DCist Interview: Lykke Li
Photo by Kyle Gustafson
Looking back on 2008, how would you rate it? Seems like things went pretty well for you.
Yeah, it has been an excellent year. Just getting my album out in all these different territories and building up a platform and an audience and having all these amazing tours.
I saw the announcement today that you are part of this year's Coachella festival.
Yeah. That was one of my crazy, out there goals. Coachella! I can't believe I'm going to play there. It's going to be amazing. I haven't done any American festivals other than South By Southwest. I've only done European and Australian ones.
Your American tour starts on Friday in Philadelphia. How do you gear up for a tour?
I don't have a lot of time off, so it usually just goes on and on and on and on, so the only thing to prepare is to stay sane and to not get sick. I don't plan that much. We just do it, you know? I bring lots of black clothes.
Are you changing up the set at all? I know you did a Vampire Weekend cover on your last tour.
I'm not going to do the Vampire Weekend thing but I have some other things in mind that I'm going to do. We'll see.
I really liked your Tribe cover that you did at the end of your set.
I think that's going to stay because I love that song.
I saw it on YouTube before I saw your show in person, and I thought it was a bit strange. But after seeing you live, it really fit in with the rest of your set and the vibe of your show. I wasn't expecting how hip-hop your show is. It must be a big influence on you.
Yeah, it is. I love hip hop.
You performed with Q-Tip not too long ago. That must have been a real treat.
Yeah, on the MTVu Woodies awards. It was amazing. I was quite nervous. I felt like I took water over my head, because I can't rap, you know? But I still really wanted to do it because I love him and it would be so crazy to say no.
There's also a video of you doing a cover of Rick Ross' "Hustlin'."
I don't know why that is out everywhere because that was at a private party in LA that I did. I don't know why that is floating around. I didn't know it was going to be everywhere. It was more of a spur of the moment thing, I would not like to be judged by it.
Photo by Kyle Gustafson
I like performance art. I did some dancing when I was younger but that is not the type of dancing I do now. When I am on stage I just go with the flow. I would probably dance that way even if I never took a dance class in my whole life. My dancing background doesn't really have anything to do with the way I move on stage.
Your album, Youth Novels, was produced by Bjorn Yittling of Peter Bjorn and John fame. How did that come about?
I was working on some songs and I made this demo that I started sending out to people. And then somebody contacted me and said, "you are good, but I think it would be cool for you to work with a producer," because I hate to do everything by myself. So I got his phone number, and then we got on really well and started working.
So you just cold called him?
Yeah. I'm like "Do you want to have a coffee? I have some music," and he was like, "OK."
Was this before or after "Young Folks"?
Before. If I called him after he would never have the time to meet me.
How long did it take you to actually record the album?
It was different, because I met him when he was on the verge of breaking in America, so we started working on some songs -- but then he was away all the time touring. I was like writing songs and sending them away to him like, "what do you think about this song?" And would be like, "it's OK, but maybe you should change that, or work on that." We were working for one and a half years, but working very seldom because he was away all the time. But then I was pushing him, like "I need to make my record now!" you know. My life was wasting away. But then we did it in about two months.
That must have been frustrating, with all the starts and stops.
I'm still happy I got that time. I would not have been ready to record and album the first time I met him.