After breaking through in Idol 2004, it would be six years before Loreen returned to music. This she subsisted on during the quiet years.

Loreen Talhaoui, 37, is today considered Sweden’s absolute elite artist, but the road there has been crooked. Not everyone knows that Loreen for several years invested in a completely different career. Now she talks about it in her own words in the podcast Hundåren.

Idol was a kick in the butt

In the podcast, which is run by journalist and musician Tomas Andersson Wij, Loreen describes how she disappeared from the limelight after her fourth place in Idol 2004, and why it would take until 2011 before more music was released.

– I was not ready. Idol challenged me. It was the slap in the face I needed to start processes within me. I did not understand some things. I felt “wow I have to learn”. I did not understand reality TV. When cameramen asked me to weave the question into an answer, and at the same time I would try to be in touch with the soul and the space that is so beautiful, it didn’t work. So Idol triggered a need to master the ability to produce and write. I had not done any of this, I just sang, says Loreen.

Instead of continuing with the music, she decided to learn the craft behind reality TV.

Starting to cut TV at a friend’s

– In my world there were no right and wrong regarding creativity. Who is in charge? Idol shook my world and I tried to adapt. I ended up further away from my soul and my real expression, which was good as it led to me taking certain steps that I had to take, she continues.

Through a friend, Loreen got a job as an editor, and eventually a post-production producer and feature producer.

– She was a TV producer and editor, and I always had a lot of comments that made her notice that I was good at dramaturgy. She became my first mentor and I started cutting TV with her in the evenings, says Loreen.

Loreen works with Frufritt on SVT

One of Loreen’s first jobs in reality television was to cut SVT’s version of Bonde seeks wife, the program Frufritt. Loreen laughs a lot when Tomas Andersson Wij mentions it.

– A brackish flop that is sawn at the ankles and has no viewers, says Tomas.

– I did not attach much importance to whether it was a success, Loreen answers and explains that her focus was still on the music.

– This was a good extra crack. Then I took the money I earned there and rented it into a studio.

In 2008, Loreen works with two seasons of the TV4 program Matakuten, which Tomas points out was better. The program was an initiative by Bert Karlsson and was about the bad school food in Sweden.

– Bert and I worked quite well, we had fun. What I like about Bert is that he runs his own race, says Loreen.

Releases music through Måns Zelmerlöw’s record label

Fast forward two years, to 2010, and Loreen meets Måns Zelmerlöw who has just started a record company with the producer she has already worked with.

– Then it felt natural to release a single via them, says Loreen. Then began the journey that made her take a big step into the musical heat again.

Loreen participated in the Melodifestivalen 2011 with My Heart is Refusing Me, and the following year with Euphoria.

When Loreen looks back on her career in reality, she says that what attracted her was dramaturgy and storytelling.

– Suddenly I stood behind the camera and understood. It created a calm in me. Today I know what it’s about, because I’ve worked with it, she says.

– The pain that Idol gave was also the key to it starting to move in my sister. We should always take a beating to understand what we need to do, why is it so, she says with a laugh.

Listen to the entire episode of Hundåren (The Dog Years) with Loreen here.

• Source: https://www.elle.se/noje/loreens-okanda-karriar-efter-idol–klippte-realty-tv/7442455
• Translation: via Google Translate, the translation may not be completely accurate