4 Things We Learned About Tove Styrke Ahead Of Her MASSIVE Tour
words by Troy Davis
You know we’re big fans of Tove Styrke here at Honey Punch. Back in May, we ranted and raved about her incredible new album, Sway. Bop after bop made their way into our summer playlists. And now, we’re losing our minds because Tove is FINALLY launching on her US headlining tour!
Just a few days before she left for her first show, we caught up with Tove to talk about her music, her style, and of course Rihanna. Here’s a list of the four biggest things we learned.
She’s REALLY excited about this tour (like, really really).
We caught Tove in the middle of a packed press day, while procrastinating packing for tour. And despite all the stress of press and anxiousness, she was practically bouncing off the walls with excitement. “I’ve been playing a lot this year, and it’s been amazing to be opening for people like Katy [Perry] and Lorde. They’re life changing experiences. But to be doing your OWN show, putting a full set, bringing the full vibe of Sway translating it to a stage something completely different. The whole night’s just about you and the audience. I can’t lie about being this excited.”
2. She LOVES Rihanna.
When we started talking about other artists Tove might want to tour with, she immediately said, “Rihanna, duh! She’s the Madonna of our generation!” She goes on to say, “She’s so cool. She can’t do anything wrong. I just want to be in the presence of her.”
Rihanna came up later when talking about dream collabs. Surprise, it’s Rihanna! “I’ve heard some of her new stuff, that kind of stuff just gets passed around. And who knows if it’ll even be released. But I can tell you, it’s so so so good.”
(It’s also worth noting that she’s a big fan of Doja Cat, and sang me a solid rendition of “MOO!”. We’re really hoping she covers this live.)
3. She’s put a LOT of thought into what she wants her music to represent.
After talking about some of the artist’s who inspire her work, we wanted to ask Tove about how Sway came to be. We went back and forth about some of the flourishes on the album that make repeat listens so worthwhile. (Example: Listen closely on “Mistakes”. Just as Tove sings “You know I wanna get out of these Levi’s”, you can hear pants unzipping. The same goes for “Sway”, which opens with a soda-can cracking open. It’s the literal opening to the album, recalling the soda-can on the album artwork). “For me, it’s so important to have fun with my music,” Tove said. “We’re always trying to explore. It’s always ‘Well what if we did this?’ or ‘Is it possible to do that?’ We’re always trying to find new ways push [my music].”
We switch over to talking about “Sway” in particular, and the touching video that accompanied it’s release. Asked about the video concept, Tove said “[Joanna Nordhal] and I worked closely throughout this whole album. He’d done other videos for Sway [the album] and created the artwork. Really, the concept came before the song. When we landed on “Sway” being the main title track, it all fell into place.”
Tove went on to talk about why she feels the video embodies the message of her music. “It felt important to remove myself, and make something more universal. The most important thing is to connect to the listener so they can apply what I make to their life. I didn’t want this album to just be ‘diary notes’, I wanted it to be relatable. I wanted it to be for all of us.”
4. She’s (hopefully!) releasing more music this year.
Back in May when Sway was first released, Tove suggested to Billboard that there “might” be more music on the way in 2018. Since then, she’s released “Been There Done That” with NOTD and “Stuck” with Lost Kings. But, that’s not the end of what Tove has in store for 2018. “If I can get everything done before leaving on tour, there should be more this year!” she says. “I like to work on my albums from home. I just can’t get in the zone when I try to travel and work on music. I wanna work at my own pace, and that’s just easier to do from home.” Given the success of her newest round of music, we really can’t argue with that method.
Just a few hours after our call, Clean Bandit announced their new album’s tracklist, which features Tove on “Last Goodbye”. So, is there even MORE we can expect from 2018? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.
