The Swedish dance deity, Therese, is back and all ready to move full force ahead with the latest chapter in her long and ever expanding career. She’s been doing this for longer than all of her Scandinavian clubland contemporaries. And with new album ‘Missing Disco’, she’s not about to rest on any metaphorical laurels, rely on any former glories (however outstanding they were), or follow any trends. Instead, she’s setting a new sound. You all know the head-fuck of a single that planted her back onto dancefloors last year, ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’, and you should have all heard her current single which is also doing a good job of propelling her head and shoulders back above the crowd, ‘Remedy’ (full stream below, if you’ve yet to listen). Both songs, plus ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’s black sheep b-side, ‘Say It’, introduced a new sonic level to her already collocating catalogue of sounds. ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ in particular is dance music like you haven’t heard before, and the three new songs combined, are more than enough to get us VERY excited about what we think will be one of the best records of the year. ‘Missing Disco’ will be the first EP released in Autumn, with a second one to follow soon after.
So naturally we wanted to talk to her about all of that. And so when she came over to Sweden from her home in London last month, we met up with her to ask a few questions that were preying on our mind! It’s of course not the first time we’ve spoken to her, and you can read our much longer first interview with her from summer 2009 here (God almighty, we’d forgotten how massive it was!). She hasn’t changed at all – still extremely personable, hugely endearing, and a charmingly eclectic with her thoughts!
And our new interview with her, you can find below this stream of her new single, ‘Remedy’, which was released in Sweden last week!
scandipop: Therese, here we are again!
Therese: Here we are!
scandipop: Back together again to talk about your new music. Your new single is called ‘Remedy’, and today we premiered a preview of it on scandipop.co.uk. So our readers have now made up their own minds about what it sounds like – why don’t you now tell us how you intended it to sound, while you were making it?!
Therese: Well ‘Remedy’ is all about empowerment, about feeling empowered. It’s sexy. It’s about getting yourself out there without apologising for it. I think it’s quite strong. And with that, it’s uplifting, and beaty. It grabs you a little bit, ha ha! Oh God, did I just give my own song a review there?! Ha ha!
scandipop: Well, I asked for one! So thank you for giving it.
Therese: Cool!
scandipop: You’ve done so many different kinds of dance music over the years now. You’ve set trends, you’ve followed trends, you’ve been experimental…..so what are you aiming for this time around, with this record? Now that you’ve been doing it for so long.
Therese: Well when I started with the ‘Acapulco’ album, which is when I started to really put myself into a specific genre category, that was very experimental, when that album came out. And then I followed the trends more I guess with what was going on with the Stonebridge stuff, and I did that even though that wasn’t my sound. It wasn’t what I would normally do, but it was a collaboration. So that then took me into something else which was tailored to sound like what had just gone before with Stonebridge. And I think that’s why it didn’t really happen with that music, because I didn’t really want it to be like that. I like to be experimental, I don’t like to follow trends. I like to create my own, cos it just gets a bit boring otherwise. So at that time my management wanted me to sound a certain way and work with a certain producer, but I didn’t want to, so I got out of it, I got out of that management deal and record deal. And then I contacted Klas (Klas Wahl, her long-time collaborator and producer) again, because we’d always said that whatever happens, we wanna make another album together. A follow-up to ‘Acapulco’. Even though ‘Acapulco’ didn’t really happen that much, it was only in Sweden. But we still wanted to another album together. So I said to him, “let’s do that“. And so then we worked separately, and then together, and then whenever. And the old A&R guy, Niklas Rune, who A&R’d the first album – he then came onboard to A&R this album too!
scandipop: Wow, so it’s all been quite natural, and worked out quite organically then.
Therese: Yes! And I’m very very happy, which I think all artists must be without fail. When you’re in your right creative power, that’s when I feel you’re in your right element. And there’s no money in the world that can replace that, or any commercial success or anything like that. It has to happen the way it has to happen.
scandipop: You have to enjoy it, I guess.
Therese: Exactly. I mean, I haven’t been rich these last two years. But it’s been worth it, putting everything into this.
scandipop: And from this we’ve so far heard ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’, we’ve heard ‘Say It’, and now we’ve heard ‘Remedy’. What else can we expect to hear from the album?
Therese: You can definitely expect that sort of house production, the beats, the clubby feel to it. But what you can also expect is that there’s a spectrum of me being mirrored in the album. I want to show all of me. So there’s the club side of me….the club….
scandipop: The club diva Therese
Therese: Well yes, I didn’t want to say it myself, as I’m modest, but you said it for me. So yes there’s that side of me, and then there’s the melodic part of me too – my sense of melody is coming through. My lyrics, that are my life, about what’s going on in my head. And it’s also about showing a new side of me too. I’m gonna have two tracks on each album that are going to reveal a side of me that not a lot of people are aware of – which is the spiritual side of me.
scandipop: And musically those two tracks will sound different too?
Therese: Yeah, those two tracks are going to be more down-beat. They’re more about the message and the lyrics and the feeling. So you’ll just have to see what that is, ha ha! I’m a little bit nervous because people haven’t seen that part of me before. It’s very bare, I really am baring everything, down to my soul, the deepest depths of my soul. And that might be hard to believe when you see the title ‘Missing Disco’. You’ll think it’s just going to be a club album. And it is still a club album of course, but if you listen carefully to the lyrics, it’s gonna go a little deeper than that.
scandipop: Well you know, it’s really nice to see you discuss that with a big smile on your face, because that now makes me look forward to it even more! I can see it’s a genuine passion you have for it.
Therese: It is, it really is. I’ve really put everything into it. It’s me.
scandipop: So the two songs we heard from you last year, ‘Drop It Like It’s Hot’ and ‘Say It’…..this is gonna seem overblown, but they really were amazing, and like nothing we’ve heard before. And both of them….sorry to sound OTT….but they’re almost quite revolutionary! And….
Therese: This is an amazing compliment, and I get really really happy to hear such things, because of course you always want to create something new, don’t you.
scandipop: And my question to you about those two songs is, when you were in the studio making them, did you have any idea and did you realise what remarkable sounds you were making at the time?
Therese: Well the whole process, the reason why it has indeed taken such a long time, is because we really did want to work on creating something very unique, something that was different. We didn’t want to sound like anything else out there. So the first six months were all about creating that sound. And I did get the impression that it was something very new while we were making it. I certainly hadn’t heard it before anyway.
scandipop: So now back to ‘Remedy’ – that’s going to be the lead single for this new EP, and then another EP will follow, right? What’s the release schedule looking like?
Therese: Well the first EP is called ‘Missing Disco’, and then the second EP will come out afterwards, I think maybe three or four months later, depending on a few things. But it’s not gonna be longer than five or six months.
scandipop: And is that just in Sweden, or all over the world?
Therese: Well we are in negotiations, planning our way in the UK, so let’s see how long it’s gonna take. We’re not sure yet. We’re gonna let it happen as it happens. But we’re all very pro-active with it, because it’s all our project.
scandipop: One final question for you Therese……you’ve been doing this for quite a while now, fifteen years….
Therese: Ten
scandipop: No, fifteen, I’m counting Drömhus!
Therese: Oh ok. Hang on, how old am I? Shit, you’re right! Fifteen years, bloody hell!
scandipop: HA HA HA HA
Therese: Yeah you’re right, yeah, sorry!
scandipop: So looking back on all of that, all that you’ve done, could you pick out one or two years when you were happiest? And when was it?
Therese: Drömhus was very exciting, really really exciting. I grew a lot there as a person, and so many things happened there with that period. It was a messy time in my life too, being 20 and being famous, and having a private life too. It was weird, it was crazy. But I honestly do think that I’m the happiest now that I’ve ever been. But then that’s only because of experience and life, age, and where I am right now.
scandipop: That’s good to hear. Thanks Therese, you’re a dear!
Therese: Thank you!
