Taken from this week’s Future Pop mailer. Click here to subscribe.
The Great Escape was the third time I’d seen Dagny at a festival, but the first time I walked away thinking it was time to feature the Norwegian singer here in Future Pop. She’s come a long way since I first caught her playing forgettable acoustic-pop (like this) at Sweden’s Where’s The Music festival in 2015, where she was outshone by other acts on the line-up such as Aurora. I was surprised, therefore, to see her become one of the hottest unsigned acts of the year a few months later when she released Backbeat. At Eurosonic festival earlier this year, I discovered she’d transformed into a sparkly blonde electro-pop singer, and at The Great Escape I found she’d made further progress, putting on a charismatic performance of a strong selection of sassy songs. Thanks to online buzz she signed a deal with Universal Republic, home of many brilliant female artists, from Taylor Swift to Lorde. So far Backbeat is the only song online (her earlier releases have mysteriously vanished!) but I’m intrigued to see the fruits of her work under the new label.