Celebrity
Dirty Pop: Meet Tove Lo
Meet the singer who’s dragging Scandinavian music through the mud.
by : Sarah Laing- Oct 1st, 2014
The heir to ABBA’s sequined legacy she is not. Swedish singer Tove Lo’s breakout single, “Habits (Stay High),” is an ode to a drug-and-sex-fuelled post-breakup bender—and in person, she is all smudged eyeliner, holey tights and gravelly voice.
The smoky voice isn’t normally part of the package, explains Tove Lo (real name Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson) as we chat in a Toronto café. “I’ve been sick the past couple of days, so instead of having a few beers with the band before a show, it’s been, like, tea and beer, tea and beer,” she says, laughing.
RELATIONSHIP: What happens when you marry a bad boy?
The 26-year-old is being hailed as Scandinavia’s next big gift to pop (which means a lot, coming from the home of Avicii, Robyn and hitmaker Max Martin). Before releasing her acclaimed EP Truth Serum earlier this year, Tove Lo wrote songs for artists like Lea Michele and Cher Lloyd. “I chose that instead of being an artist, but I had these songs I wouldn’t give away because they were too personal,” she says. “So I was like, ‘Go fucking do it yourself.’”
Tove Lo inhabits dichotomies easily: a Kurt Cobain super-fan who performs hooky dance music, a psychologist’s daughter who can’t write honestly in her mother tongue. “If I were to write in Swedish, it would be too much for me—it’s just too straight-up,” she says. “English helps me to distance a bit. It’s like how when we Swedes swear in English, it’s not a bad thing to us!”
While she’s beautiful—feline eyes framed by dirty-blond waves of the “it just air-dries like this” variety—Tove Lo doesn’t dress the part of the pop star. “My favourite jacket is an old suede one of my aunt’s. It actually has poop on it because she used to have parrots that would sit on her shoulder,” she says, grabbing her phone to find a picture. “It’s kind of gross, but I love it.”
The mix of grungy cool and raw lyrics sparked serious buzz ahead of the release of her album Queen of the Clouds in September—and scored her a gig opening the Australian leg of Katy Perry’s world tour this fall.
ELLE Interview: Chromeo talks duetting with Solange
Tove Lo played to packed venues on her most recent North American visit—and also had a first brush with a slightly “stalker-ish” fan: “I had a girl knock on my door in my hotel in New York,” she explains. “I was in a T-shirt, barefoot, and I was, like, ‘Uh…hi.’” Not a public-relations-polished pop-princess moment—but maybe the start of something even better?
Newsletter
Join our mailing list for the latest and biggest in fashion trends, beauty, culture and celebrity.
More from Celebrity
Read Next
Fashion
This Canadian Swimwear Brand Designed Canada’s 2024 Women’s Olympic Beach Volleyball Team Uniforms
And they're *so* good.
by : Allie Turner- Apr 24th, 2024
Fashion
The Most Iconic Looks In Met Gala History, From 1973 To Now
40 years of the night that's all about trailblazing fashion.
by : ELLE Australia- Apr 24th, 2024
Beauty
Tested and Approved: Your New Hydrating Skincare BFF
This new product has all of your skin’s thirst-quenching needs covered.
by : ELLE Canada- Apr 17th, 2024