Next Wave #918: Amanda Tenfjord

In Association With Vero True Social

Scandinavia’s imposing pop lineage is showing no signs of disappearing. Each week – each day, even – the Clash inbox is beset by fresh talent, with those Nordic pop factories excelling at delivering a sublime melodic fusion.

Amanda Tenfjord, though, certainly didn’t emerge from a factory line. Blissfully bittersweet Scandi-pop with a highly personal edge, she composes by walking along the shore at her tiny home town, crafting music that is both extraordinarily infectious and resolutely individual.

“Music has always been around me,” she tells Clash on the phone during one of those creative perambulations. “I’ve never taken the decision to do it, it was more… I started making music, people liked it, and it escalated from there.”

Half-Greek and half-Norwegian, she spent her childhood surrounded by music. Classically trained, she joined a choir, before sneaking out to listen to her Whitney Houston records. It’s something that she still marvels at, laughing: “I only sang ‘Ave Maria’ and that kind of stuff until I was 16!”

Eventually focussing purely on pop, Amanda quickly established her reputation. Snapped up by Propeller Recordings, she’s recorded in studios across Europe, continually returning to that small Norwegian town by the shore. “Ideas just pop up anywhere,” she points out. “Usually, to write a song I would need a guitar or a studio or something. All the ideas come anywhere – when I’m in the shower, or bed, or out cycling.”

Stunning new single ‘Kill The Lonely’ proves her point. Out now, it obeys no rules but her own, and it’s rapidly becoming a sensation – a blistering burst of pop energy that focusses on the need to communicate.

Sessions for the track took Amanda out of her comfort zone, travelling to London – a city she scarcely knew – to complete it. “I was sat in the tube, everyone was looking at their phone, and I didn’t know anyone. Sometimes you feel so lonely when there’s a lot of people around you. For me, to get a smile… it’s like: oh, people actually see and feel things still.”

These experiences are interwoven with the song itself, this dazzling piece of digitised pop heaven that breaks through invisible barriers. “It’s about smiling more to strangers. Looking up from our phones, and trying to make the world a less lonely place for everyone.”

It’s a simple mission, but a strikingly important one. “The topic in the song is still very important to me,” she insists. “I’ve always known when a song is going to be important.”

– – –

– – –

Join us on the ad-free creative social network Vero, as we get under the skin of global cultural happenings. Follow Clash Magazine as we skip merrily between clubs, concerts, interviews and photo shoots. Get backstage sneak peeks, exclusive content and access to Clash Live events and a true view into our world as the fun and games unfold.

 

-
Join the Clash mailing list for up to the minute music, fashion and film news.