FREE AS LOREEN
Who is really hiding behind the long, dark fringe? Is our Swedish star as mysterious as she seems? Plaza Kvinna traveled to Morocco, the place where Loreen has her roots and constantly draws inspiration, and got to learn how we can reach our innermost selves
On a stool in the corner of the fabulously beautiful hotel Les Deux Tours in Marrakech, a man sits and sings humming as he spins his tufted fez. Round, round, round. Without ever meeting his audience with his eyes, he lets his fingers get used to playing over the three strings of the instrument, genbri, which he holds in his hand. At the same time, a few tables away, we sit and wait for the main character of the evening: our Swedish music star Loreen. We sip slowly on our drinks, they are mouth-wateringly sour. Since it is forbidden by law to sell alcohol to all of the country’s 98 percent Muslims, one can guess that bartending may not be among the most popular professions.
Just a few hours ago, wearing only tape over her breasts, Loreen performed at the Melodifestivalen in front of the entire Swedish people. The nude shock headlines soon became a fact and quickly topped every single site and newspaper. With simple mathematics, one understands that she has had a tight schedule, and soon we get it confirmed: She only managed half an hour of sleep before it was time to get up to take the plane to Morocco. Once in place, she had immediately been led to a quick clothing test before a shoot the next day. But it does not go fast. An hour and a half later, she has not yet appeared.
– Heeej everyone, suddenly a dark, beautiful voice exclaims behind me and Loreen takes the lap around and presents herself enthusiastically with double hands for everyone in the production team. She stops behind me, puts her hands warmly on my shoulders and apologizes:
– I’m really sorry y’all, but I probably have to skip dinner. I’m pretty tired after yesterday. She sounds lively in her voice, but everyone nods sympathetically. Who is your human being after only half an hour of sleep? Instead, I later get a chat with Loreen’s manager, Peter Cartier. Tough job for her, I point out about the little she got to sleep.
– Yes, but it is not unusual, says Peter. Loreen always works hard. She goes in one hundred percent for what she does, and then time disappears. Just look at the dress rehearsal, it was supposed to go fast, but she can not do anything half-hearted. She has an ability to zoom in completely on what she does, and does not leave until she is completely satisfied.
That Loreen disappears into what she does is noticeable even when she is on stage. The empathy is total, and she often seems totally engrossed in her performance. This empathy, along with a dreamy choreography and a long, dark hair that falls over the eyes, are perhaps the main reasons for the mystery that surrounds the pop star. At the same time, she is extremely open, honest and not really very mysterious when you meet her. The evening after, we are back in the restaurant, and I ask her if she herself experiences this duality.
– You have different sides. Who comes forward depends a lot on what phase you are in your life. Mystery for me is integrity. I can be very open, but I also like to be alone, I like my own company. I take my silent retreats from time to time, and am gone for 30 days without talking to anyone. There I gather energy, so I can be so open and outward later, she says.
Loreen had her big, commercial breakthrough in 2012 when she won the Eurovision Song Contest, with the second highest score ever. She literally became a star overnight in almost all European countries – at the same time.
– I could have continued touring with Euphoria for another ten years if I wanted to, so I had to stop. It was a hell of a lot of gigs and a hell of a lot of promotions. After a year or so, I suddenly realized that this could go on for a long time, so I said, “Stop, I’m going into the studio now!”
“For me, it makes no difference whether a man or a woman shows her breasts.”
Like what almost seems to have become standard in Music Sweden, she went to Los Angeles last year to record music. This is where all the good producers gather, and there she recorded parts of her upcoming album. In the final of this year’s melody festival, she made a comeback, as a midnight, with the new single Paper Lights. She then stood on stage with three male dancers in high heels, wearing only her long hair and a pair of black pieces of tape on her upper body. In the background, a large symbol shone where the male and female gender signs merged into something that Expressen quickly came to name the sign.
– We redid the feminine and masculine. Mixed it all up! We all have both some masculine and some feminine in us. Either you choose what you want to be or you are fed with norms already as a child; that this is right and this is wrong. But the thing is that there are no right and wrong! Whether it’s how you choose to dress, choose to talk or who you choose to jump into bed with. To me, it makes no difference whether a man or a woman shows her breasts. People say it’s wrong. But why really? One must question! She emphasizes that the point is not to say that everyone is the same as in that everyone is equal, but that you should be free to choose for yourself what you want to be.
– There is of course a security in placing things in compartments, it is human nature. But you should stop comparing yourself. I love being a woman, I love my gender! But I have no problem walking around topless, and if I want it, why should I don’t get it? If it feels right to go topless – do it! If it feels good to go in heels as a guy – do it! I met a 60-year-old man the other day who argued with me that children get confused by this. But what, to say what you are not allowed to wear is even more confusing, isn’t it? Who is really confusing?
“Some artists choose not to care, they just don’t give a fuck.”
Loreen talks fiery and committed. She describes herself as calm, but with temperament. Passionate. Emotionally engaged. She describes having a message in the music as very important.
– That’s the kind of creator I am. Some artists choose not to care, they just don’t give a fuck. They like to have someone tell them what to do, because it will be so much easier then, then you just need to focus on singing. But for me it does not work so it feels like I do not show my innermost core of respect then. For me, it’s about having something to say. Everything I have done has always had a meaning for me.
Loreen’s music and innovative stage appearances have been likened to both goth and Asian martial arts, but the fact is that the main inspiration comes from Morocco. Especially from the Berber culture, where she has her roots.
– From Morocco and my Berber origins, I got my relationship to music, and how to relate to life and death, she says, and explains that they place greater value on music here. Traditional Berber folk music is a ritual music with a pronounced purpose. A prayer is sung and rhythms and often flutes start. It can be to convey political messages and it is also common for music in the villages to be used to heal people.
“I have two points of view – and it has enriched me.”
– Look at him in the corner, says Loreen and points to the man with the spinning head that I observed already the first evening.
– He does that and ends up in a trance, which is an absolutely fantastic space to be in. It comes from our culture. It’s like sitting and meditating, it’s about full presence in the present. By rocking your head, you end up in a certain kind of sharpness, she says. The style of music is called gnawa, and is performed by both Arabic and Berber musicians. Gnawa is highly respected in Morocco, and maleems, as the practitioners are called, have an aura of musical star status around them.
– You can not end up in that state if you sit still. The movement is a part of it, just like mothers when they rock their children to sleep. It’s something that happens to the energies there, it’s very interesting … That’s what mindfulness is, and that’s what I experience especially after I’m on a silent retreat. You do not talk to anyone there, and you don’t look anyone in the eye. This causes you to suddenly start peeling off the drone that is in your head. What he feels there is the equivalent of what happens when I’m on stage. I only stay there and now in my performance. I think a lot comes from my Berber ancestors.
During a visit to Marrakech, one discovers that much of what we often refer to as Moroccan or Arabic is in fact specifically Berber. Berbers are the indigenous people themselves, the tribal people who dominated northern Africa as early as 3500 years ago. After the Arab conquest of North Africa in the 6th century, the Berbers were driven away to mountainous and desert areas. For centuries, Berbers have lived under oppression and been banned from speaking their native languages, but have nevertheless managed to preserve their culture and identity. Today, there are around 40 million Berbers scattered in northern Africa, and just over a third of the Moroccan population is of Berber origin.
– I have had to take part in two cultures, which makes it easier to understand and see two different ways of relating to things. I have two points of view – and it has enriched me. Morocco is more spiritual. People talk about the soul, about spirits, death and life after death. Yes, things that you do not really want to do in the western world. In what other ways is it different?
– It is not as free here, and the role of man and woman is of course very different. It is also not as good infrastructure, which means that you have confidence in your neighbor in a completely different way. The families are larger, your insurance is that you have good relationships with those you have close. You have a bigger social life. People hang out a lot more here.
Loreen grew up outside Västerås, as the eldest sister in a family with eight children, but the family spent every summer in Morocco.
– We lived far away, close to nature. Mom thought it was better that way, which it probably was. She was single and we were then six siblings. You would think it was messy, but we were very chill and laid back compared to our more chaotic, Moroccan family. Loreen’s parents are both Berber, and the whole family lives in Morocco. She tells how the relatives do not understand how they can choose not to move back.
– “Why don’t you live here? It’s hot here, there’s a beach… You live too little!”, Loreen imitates and gestures with her arms. She continues:
– You can live more in Morocco without having to pay for the shirt. It’s cheaper here. I had my cousin visit Stockholm and took him out to eat at East, but he sent the food back and said: “You can give me more food! I paid 300 bucks for this, give me at least a little more potatoes!”
She laughs out loud at the memory and continues to tell about her childhood summers. She specifically remembers the heat, the big, fat weddings and the noisy crowds.
– I feel very Swedish that way. I like the calm, I like when you get to meet so you can connect in depth. Here it is also connection, but it is in a completely different way, it is such a real chaos. It’s movement and it’s party and it’s screaming and it’s talking. My strongest memories are from large, traumatic family gatherings. There was always an aunt with a mustache who urged one to eat more, and scared the shit out of one. As a child, you loved it and hated it at the same time.
The day after the interview, we get up early and meet Marrakech’s magical morning light. The city is based on four colors, explains the Moroccan guide we have with us. Blue as the sky, red as the ground, green as the trees and white as the snow on the Atlas Mountains towering on the horizon. Jemaa el-Fna, the main square in Marrakech, is the starting point for many’s way into the bustling market corridors, to the seemingly endless souk. Spice traders, snake charmers and monkeys are crowded in the square – but what we are looking for right now are Berber accessories that will adorn Loreen during today’s shoot.
We are grateful to have a guide who saves us from persistent, and often unpleasant, salespeople. At the same time, we understand that it is at the expense of us instead ending up in the places of his friends, often much more expensive. We finally find some slippers, jewelry and hats and sit down at a café for a break. Our guide orders a glass of pure lemon juice with ice, which he drinks without touching a mine. Maybe the drinks at the hotel were so sour on purpose? In Marrakech Medina, the old city surrounded by a high city wall, there are no windows facing the streets, more than the small and lattice-clad ones that sit at high altitude. The Muslim homes are for no one but the eyes of their own family. The road to the riad we are going to spend the day on goes through an anonymous door in the red, bare stone wall. It is followed by a harassment, ie two closely following curves, to ensure that no transparency occurs. A riad is a traditional Moroccan house where windows and balconies all face a courtyard. Stepping in there is like disappearing into a quiet oasis, far away from the crowds outside.
The sun finds its way between the leaves of the courtyard’s orange trees, and it is a cacophony of birds chirping. The riad is large and almost 200 years old. It used to be inhabited by a man with several wives and children, but nowadays it is a private home for a French immigrant family. Right now, however, it houses a production team, which I quickly add up to closer people. They’re all here to shoot and film Ello’s campaign My Life, My Story, starring Loreen. I ask her how her thoughts went when she got that call.
– My gut feeling said it was something I wanted to do. Ellos is about to succeed with some kind of re-profiling. It was when they worked with the style icon Caroline de Maigret that I opened my eyes to them, I thought it was nice that collaboration. They also work with Sweden’s best creators, and if you work with such professionals, you know that the end result will be fat. But that it should be on Loreen’s terms becomes clear during the day. The Berber accessories would only come because she wanted them, and all the colorful garments were lost.
– My style is very black and white, layer upon layer and stylish. I do not like when there are too many colors. I think it has a lot to do with myself. There’s a lot going on here, says Loreen, pointing to her head.
– So therefore it must be clean all around. My head is like all the colors of the rainbow!
The photographer turns up bigger than hip hop with Dead Prez, and the music bounces loudly between the walls in the courtyard. Loreen dances and tosses her hair to get in the mood.
– Does it look a bit messy or? Good, it must not be perfect. And I do not want to smile at every single picture, okay? Then no one will take me seriously. I’m not really that feminine. I’m a boy girl, she says firmly.
Inside the kitchen, Moroccan women cook tagine, which is the name of both the dish and the clay pot in which it is cooked. What makes it special is its iconical lid, whose design allows the steam to be captured and drips back on the food and gives juicy dishes. In Moroccan cuisine, you braise in a tagine slowly under low temperature, which results in tender meat and tasty vegetables and sauce. Lamb or chicken is often combined with spices, olives, nuts and various fruits. The scent finds its way through the nostrils and straight down into the stomach, which instinctively begins to cook loudly. We break for lunch.
– You forget to eat, and then you wonder why life suddenly feels crap. Of course it’s stupid, says Loreen and strikes out with her hands before she dives into the food with them and starts eating.
– You do this, she explains, and looks at me who is stuck with her eyes on her plate. My grandfather always ate with his hands.
“I have a hard time with all this until death do us part …”
Are you good at cooking yourself?
– No, I’m useless! I think it’s boring, I just want it to go fast. If I come home after training and cooking, it’s just function. Kind of, eggs are good, it’s protein. If you look at my plate, it’s just: “Whoo that’s gross, man! Are you going to eat this? ” Äeh it’s just completely wrong, you know, tastes bale. Maybe that’s why no one comes to my dinners?
So you usually have dinner anyway?
– Yes, no, sometimes … When I’m free. Although I’m never free.
Never available?
– Yes, I am free when I want to be free, but I am also my own worst boss. I can take time off, but I easily take responsibility for people. I’m big sister, as well.
What do you do when you are free then?
– Then I prefer to do nothing. I do what I love all the time, so then I prefer to just take it easy. When I’m free, I do not want to have so much impression. I usually sit in front of the fire and hang out with Lilleman, my dog. And then my friends get to come over to me.
Where do you live?
– In Östermalm. Söderbo from the beginning, but it is calmer on Östermalm. And auntie, says Loreen and bursts out in a tan. A little muppet indeed! Not much happens there, but it’s just that the reason I live there.
Besides Lilleman, are you sharing your life with someone else?
– I can say like this: I am single, but have a functional love life. There are new types of relationships these days, you know.
Does that mean you do not want to put a stamp on it?
– I am a libra, we never put stamps on relationships. I understand that it is a security thing, to feel the need to know. But we are what we are like, it does not need a name. As long as you are honest with yourself. Stamping things does not help, on the contrary. People panic.
So you will never get married?
– I am a romantic and I like the concept of celebrating love, but if you believe in God, he still knows that it is you. I have a hard time with all this “until death do us part …”
Do you believe in God?
– I believe in something, something bigger than you and me. Then you can call it guides, angels, God – whatever. It does not matter. But I am afraid that man cannot handle religion in a healthy way. One of the greatest gifts we have received is the will to question and live as we want!
Her message is as clear and distinct now as after the acclaimed performance at the Melodifestivalen. Do not let yourself be limited by norms. Be free and live in the now. Use the music to reach your innermost core. On the plane home, I turn on Loreen’s music in my headphones. Closing my eyes, rocking slowly and trying to work on my mindfulness. But I’m probably far from the space she’s talking about. Instead, I pick up my mobile and google “Vipassana”. Maybe you should try that with 30 days of silence as well?
• Translation: via Google Translate, the translation may not be completely accurate
• Magazine Screenshots: http://gallery.lovely-loreen.com/thumbnails.php?album=491
• Photoshoot: http://gallery.lovely-loreen.com/thumbnails.php?album=577
• Interview: by Lovisa Bergstrand