Tove Lo (2023)

One Liner: That "Stay High All The Time" electropop girl
Wikipedia Genre: Electropop, Synth-Pop, Dance Pop, Indie Pop
Home: Stockholm, Sweden

Poster Position: 1 (4)
Slot: Saturday at 7pm

Thoughts:  Last played here in 2017.  I reviewed her 2014 debut album Queen of the Clouds years ago and liked parts, but found the album overall pretty forgettable.  I'm going to steal a part of that old review to mention how disturbing her big hit is.

"Habits" is kind of disturbing - its a song about getting high all the time to keep from missing her honey, she's generally singing about doing sad and gross things because she's alone, including: "Pick up daddies at the playground, how I spend my day time, loosen up their frown, make 'em feel alive, make it fast and greasy, I'm numb and way too easy, you're gone and I got to stay High, all the time, to keep you off my mind."  Wow.  And the video is also a super depressing trip through her sad party time life.

Those lyrics are still disturbingly arousing to me.  Oh wait, did I say arousing?  I mean, uhhh...  The song is now up to almost 756.4 million streams on Spotify (over a billion if you add up the original and the remix) (up from 475 million in 2017, when combining the original and remix).  Here is the video, with 438 million views on its own.

So depressing and dark!  But don't it just make you wanna dance!  "Talking Body" is also a big hit from that same album - 560.6 million streams.  And a real deal pop banger.

Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson is her real name, and she's from Sweden.  Rolling Stone called her "Sweden's darkest pop export" and Wikipedia says that she is known for her "raw, grunge-influenced take on pop music."  She was in a band for a bit called Tremblebee, but then went solo working with some major producers like Max Martin and Shellback.  her stage name is based upon a nickname from her godmother - although the story is confusing since "Tove" is in her name, but according to Wikipedia, there was a lynx at the local zoo named Tove that she "totally fell in love with," and a singular lynx in Swedish is a "Lo."  So, Tove Lo.  She is also friends with the group Icona Pop, and lived with them for a while.

Since that 2014 album, she more recently put out the unfortunately named Lady Wood in 2016.  The hit from that album is "Cool Girl," which clocks in at 377.4 million streams.

Nope.  That is terrible.  "Imma cool girl.  Imma imma cool girl.  Ice cold, I roll my eyes at you boy." This is like some Avril Lavigne in 2004 crap here, just with electro beats instead of rawkin' sk8tr guitars.  Ugh.  If that song stays in my mind (which it was likely scientifically created to do) I am going to be pissed.  The next album was the unfortunately named 2017's BLUE LIPS (lady wood phase II).  I gave it a shot, and it likewise is not good.  Pop dance stuff with super repetitive choruses (chori?  chorusi?).  No thanks.  The fact that this is poster line 4 means that I am either out of touch with the world or the poster maker was high all the time and boning old greasy dudes in playgrounds.

After that, she released 2019's Sunshine Kitty and 2022's Dirt Femme.  Some of those tracks have numbers, like 70 million and stuff, but nothing like the big hits from the debut album.  The biggest from the new album is "No One Dies From Love" at 65 million streams.

Slow to build up that one, but after the first chorus, it definitely kicks in.  I am not going to deny that her stuff is catchy and danceable and exciting.  Just super not the normal type of tunes that I gravitate towards.

Bummer for the big fans of this type of music, that Bob Moses is at the same time.  Two electronica people at the same time is a tough draw.  I'll be over there squeezing up close to the Foo's stage, so y'all have fun with this one.