Osheaga is the music festival that I look forward to every summer. Good vibes in Montreal! Florence + The Machine, Kendrick Lamar, The Black Keys...such a great lineup.
Caught some scenic views during the drive up to Montreal from NYC
Seriously, this girl is killin' it. I interviewed her back in Montreal at Osheaga and she's just as cool in person. Let me know what you think of her new album! #SUCKER
A few weeks ago, I had the pleasure of interviewing the Swedish pop duo Icona Pop when they were in town for their first show on tour opening for Marina and the Diamonds at The Kool Haus. Made up of Aino Jawa and Caroline Hjelt, Icona Pop has been making music that never fails to get people up and dancing. You've probably heard of their hit song "I Love It" - and if you haven't yet, here it is (it's such a great party song...you're welcome):
It also features Charli XCX, who I interviewed this past summer at Osheaga - check it out HERE.
They are probably a couple of the coolest girls I've met so far - maybe it's their Swedish roots or their amazing fashion sense - whatever it is, I walked out of that interview feeling like I had gained an ounce of awesomeness just by talking to them. They are super sweet and humble, which made it even easier to chat with them.
The interview was for an article for Faze Magazine (will be published in the spring issue), but until then, here's a bit of our Q&A:
How are you feeling
about kicking off the tour with Marina and the Diamonds?
Aino: It feels great. This is our first proper tour that we’re
going to do. We’ve just been traveling around otherwise to do gigs around
Europe and America, but this is going to be a proper tour. We are very very
excited.
Caroline: It feels so good to be with Marina as well. We met her
for the first time in the UK and she’s great. So I think this tour will be
dangerous.
A: Girl power!
What do you want
people to walk away with after seeing you perform?
C: I want people to walk away dancing to feel stuff. We want
to make music that makes people feel and when we’re on stage we want people to
feel exactly how we feel when we perform that song or when we wrote that song.
Or maybe they relate to another feeling in their body, but still we want them
to feel stuff, not just walk away and be like, hmm what are we going to do
tonight. I want them to be like AHH.
A: Definitely. I hope people walk away with a big smile and
feel touched in some way. That’s what we aim for when we make pop music, to
make people feel touched.
Where do you find
inspiration for songwriting?
A: We give each other a lot of inspiration. We travel every
day, so we meet a lot of strange people, we meet fantastic people. And you see
so many different cultures, so travelling, films and people.
C: I also think that with the lifestyle we have right now,
we don’t have a home basically, we just travel everywhere. The last seven months we’ve
just been travelling, we haven’t been home for more than two days, one time each
month. You become very good at living in the now to be present and to take
stuff in in a different way. You’re here today and you’re going to do a show
and you’re going to meet people, so you’re very present, which makes you able
to take everything in. So yeah travelling gives you a lot of inspiration,
compared to sometimes when you’re home and have stuff to deal with, like always
when you’re home. Even though it can be good things, it doesn’t matter, you
still have stuff you need to do.
A: It steals a lot of power from you sometimes.
C: So it’s good to be homeless. The world is our home.
Coming from Sweden,
how has that influenced you as musicians?
C: I think Sweden is a country that is very sensitive when
it comes to picking up trends. It’s a small country. We come from Stockholm,
which is a small city – a big small city. If you are trying to work in music
and you give it a go, you will absolutely be given the chance to work with
people that are good. Maybe the environment, you see a bit of the bittersweet,
the cold dark winters, I don’t know.
A: Sweden is a special country. People are very much lagom, it’s a Swedish word, and that
word doesn’t exist anywhere else in the world. And that’s like, not too much
but not too little. It’s more negative than perfect, but it’s not negative
either, it’s a very strange word. It’s in the middle. Swedish people are a lot
in the middle. So that can sometimes be a good thing and sometimes a bad thing,
but as a musician you should never be in the middle. So maybe we were
influenced by lagom.
What’s it like
working with your best friend?
C: Too good to be true.
A: We have so much fun. People think that we’re freaks
because no one understands us because we have our own world, where we’re making
jokes and stuff.
Best advice you’ve
been given?
C: Just to listen to yourself. People will always try to
tell you what to do, and sometimes it’s good advice and you listen to them, of
course. But you should always listen to what your body tells you to do. Your
body tells you a lot of stuff, like it gives you signs, and if you don’t listen
to what your body tells you then you will end up unhappy, it doesn’t matter
where you are in the world or what you’re doing. You have to feel right about
what you are doing, so I think you just have to be true to yourself.
Being a passionate
and driven female duo, what message do you want to share to other girls?
A: There are a lot of men in the music business and we just
want to be strong women in the music business. And never let people push you
down.
C: Do your thing and have fun. Don’t be shy. And help each
other, I think that’s an important message as well, like stand up for each
other and let’s make magic!
Kicking off Osheaga this year was UK artist Charli XCX and I got the chance to chat with her after her awesome, high-energy set on the Mountain Stage at the festival. She brought her unique sound to Montreal and the crowd was loving it.
Here's a screenshot of the article I wrote for Faze Magazine:
For anyone who hasn't heard her music before...here's one of her hits, "Nuclear Seasons"
Check out a bit of my interview with Charli XCX!
You just performed, kicking off the festival – what was that
like?
That was pretty weird. I didn’t even know until I was up on
stage. And then I was like, wait, everyone
has just woken up. It was amazing though. The crowds here are so much
cooler, seriously. Everyone is so happy and just wants to have a good time. I
feel like sometimes in the UK people are just judging everything and are a bit
afraid to get into it. But yeah, it was really cool and I had a great time.
For people who haven’t heard your music yet, how would you
describe it?
I’d say it’s grunge-princessy darkness with a magical
overtone. It’s very black and mystical; hip-hop drums over gothic grunginess,
that’s what I’d say.
I love your unique style - How do you bring together music
and fashion?
I’m all for bringing together music and fashion just because
I feel like myself as an artist came from a very fashion-y scene. I came from
doing warehouse raves, which was all about how you looked, probably more so than
music. And for me, I feel that’s not accurate for me, I’m all about the music.
But I want to bring a good style. And these days to survive you need to have
that. My thing at the moment is Buffalo shoes, platforms, that’s what I’m all
about. So for me, grungy gangster princess, that’s where I’m at I suppose.
You toured with Santigold earlier this year, how was that?
It was amazing. She is really great live and just really on
it. I’m all for strong female people in music. I think every girl should be. I’m
all for girl power and she’s definitely got that vibe and she’s in control of
everything she does. I like people who are control freaks because that means
they’re good at their job. We got to play to some really really great crowds
and it was cool. And her dancers are sick.
And now you’re touring with Coldplay, how is that going?
It’s going really well, it’s amazing. It’s such an honor to
be playing with them and it’s just so weird in a childish way. I feel like a
pop princess because I’m on a f*cking huge stage with screens and everything and
this is literally my dream. Oh and I met Chris Martin on a flight by accident
and I was just so uncool. First of all, I really like rap music so I used to
really want to be a rapper, but I told him that my main goal in life was to be
a rapper and I was just like what am I
saying? Then I went on to invite him to his own after party. I was like yeah
so we’re doing an after party in Chicago, maybe you want to come. And he’s like
wait, it’s my show. And it was so embarrassing. That was not cool. But I feel
like he thought I was endearing. But yeah, other than that, the tour is
amazing.
Who are some of your favourite rappers?
When I was younger, I used to really want to be Eminem. And
I really like Uffie as well. But I don’t want to be a rapper anymore though. I
just try to bring this – I would never call it rap because that would be
offensive to people who actually do rap – but I bring my own spoken word shit
into my music because I love that lazy style. And I do want to keep elements of
hip-hop in my music and blend it with this super darkness.
You mentioned girl power, so who are some female artists you
look up to?
I’m really inspired by people like Bjork and Kate Bush. And
Gwen Stefani, she’s f*cking genius and so amazing on stage, she’s got such a
presence. I’m all down for girls who are just doing their thing and don’t feel
like they have to try to be sexy. That’s what girl power is for me, just doing
your thing, I think that’s cool.
What is your ultimate party song?
Probably Spice Girls “Spice Up Your Life.” But I’m listening
to loads of Azalea Banks at the moment – she can definitely party start.
Are you inspired at all by the Spice Girls?
Oh yeah, massively. I feel like my vibe is that if they had
one more member, it would be grunge spice, and that would be me. Grunge Spice
sounds kind of ugly, like she’s been hit in the face with a brick wall, so I’d
probably find a different name. But that’s who I’d be.
What’s up next for you?
My record is probably going to be released over here in the
spring of next year. But I just put out a mix-tape [Heartbreaks and
Earthquakes - download it HERE] before this and I’ll be putting out another one hopefully in the
next couple months.
Here's another one of her tracks, "Stay Away" - I love this one!
I had no idea what to expect when I was heading out to Montreal for the first time to cover Osheaga, so my expectations weren't too high and I was just super pumped to get to be in the presence of so many awesome performers - just from looking at that huge line-up, I knew it was going to be a good time. On day one, the sun was shining and it was hot, just the way I like it. Parc Jean-Drapeau was THE place to be from Aug. 3-5. Check out my photos from Day 1:
First show of the day: Charli XCX
FUN was awesome live!
Huge crowd for Of Monsters and Men
Florence + The Machine was definitely one of my favourites from the festival - there's something so magical about Florence Welch....
Toronto's own Zeds Dead played a bumpin set - stay tuned for my interview with them!
And that's all for Day 1! Up next: Day 2 & 3, plus a few interviews!
