there's a very small percentage of the world that is going to understand what it's about.

But on the other hand, now I think I'm going to explore that more. I would like to write songs that mix languages because I speak four languages. It makes sense for me to try to facilitate that because I love languages. If you can say things in different ways, there are different energies, and my voice also changes depending on the language.

Miriam: Each language really serves a specific purpose in conveying a message, and, as you said, it sounds different as well. So that was really interesting to see on that particular song.

As a follow-up to the debut album, Supercarry, The Big Feel reflects some changes. As you said, you wanted to explore dynamics more and have bigger sounds. How would you describe the evolution of your sound from the first album to this one?

Lucky Lo: The first album was made in lockdown. Fortunately, we were still in Denmark, able to meet as a group of five, and we were four in the band at that time. There was a lot of time to really cut to the core of what the sound was gonna be because Lucky Lo was brand new.

The first album is, for me, just super collected, not sharp, but it's such a collected piece of work because we did have the time to do that. Moving on to the next album, there were some things that I wish we had time to explore more. So that's what I did on the next album while still keeping the good parts of the first ones, which are the band and producer, and also the way I think about songwriting for Lucky Lo, which is pop music with a twist.

Miriam: It's actually interesting you say "pop music with a twist." I've seen lots of outlets and music reviews that consider your music alternative pop. How would you describe your own sound?

Lucky Lo: I would say that it's like a love child between retro classic songwriting and jazz experimentation. I don't know if it makes sense, but I do think--

Miriam: It does.

Lucky Lo: I just saw an interview with Mitski, for example, and she said that for her, it starts with the melody and that you should be able to sing the melody by itself. I'm exactly the same. The melody is at center stage, but the parts and the colors around it can be cut a bar or two, or you can spice the chords a little extra.

We work a lot with Søren, our producer, to record noise and manipulate the noise and put it subtly, very subtly, into the mix so it doesn't become too clean as well. It has all of these aspects that take it away from traditional songwriting, but it still feels safe.

Miriam: A lot of people could listen to it.

Lucky Lo: Yeah, it's not super provocative in that sense, but it has some surprises in it.

Miriam: Definitely. That's something that got me hooked on this one. I'm so glad you actually brought up Mitski because while listening to the album, I had Mitski in mind. I would like to know if there are any specific musical influences that have played a significant part in shaping this sound.

Lucky Lo: I have to confess that I just recently started listening to Mitski. But now, when I listen, I've listened to all her albums, actually, after the release of The Big Feel. I'm like, "Oh my God, I feel seen in this music 100%."

But I would say that what I listened to the most during the time of writing The Big Feel was definitely Kate Bush, Weyes Blood, and Carole King. I love Carole King.

Miriam: I love her too. How would you navigate this balance between honoring your influences and creating a sound that is uniquely yours? Because your sound is pretty unique. It does have these influences that remind me of Mitski. Sometimes, I was shocked to be reminded of Marina and the Diamonds. What do you think makes your sound yours?

Lucky Lo: It's impossible to escape who you are when you write music. I do try to copy things, but I fail. It's like I fail to do that. So it becomes something different.

For example, when writing Supercarry, I was inspired by Christine and the Queens. I was like, "What if I would try to make something like this?" It sounds nothing like it, but it does have this sprout of an idea in it that turned into my music.

I'm a seasoned musician. I'm not super young anymore. I've been writing music for a long time, and I've been singing and playing everything from free jazz improvisation to ambient music to lots of folk music. I've just been whoring around in different genres. (laughter) This is completely confusing whenever I have to write a biography.

That means that the tools I have in my music bag are something I have collected over time. When I write a song, I look into my bag and say, "Oh, what if I will use this?" That's why it becomes like a mix.

But at my core, I just want to sing really good melodies. Growing up listening to The Beatles was the love affair of my life.

Miriam: We can all relate to that to some extent. Melody is at the core. Also, when I listen to your music, something that really strikes me is the lyrics and the themes that you bring up and that you touch upon.

This album contains great love, deep sorrows, a lot of introspection, and reflection. Many of the album's tracks, as you said, are stories, but they do touch on the personal. I was wondering, how do you personally connect with the subjects or stories you address in your lyrics? How do you draw from your own experiences when writing?

[Lucky Lo: I think it needs to draw from my own life in some capacity or another. It also draws on my imagination, but in The Big Feel, part of the theme was also to explore the extremities of emotion and kind of dive into the corners as well.

The song "The Big Feel" itself was really difficult to write the lyrics for. It took me a while to first understand what it was about. Most of my songs start with the sprout of an idea for a topic. Sometimes it comes like "Through the Eyes of a Woman." I was on my bike, and I sang; I got this melody, "Through the Eyes of a Woman." So that was the topic itself, that I should write a song about seeing through the eyes of a woman.

But "The Big Feel" came out of a conversation with the parents of my friend who passed away. We were having dinner and drinking lots of wine. We had this very moving moment where they told me that they missed having someone they could cheer on in music. So they asked me, "Can we give some of the time we would give to our daughter and give that to you? Because we miss having that in our lives."

That was when it clicked for me. I was like, "Oh my God, the song is about what happens to all the space and time that a person leaves behind." It also talks about the guilt of feeling that maybe you'll forget the person you lost because you are giving that time to someone else. But in a sense, I wanted a way of honoring them.

That's when the last pieces came together, and that's when I was able to finish the lyrics.

Miriam: Do you consider "The Big Feel" an homage to them?

Lucky Lo: Yeah, they're also dedicated on the album, the physical release, the family, and my friend Maya. It's like a sister song to "Sunrise Sunset," which was the opening song of the first album and also the opening song of the new album. They belong together.

Miriam: That's really interesting. I wouldn't have made the connection. The album has many ballads and stripped-back, softer tracks, which emphasize the lyrics, but they also emphasize your voice.

But there are other more uplifting songs, such as "Hey Let's Go" or even the playful "Peak Valley" with its funk guitar moments. Could you delve into the creative process behind the more uplifting funk twist that this album brings? I feel like it's ups and downs and ups, and you never expect when it's going to go back down. Are these sorts of emotions you wanted listeners to experience through those ups and downs?

Lucky Lo: Lucky Lo is definitely a live band. It's a live experience, maybe more so than an online album experience. Sometimes, I think about what I would like to bring to a concert and whether I could write a song that I can make something fun with when playing it live.

"Hey Let's Go" was one of those songs that I wanted to have a kind of Talking Heads moment of "Burning Down the House," of having a track that was playful. We often start the songs by just singing them to the audience. I teach the audience, "Hey, let's go; it's time to feel it in our hearts. Let's go." And then we just start the song. And then they are in the band.

So that was the idea behind "Hey, Let's Go," to have that kind of moment as well as playfully trying to manipulate whatever people would come to the concert and be like, "Hey, if you came with a flirt, now's the time. You should make your move." (laughter)

Miriam: I need to go to your concert now!

Lucky Lo: Please. It's a party!

And then, of course, it needed to have a big horn section because Talking Heads, obviously, you need to have that kind of highlights vibe.

"Peak Valley" is much simpler and more open sonically. It has this kind of wah-wah guitar sound, which is the sound of Mads, my guitarist. That's how he sounds. It's a very simple song in a sense. It's very repetitive, and it just has this two-five-one jazz chord structure.

I wrote it on this synthesizer that I use all the time, the Juno-106. I wanted it to have lots of space so we could make a feature for Mads and make it very smooth but cool. I also wanted to challenge myself to sing this octave thing, "Peak Valley."

I wrote that song just a couple of days before we went to the studio. I could barely play it by myself, but then I taught it to the band, and it was very immediate as well.

Miriam: How did you make that octave go out?

Lucky Lo: We made the high octave very airy and the lower "peak valley" with more body. We recorded those separately. I almost panicked a bit when I had to sing it live. I've almost learned it, I think. It's difficult. It's very difficult. And I'm dancing at the same time. But for me, that song is the Lucky Lo original vibe in a way that is connected to Supercarry in how sonically it's working. It's just very simple, but it still has a lot of twists, some small modulational moments that are just … delicious.

Miriam: This is typical Lucky Lo right there.

Lucky Lo: I was looking at the basic structure and thinking, "How can I tweak it a little bit?" Also, in "The Big Feel," there's a modulation in the middle of a verse. Usually, modulation is up to a refrain. We said, "What if we would make it in the middle of the verse?" That's also a little surprise, like in R&B music.

Miriam: There's a whole thing out there that just keeps you off guard. A personal favorite on this album is "A Pretending World." I'm obsessed with this one. It has some of my favorite lyrics on this album, especially the last lines: "We love to call it truth, but it frightens me so bad." Can you tell us more about how you wrote this one?

Lucky Lo: I wrote it in January this year, I think. I had been listening like crazy to this song by Weyes Blood called "A Lot's Gonna Change." I love that song so much. I was like, "Oh, I want to write this power ballad piano thing."

I had written down in my notes this title, "A Pretending World." I knew I wanted to address society somehow. In the beginning, I just sat down on the piano, and I found this kind of chord structure that is more minor but modulating and very simple sounding. It came pretty quickly, but I did struggle a lot with the lyrics on this one.

I wanted to discuss social media's effects on our brains. Today, we have access to so much information that it's not physically possible for us to comprehend. It confuses us a lot, but it's intoxicating at the same time. We want to know everything, but our hearts are shouting, "Stop, slow down." So there's an inner struggle there, which I thought was very interesting to write about.

I actually took this piece of lyrics to my songwriting class. I was like, "Okay, can you understand what I'm saying?" I still don't know if I talked about it clearly enough. But there's something about a longing for safety and feeling scared about where this world is going and what this generation is doing.

At the same time, there's this kind of urge to fight and be like, "I'm not going to stand for this. I'm going to try to keep on fighting this pretending world because I want to live in the real world. I want to live to the fullest in reality."

That's something that, as a performer or artist, is very important to me. I don't want my music to be an escapism. I don't want my music to be escaping this world or be a temporary pause from it. I want it to encourage you to live even more, to really be together with your feelings, even though it's difficult and still leave you with a sense of hope. I'm not going to leave you in the ditch. I'm going to try to take your hand and bring you through it. That's the overall theme of what I'm trying to do as a songwriter.

Miriam: Super interesting that you say that because, honestly, this album feels like a big hug from a very wise person that you can always count on in the middle of a cinematic green field. This is how it feels.

To follow up on "A Pretending World," I first listened to this song when I was on the metro rushing to work. I was like, "Wait a minute." It was a moment of realization seeing everyone on their phones while we're all going for the same thing every day, every freaking day, with inner struggles that we don't really talk about. What are we pretending? Is it only a pretending world? Are we actually living? I had all these existential questions come up while listening to it, but also with a pinch of hope by the end of it. I just wanted to share that as well.

I just want to say thank you so much for being here today. This was such a wholesome conversation.

Lucky Lo: Thank you so much. First of all, I could talk about this for at least an hour more. It's like baby steps, but I'm okay with that because I want to do this for a long time. I'm not in a rush. I'm just gonna try to catch one person after the other on the metro and hopefully make them look at the world in a different way.