Rising pop-R&B star SVEA (Svea Kågemark) is recognized as the artist of a new generation. She started writing songs in late 2017 and six months later, her debut single was released on her high school graduation day. The single immediately created a public buzz. Committed to her music, SVEA spent every day of 2018 in the studio, perfecting her narrative and signature sound.
Clash Music wrote “SVEA has something special. Alt-pop mingling with R&B, her future-facing methodology places her in a league of her own. It’s a bold, biting release, with SVEA’s vocal being driven by remarkable poise, an incredible sense of purpose.”
Her 7-track EP “This is” and single “Complicated” with Alexander Oscar has earned +13M plays on Spotify alone. SVEA’s talent, popularity and dedication has gained the attention of several renowned songwriters and producers. Opening for the global star Jess Glynne and receiving several major bookings for this summer is only the beginning for SVEA.
Seinabo Sey is a critically acclaimed and four times Grammy Award winning songstress. She has continued to break new ground with her second studio album, I’m a Dream, released during 2018, where she blurs borders between cultures and musical styles, forging an intersection of soul, R&B, pop, and indie threaded together by global ambition. It follows 2015’s Pretend, and pushes the Swedish-Gambian powerhouse vocalist and songwriter further on the upwards trajectory established after her gigantic first single “Younger” spread a declarative message to listeners around the world in 2013: ‘go on, don’t wait – follow your dreams.’ Sey has done exactly that.
Following an extended stay in West Africa, Seinabo took the creative reigns and crafted songs around the issues of womanhood, feminism, identity and body positivity, released together with gripping visuals shot on location where her father grew up in Gambia. Last fall Seinabo kicked off her European Tour by selling out Ericsson Globe Arena in Stockholm to a massive 12,000 people.
Photo by: Märta Thisner
In one year, 20-year old Rhys went from talented but unknown to 50 million streams on Spotify, getting nominated at music awards and having the most played Swedish song on National radio P3 during 2017.
When Rhys entered the studio with Jörgen Elofsson for the first time, she was there as a demo vocalist. But it didn’t take long before the producer realized that he just had to work with the American-Swedish singer – and they have been ever since then. Three of their co-written songs has streamed over 40 million times on Spotify during 2017, and with that, Rhys went from being unknown yet an amazing singer, to becoming one of the biggest upcoming talents on the Swedish music scene.
Rhys (so far) short career can’t be described in any other way than magical. The first single “Last Dance” was the most played Swedish song on P3 during 2017, she was the only debutant to have two singles top 50 on the radio chart at the same time, and the third single release (“Too Good To Be True”), peaked as top 10.
Last year Rhys released her debut album, an album that now have streamed over 100M times
There are only a few people who, as 26 years old, have experienced the milestones that Paul Rey has experienced. Before signing with Warner Music two years ago, he had already had time to tour in United States, release a platinum selling single with Snoop Dogg & Arman Cekin and, at a meeting, impress so strongly on legendary Quincy Jones that he now acts as Paul’s musical mentor. For the past two years, he has released numerous pop songs, including the singles “Tear Me Down” and “Fool For You” and performed on some of Sweden’s biggest TV shows.
Paul Rey with the big voice released his EP Note To Self in June 2018 which he wrote, recorded, produced and mixed completely on his own. In a short time, it has been streamed just under 20 million times on Spotify, something that was recently noticed by one of Sweden’s biggest newspaper, saying he’s the second biggest artist in southern Sweden.
As a 22-year-old rising artist, Swedish musician Mopiano writes and produces all of his own work. He takes DIY seriously. He started out creating music from his bedroom back in 2012 and found it difficult to find artists who could adapt the sound that he created, so he started to sing by himself.
His newly released single ‘Undercover Paper Chaser’ is as smooth as the name of the title, with a beat to make even the stiffest dancer move and a melodic blend of vocals mixing rap and song. What’s for certain is that this is only the beginning for Mopiano and his home-cooked smooth bangers.
Taking inspiration from artists such as Fleetwood Mac and Bruce Springsteen to One Republic and Bon Iver, JUNG creates something modern with a perfect harmony that only two brothers can achieve. Tom and Henrik Ljungqvist came together from their individual past successes last year to start JUNG and released their debut single “Vera”, showing their true creative brilliance. With the goal of creating varied music with a melodic red thread, JUNG has given the music world a duo who can sing about loneliness while inspiring hopefulness in its listeners.
The brothers have already succeeded in putting an international mark on their sound. Their song, “Wasteland”, has become a favorite of many and can be heard in several stores across the US. In January JUNG released their first EP, “Formula”, pulling inspiration for it from different generations of music, making their sound so unique. JUNG has given us the beginnings of a familiar sound we have never heard before but look forward to hearing for many years to come.
Swedish artist GRANT debuted late 2017 with the single ’aterline’ and released her critically acclaimed debut album ‘In Bloom’ in June 2018. High profile UK music site The Line of Best Fit gave the album a glorious 9 of 10 reviews saying “As introductions go, its rawness and honesty surpass pretty much anything you’ll have heard before; its blistering surge into a final triumphant chorus always primed and ready to take your breath away no matter how many times you hit repeat.”.
There’s a certain mesmerising quality to her first full-length LP, with her captivating vocals, the 24-year-old delivers every lyric with both a larger-than-life urgency and uncompromising intimacy, drawing the listener into her private universe. Set against a backdrop of sumptuously textured alt-pop, ‘In Bloom’ finds GRANT wholly embodying whatever mood she’s conjuring: lovestruck, vengeful, heavy-hearted, triumphant. 2018 have been a massive debut year for the young Swede with several TV-performances (she tored the house down at Swedish Grammy Awards in February 2018), summer festivals, a headline tour, a support tour with pop star Tove Styrke and two nominations for national radio P3 Gold Awards + one Swedish Grammy Awards nomination.