Tove Lo recently released her first major album, titled Queen of the Clouds, on September 30. She is currently best known for the track Habits (Stay High), which is also included on her new album. Tove Lo is still breaking into the American scene, as she originally hails from Stockholm, Sweden (like her famous friend, DJ Alesso).
Tove Lo, born Tove Ebba Elsa Nilsson, has written songs for Icona Pop, Cher Lloyd and many other artists. In Europe, Tove Lo is having a major moment; she is scheduled to go on tour with Katy Perry until December, and she also just wrapped up a quick tour in the US. Her own music can be classified as pop, alternative and electropop. Currently, Tove Lo’s song Habits, remixed by Hippie Sabotage, has over 65 million views on YouTube, and her other songs are on the rise as well.
Tove Lo announced that Queen of the Clouds is broken into three parts based on the pattern she noticed in her love life: the sex, the love and the pain. Her album is composed of 16 songs and opens with “The Sex (Intro).” Toward the middle of the album, there is a song titled “The Love (Interlude),” and the final track is a song titled “The Pain (Interlude).” On these three tracks, Tove Lo simply speaks her mind on what these three parts mean to her. They are short and simple, but speak powerful words to what these three things do to humans in relationships.
On the track “Talking Body,” Tove Lo sings about a physical attraction to someone. What makes her song unique is the way she uses her gentle voice to surprise the listener with sudden swearing: “If you love me right, we fuck for life.”
Tove Lo also displays her gentle voice contrasted by bold lyrics in the song “Moments”: “I, I’m not the prettiest you’ve ever seen. But I have my moments, I have my moments. Not the flawless one, I’ve never been. But I have my moments, I have my moments. I can get a little drunk, I get into all the don’t’s but on good days I am charming as fuck.” In this song, Tove Lo is both realistic and inspiring, something more female artists should learn to balance in their songs.
As a whole, Queen of the Clouds is a breath of fresh air in the world of female pop artists. Her music is perfectly catchy (yes, it will get stuck in your head) with its electric roots, infused with a heavy backbeat that will make powering through a workout easy.