New York, NY (Top40 Charts) Currently on an intimate Norwegian tour, returning to club venues for the first time in six years, Sigrid is playing across her home country, reconnecting with fans, up-close and personal, which is at the heart of The Hype EP, the first EP the award winning pop star has released since her critically acclaimed 2017 debut Don't Kill My Vibe and the follow up Raw. With songs inspired by travelling from London to Nashville, headlining festivals and "messing up, moving on, and maybe not moving on", The Hype EP is a short and snappy insight into new creative ruination and a year of experimentation. On brand new song "Wanted It To Be You", Sigrid says "I've always been inspired by the songwriting from Nashville - the first song I ever wrote at 16 is a country pop tune - so it was only a matter of time before I had to get on a flight and see it for myself. Seth Mosley and I wrote Wanted It To Be You one day in Nashville, and Ian Fitchuk later co-produced it. I wanted something Shania Twain-esque to get out exactly how I felt at the time," and "Borderline": "Borderline was written in Bergen with Askjell Solstrand - it's such a mischievous tune. It's about all the things you shouldn't do, but doesn't that just make it even more exciting?"
Tracklisting:
The Hype
Borderline
Ghost Wanted It To Be You
At the beginning of 2023, the critically acclaimed global pop star found herself getting back to basics, writing new songs in studios from London to Oslo. Taking back the reins of the writing process; writing lyrics and melodies that felt connected to her roots as one of the biggest breakthrough Scandinavian pop stars of her generation, the 27-year-old has reflected on the past six years of being thrust into superstardom. "Ghost" and "Wanted It To Be" hone in on Sigrid's ability to write both a classic pop song that retains its power with and without huge pop production, whilst "The Hype" was inspired by UK electronic music and "Borderline" an indie/alternative love lament. Sigrid introduced us to her defiant pop with feminist anthem Don't Kill My Vibe in 2017, which led to winning the prestigious BBC Sound of 2018 - the first Norwegian artist to do so - and last month revealed her first music since 2022's critically acclaimed How To Let Go. The Hype EP is an expansive pop and alternative EP that shows us everything we have come to love about the pop sensation, with gritty lyricism and melodies that don't have an endpoint and keep rising. Asking the question: did I live up to the hype? Sigrid finds a universal feeling encapsulating revelations on career and relationship successes. This quick-witted power anthem is both tongue-in-cheek and blunt, a full circle moment from Don't Kill My Vibe, which was the beginning of Sigrid's Hype.
Co-producing The Hype EP with Nick Hahn, and bringing Askjell Solstrand, Ian Fitchuk, Seth Mosley and Foy Vance on board to collaborate on the initial versions, Sigrid's writing process for this EP has been intuitive yet never compromising on the song's ambitions. Visually, Sigrid remains one of the most understated pop stars, wearing T-shirt and jeans to play live on stage, picking practicality over what is expected of young female artists in the music industry. Staying true to herself, the visuals for "The Hype" are reminiscent of Sigrid's debut EP; with no props to lean on and no grandiose concepts, just Sigrid, honest and raw. Sigrid's rawness is the thread through which the pop star has charmed global audiences. Last month, Sigrid did a surprise headline set at Barn On The Farm, turning up with just a keyboard and stripping her huge pop songs down to stunning piano songs, showcasing Sigrid's inimitable talent as a modern singer songwriter. Sigrid then jumped onto stage with British band Flyte and artists Billie Marten and Ber, arranging a cover of Neil Young's Old Man in just ten minutes, which was a festival defining moment.
With two top 5 critically acclaimed albums under her belt, 2019's Sucker Punch and 2022's How To Let Go, arena shows in both London and Ireland, global world tours from Japan to LA and festival performances from Glastonbury to her first UK festival headline at Belladrum in Scotland, Sigrid has become one of the leading live pop acts of her generation. Writing huge pop songs from the heart with that rasp, and recalling great vocalists from Stevie Nicks to Carole King and Freddie Mercury, since Sigrid's ascent to pop stardom in 2017, the 27-year-old has achieved every accolade a young artist from a small town off the coast of Norway could ever have imagined. Sigrid has lit up stages with her non-conformist and progressive attitudes to femininity in pop. Ending 2022 headlining London's SSE Wembley Arena, Sigrid has become renowned for her high-energy live shows, writing anthemic chorus' for breathtaking festival performances. It's no surprise that the only place Sigrid feels she can truly take out "all those emotions" is performing live with her band.
Hailed as "life-affirming" (NME), "stunning" (Line of Best Fit) and "an impressive pop statement" (Clash) - last year's How To Let Go built on the praise of 2019's debut Sucker Punch - home to the enormous banger, top 10 hit and festival favourite "Strangers" - flitting between disco-tinged lead single, "Mirror", and the alt-rock emo of Bring Me The Horizon collaboration, "Bad Life". Like her debut, "How To Let Go" crashed into the Norwegian charts at number 1, while in the UK it improved on Sucker Punch's number 4 debut by reaching number 2. Its success means that since exploding straight out of the blocks in 2017 with instant classic and feminist anthem "Don't Kill My Vibe".
Last year was an important time of collaboration for Sigrid. Having met Griff at a fashion show, the two pop stars bonded over pizza and their experience in the music industry, and got in the studio and wrote the mighty firecracker 'Head on Fire', which won the Best Collaboration at the NME Awards 2022. Another chance meeting with Bring Me The Horizon backstage at Reading Festival, led to vocalist Oli Sykes and keyboardist Jordan Fish sending a demo to Sigrid - both being fans of each other's music - they all got in the studio to lay down lyrics, and the tear-stained rock ballad "Bad Life" was born. Pairing the Norwegian pop sensation's uplifting power-house choruses with Bring Me The Horizon's ability to capture intense emotion, playing a might version at Reading & Leeds festival 2022, the song is an allegory for taking struggles with mental health day by day.
With 1.47 Billion global streams (over 365m of those are from the UK along), 1 Million global album unit sales, and the Platinum certified success of pop-dance anthem Strangers, Sigrid has cemented her position as the 'voice' in alt-pop, but reminds us that at the heart of every one of her huge pop songs, is a girl at the piano in her hometown Alesund.
