It has been almost a year since Loreen broke through big with My heart it refusing me in Gothenburg during the Melodifestivalen. The song took her to Second Chance where she was unfortunately knocked out by Sara Varga, but it was now that Lorine Talhaoui became a big name for the Swedish people.

Being Blogged: What was it like to be part of the Melodifestivalen?

Loreen: It was a real experience. You get to influence a lot and be a creator, and that it is a fantastic audience! It’s such a wonderful platform and I like to be on that stage. I may not be completely fond of the competition part, because I get so nervous – then I’m a bit of a competition person.
But I try more to think that “what happens happens and there is a reason why”.

It was a good new start for Loreen to be part of the Melodifestivalen. Her song became one of the biggest successes of the year from the competition and she followed up with the song Sober during the autumn which was at least as big. Loreen will be at the Melodifestivalen again next year, with the song Euphoria which she will perform in Växjö.

But Loreen became a name for us already in 2004 when she was in the first season of TV4’s big music competition Idol.

BB: How did you come up with the idea of ​​joining Idol?

L: It was not actually me who came up with it, but it was my little sister. She is like a “gay” and is very much an early adopter. She knows what’s going on and how to get involved in and I remember she came in and said “You have to get involved in this!” and I immediately said “Never, it won’t happen!” But she managed to convince me. I’m so crazy shy, so I don’t dare to stand in front of people and sing, but she poked holes in my head.

BB: Did you sing a lot before Idol?

L: A lot for myself. I must have taken courage and sung sometime in front of the class, but it was as if my heart would jump out of my body. I was also in a Christmas show in high school, but damn how nervous I was. It’s so revealing. Singing in front of people is exactly the same as standing naked in front of people who judge you “Yes, I don’t know if her right breast is a little too big”. So music was a haven for me. That’s where I got to be myself.

BB: Do you still have the same stage fright?

L: It was like going a hundred years back when I was at the Melodifestivalen. This is the first time I stand in front of people and sing something that is based on a real story, which is my story in my way. Then I had no shell to hide behind like when I imitate Whitney and do her cover, but now all of a sudden I have to introduce myself. So I was dying there.

BB: Although it paid off. The response to My Heart Is Refusing Me was incredibly positive.

L: Yes, it was like saying “Hey, you work just the way you are – we like that you’re a drama queen!”

BB: Yes, and the whole gay community has welcomed you with open arms.

L: Are you kidding or ?! I had a gig at Gretas in Gothenburg and it was damn the best gig I’ve had in a long time. It is really a special feeling that three, four hundred people sing and know the lyrics by heart. Damn I love them!

BB: What is your taste in music?

L: Very much Björk and Imogen Heap. I like when artists have some Enya inspiration. I like when music doesn’t have so many words. Some artists and songwriters write so much and you just feed words. While these three artists are more about the voice, so it becomes like an instrument and the lyrics secondary. I also like when there is something ethnic in the music.

Many people associate me with it – I’m dark and look like an r’n’b chick. People can kind of say to me, “You sing soul and r’n’b and like gospel, right?”
– No, I actually don’t like gospel. Not r’n’b either as it sounds now and I prefer not to wail in my songs, at least not the way you do in America. I wail like you do from my African roots in that case. I listen to Lisa Gerrard a lot. Her voice is magical and she only invents words.

Then I love Coldplay because there is a space in their songs – just like it does in Imogen Heap and Björk’s songs. When Coldplay’s song Clocks came out I was completely cracked! So amazingly good!

BB: There have been a lot of really good remixes of your songs. Are you a dance girl from the beginning?

L: I like beats. I think drums start something in people and I like dance music. I may not think that my music is just dance music. Because from the beginning, it’s beautiful songs that the producers pick beats for.

BB: The Attic remix of My Heart Is Refusing Me was especially good.

L: Eric Amarillo is such a sickly good producer, and damn good at mixing things so it sounds heavy!

BB: Will there be an album or do you only work with single and the EP format?

L: I have material for two albums if I want. But I feel like every song has a story, so I like releasing singles. Once I come up with something, I want it to touch and that people think it’s qualitative, so you do not release a lot just for that. In that case, it would be better to be a little more exclusive. I have some singles just waiting to be finished. I actually like EPs because they are more concentrated. You can release more of these. But for me, it does not matter much if it’s an album or an EP (it is the same as a small mini-album) – it may simply be a surprise.

BB: What was it that made it take so long for you to record something after Idol?

L: When I finished Idol, I realized that I had so much to learn. I wanted to get back to my core and felt a little lost in that whole process. There are rules on what is right or wrong and I don’t believe that much. I sing from the heart. I don’t know what my vocal cords should be like or how they should stand or look. It confused me a lot so I lost my heart in the music. It took me a long time before I found my way back to who I am.

Two years ago, I was about to quit completely. My biggest driving force is still to touch people, it may sound cliché but that’s it. That particular period in my life I didn’t really understand what I was doing when it came to music. It didn’t feel like the right driving force that you just wanted confirmation and to be known through the music.

I was at a meditation center (half of my circle of friends are like crazy hippies and sometimes they get with me on their things), where we sat there in a big circle and we were probably fifty, sixty people. So a friend came to me and asked if I could sing something, anything, because these people need it. At first I didn’t feel that I wanted it, but after a while I picked a book of poems and started singing from it a little spontaneously and created melodies to the lyrics. Afterwards a woman came up and talked about how much it had meant to her and then I understood that it might be right anyway. It was her long conversation that made me turn around.

It was good to see that Loreen chose to continue with the music.
We need a great pop star in Sweden who makes songs we can dance to, while we get touched and can cry for them.
With the fan base that Loreen received in 2011, I assume that she will go straight to the finals in the Melodifestivalen 2012. If the songs are only half as good as Sober and My Heart Is Refusing Me, she could definitely win the whole competition!
I’m keeping my fingers crossed for Loreen anyway!

• Source: https://popmuzik.se/5901/en-intervju-med-loreen/
• Translation: via Google Translate, the translation may not be completely accurate