{"id":362,"date":"2008-11-22T10:39:08","date_gmt":"2008-11-22T10:39:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/beta\/?p=362"},"modified":"2011-07-20T16:04:27","modified_gmt":"2011-07-20T16:04:27","slug":"lykke-li","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/2008\/11\/22\/lykke-li\/","title":{"rendered":"Lykke Li"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/p>\n

Hyperactive pop sprite Lykke Li talks to<\/em> Wonderland about unrequited love, sounding like a little girl and wishing she was Tom Waits.
\n
\nLykke Li (pronounced \u2018Lookki Lee\u2019) is such a mess of contrasting emotions \u2013 from brash confidence to alarming fragility and back in a single sentence and back \u2013 you have to wonder if she has what it takes to cope with the soul-flying highs and crushing lows of your average music career. \u201cI was confident, like I knew I was going to get my music out there and I\u2019m going to be a legend,\u201d claims the Nordic pop-starlet. \u201cAt the same time, I was like, \u2018What the fuck if I don\u2019t? What if I\u2019m not a star? Then I\u2019m gonna die<\/em>.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Eighteen months ago the impetuous, impatient Swede was fretting to mentor Bj\u00f6rn Yttling that her life was fading away because she was 21 and hadn\u2019t yet released her first album. Now that she has \u2013 the deceptively simple Youth Novels<\/em> \u2013 even that\u2019s not entirely fulfilling in Lykke-land. \u201cMy intention was to make a really obscure record,\u201d insists Li, phoning from LA at the start of a US tour. \u201cI wanted to do an album that nobody understands but is genius. And then it became really accessible\u2026\u201d But you\u2019re not really<\/em> disappointed? \u201cYes, I am\u2026 I don\u2019t want to be pinned down as just a young girl with a girlish voice. I\u2019m like, \u2018Do they not know that I\u2019m like Tom Waits?\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

It would be easy to write Li off as just another self-declared maestro desperate to share her muse with the world, but that would be to overlook her obvious gifts. With its sweetly melodic, multi-instrumental flavour (even the theremin makes an appearance), the album \u2013 accompanied by self-consciously kooky videos in which Li\u2019s seemingly angry gaze defies you to look away \u2013 has put her brand of Scandinavian synth-pop on the underground map. With her sugary, ethereal vocals and passionate, wounded lyrics, she\u2019s hypnotic and amusing at the same time. It\u2019s this wit that marks out Li from the army of pouting, blank-faced nymphs who become one or two-hit wonders.<\/p>\n

Li\u2019s love of performance began early. Her family abandoned Sweden after Chernobyl\u2019s radioactive rains and decamped to Portugal, where she spent carefree formative years writing poetry, ballet dancing and putting on a stuffed bra to perform Madonna songs. The boundary-free existence also has its downside, she insists. \u201cI have no home and when I talk with my mum she is the same way. She says, \u2018Maybe I should live in India, or maybe I should stop taking photos and open a dog kennel, or maybe I should become a Reiki therapist.\u2019 There\u2019s no comfort \u2013 we\u2019re just drifting souls.\u201d<\/p>\n

While both her parents were players in the Swedish punk scene, Li draws her own inspiration from sonic eccentrics like Nina Simone, Dr. John and alternative-rockers Suicide. \u201cI listen to dark, strong voices, and if I would try to copy that, that would just be a mess.\u201d She\u2019s the first to admit that her voice \u201ckind of sucked\u201d at first although it\u2019s ripening with experience. It\u2019s the reason she settled into a cooing, baby-doll singing style, which she pairs with trademark confessional lyrics (in Little Bit she sings, \u2018And for you I keep my legs apart\/And forget about my tainted heart\u2019). \u201cLittle Bit is about an unrequited infatuation,\u201d she admits. Where relationships are concerned, it transpires, Li doesn\u2019t cope very well: \u201cI have the balls to do anything but when it comes to the guys that I like, I\u2019m shy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Touring into 2009, Li says she won\u2019t succumb to the pressure to rush out a second album because she\u2019s craving more life experience first: \u201cI\u2019m kind of a loner. I don\u2019t take any advice from anybody. I make up my life all by myself\u2026 You never know what lies ahead. It\u2019s like fresh food \u2013 you just have to keep making it.\u201d<\/p>\n

Photography: Ben Rayner
\nFashion: Lauren Blane
\nWords: Matt Mueller
\n
\nThis article first appeared in full in<\/em> Wonderland #15, September\/October 2008<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Hyperactive pop sprite Lykke Li talks to Wonderland about unrequited love, sounding like a little girl and wishing she was Tom Waits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":363,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9419],"tags":[111,50,112,115,113,79,116,114],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nLykke Li | Wonderland<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Lykke Li.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.wonderlandmagazine.com\/2008\/11\/22\/lykke-li\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Lykke Li | Wonderland\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Lykke Li.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" 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