A Lykke Li story

Swedish indie-pop singer Lykke Li has enjoyed a hugely successful 2008, with her acclaimed debut album, Youth Novels, becoming one of the cult hits of the year. As she reflects back on the last 12 months, Lykke must feel a tremendous sense of accomplishment.

“Everything that’s happening is amazing, but it’s not only positive,” she says, sitting in her dressing room at the Button Factory. “I’ve gone from never having toured in my life, to touring a whole year straight. I started last November, and I thought, ‘I’ll do two tours’. But it’s November now, and I’ve been on tour non-stop. So I haven’t seen my friends, I haven’t really been home, and I haven’t had a home-cooked meal. And I’ve been living out of the same bag for two and a half months.
“But I’m very good right now, cos I had a one-week break in New York. So at the moment, everything is sinking in, and it’s very weird that people know who I am. All the positive stuff has been brilliant, but that’s always the hardest thing to realise; you always remember the negative stuff. But it’s been incredible, and so many of my creative goals have been achieved.”
Lykke’s fame has extended to the US, where she has just completed a sold-out tour. The final show in Los Angeles saw her play covers of ‘Walk On The Wild Side’ (during which she gave a shout-out to Barack Obama), Vampire Weekend’s ‘Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa’ and hip-hop classic ‘Can I Kick It?’, originally performed by one of her favourite acts, A Tribe Called Quest. Indeed, Lykke was hugely excited when she recently got the opportunity to perform the track with one of the group’s members, Q-Tip, at the mtvU Woodie Awards.
“The MTV people had been to my gigs, and I do that song at every show,” explains Lykke. “They were like, ‘Oh, that’s amazing.’ Then they knew that Q-Tip was going to perform at the awards show as well, so they said, ‘What if they could do something together?’ They showed him the clip and he thought it was great. He was such an idol to me, so I was really nervous meeting him, but he was like, ‘Thank you so much for acknowledging Tribe’s music.’ I was going, ‘Thank you!”
Also while in the States, Lykke appeared on Late Night With Conan O’Brien. How did she find the experience?
“It was terrible, I really don’t like doing TV shows,” she replies. “I get so nervous. Everything’s like, ‘Okay, let’s do it now.’ And then you’re going, ‘Oh shit!’ And millions of people are going to see it. You’re not in control of the sound and you can’t put on as much reverb as you want. Of course, it’s a great opportunity and Conan was wonderful. So it’s amazing, but terrifying.”
Although she hasn’t had any time to work on new material this year, one wonders what subject matter Lykke will focus on when she comes to make her second record. As the old saying goes, you get your whole life to write the first album, and only a few months to write the second.
“The subject on the last record was probably loneliness and alienation, and I still feel that,” says Lykke. “But I guess this time, I’ve let loose a bit more, so I can probably talk about alcohol or whatever. (Laughs) Drugs.”
Have alcohol and drugs been a feature of this year for you?
“More than before,” she admits, “but I’m not Amy Winehouse, on any level at all. There’s always an after-party at shows, so if you’re on the go, that means you’re going to be out quite a lot.”
Lykke seems to have been actively seeking out experiences to write about for her next record. When I ask her about the presence of her producer, Bjorn Yttling, at the aforementioned LA show, she replies that he was there to join her for “research, for the album.”
What did the research involve?
“It’s a secret,” Lykke smiles. “There are a lot of things going on that you should never tell a journalist. For me, researching an album isn’t sitting and playing guitar, exactly. It’s other stuff.”

Lykke Li’s Youth Novels is out now on Warner