Taken from this week’s Future Pop mailer. Click here to subscribe.
I’m always excited about any new Scandipop artist with a major label deal and an international launch, but they do have a lot to live up to. Perhaps unfairly, I want them to prove they deserve the opportunity, because many great Scandi acts never get it – even those who are established in their home country. Norwegian 20-year-old Sigrid Raabe is one of those plucked from (near) obscurity to represent Scandipop on the global stage. As a teenager she released a few singles in Norway, and with the help of top Norwegian management company MADE, signed to Island last year. Her first international single Don’t Kill My Vibe, a quirky pop tune which mixes thoughtful verses with a fierce chorus, arrived in February to acclaim from indie blogs and pop geeks. Thanks to Spotify’s continued loyalty to Scandinavian acts, it already has nearly 9 million streams. The newly-released video shows a fun, youthful persona that softens her model-ish looks, giving her at least some chance of appealing to a mainstream audience. I’m still not entirely sure she won’t be the next Grace Mitchell or Tove Styrke, fading back into (near) obscurity when the label realises they overestimated the crossover potential for pop acts of this breed, but I’ll happily put that concern aside for now and invest some hope in Sigrid.