Coachella Band Preview: Tove Lo

This is it. The final blog post before the big first weekend. I make my journey out there in two days and I can’t wait to be among that festival atmosphere. Hopefully I get a chance to see one or two of these amazing bands or artists I’ve previewed, but I keep my expectations low to avoid disappointment just in case. The final artist I decided to preview is a Swedish singer/songwriter known as Tove Lo.

Tove Lo, whose real name is Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson, first came on to the music scene in 2014. Her career journey started way before that though. While growing up she went to music school and even became friends with Caroline Hjelt, who went on to form Icona Pop. By the end of her teenage years she formed the rock band Tremblebee. After the band broke up she decided to go after a songwriting career and earned a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music in 2011. Through that she often wrote and recorded her own compositions which lead to her eventual record deal.

Her stage name comes from a nickname she had growing up. Tove is part of her real name and Lo is the Swedish word for Lynx, which was her favorite animal growing up. Tove Lo’s first performances were in London and at SXSW in 2014 right around the time she released her first EP Truth Serum. The EP contained one of her most popular hits, “Habits”, which she released independently even before the EP came out. The track was re-titled “Habits (Stay High)” for Truth Serum and earned her breakout success as one of the hottest new artists of 2014. Her debut album Queen of the Clouds was released on September 24, 2014. It had much success making the top 20 on album charts in the U.S., the U.K., and Sweden. In Sweden the album is certified platinum. Towards the end of 2014, Tove Lo joined the third leg of Katy Perry’s Prismatic World Tour as the opening artist.

By early 2015 though, the breakout artist needed to take a little time away from singing as she had to have surgery on her vocal chords to remove cysts that had developed. Near the end of the year she was back at it touring across North America in support of the re-packaged edition of Queen of the Clouds which was released in October of 2015. The year rewarded Tove Lo with two Grammi Awards (Swedish version of the Grammys) and a Grammy nomination for her writing credit on Ellie Goulding’s song “Love Me Like You Do”.

In 2016 the Swedish singer announced she would be releasing her second album later in the year. She toured as the opening act for Maroon 5 to promote the upcoming release. She released the first single from her new album Lady Wood in early August called “Cool Girl”. The album was released on October 28, 2016. Tove Lo recently went on a solo tour in support of Lady Wood and has plans to join Coldplay’s upcoming tour as an opening act this summer.

Along with her own success, Tove Lo has also been involved in many successful collaborations with artists such as Nick Jonas, Coldplay, and Flume, as well as earning songwriting credits for many well known artists such as Ellie Goulding, Hillary Duff, Victoria Justice, Lea Michele, and Icona Pop. One of her most successful collaborations came in 2015 when she sang on Swedish DJ Alesso’s track “Heroes (We Could Be)”. The single had high chart success in Sweden, the U.K., and the U.S.

Tove Lo’s music style is an alternative style of pop music. It might be considered synthpop or electropop. It definitely has an electronic influence and is a bit darker than your standard pop music as well. A lot of her songs have this sexual type of feel and sound. I’m not saying that’s the intention with her music either. Her style is just perfect baby making music.

I don’t remember when I first heard of Tove Lo. I know I knew her song “Habits (Stay High)” before anything else. I didn’t really like the song though, which is probably because I would only ever hear it on mainstream pop radio. Even though I’m not a huge fan of listening to that type of radio, I have a guilty pleasure song or two that gets overplayed. “Habits” was not one of those. “Talking Body” was though. I first heard “Talking Body” on a Spotify playlist and I really liked the song. It was even part of my work out playlist for a while. I never really got hooked on any of her other songs though, but I think at that point I appreciated her as more of an alternative pop artist.

So for the second week in a row why am I previewing this artist that I’ve never gotten into? In fact compared to Two Door Cinema Club, I don’t even own any of Tove Lo’s records. Well it’s pretty simple. Tove Lo plays Sunday at Coachella and I’ve only previewed two other Sunday acts, Lorde and Grouplove. If I had the whole festival to just hang out and see music, there would only be 2 performances that I’d really wanna see on Sunday which frees up a ton of the day. My familiarity with Tove Lo would make me want to check her set out. I think she’ll put on a great set and I definitely suggest you check her out if you have time on Sunday. Here’s a few songs you might want to know first:

1. Habits (Stay High)
2. Talking Body
3. Cool Girl
4. True Disaster
5. Influence
6. Moments
7. Not On Drugs
8. Got Love
9. Heroes (We Could Be) (w/ Alesso)
10. Say It (w/ Flume)

 

 

Coachella Band Preview: Two Door Cinema Club

Coachella is next weekend. Coachella is next weekend. COACHELLA. IS. NEXT. WEEKEND. Thought I would ingrain it in your mind, but yeah Coachella begins next weekend. That means the band previews for 2017 are almost over. It’s the only bummer of this whole Coachella experience. I have one more preview left before the festival starts, but that’s it. There’s not much time. You might wanna binge listen to this next act.

Two Door Cinema Club was formed in 2007. The group who comes from two small towns in Northern Ireland is comprised of members Alex Trimble (lead vocals, rhythm guitar), Sam Halliday (lead guitar, vocals), and Kevin Baird (bass, vocals, synth). Trimble and Halliday met while in grammar school and then the duo got to know Baird better when he started hanging out with their mutual friends. The band got their name when Halliday mispronounced the name of the local movie theater, Tudor Cinema.

Two Door Cinema Club’s first EP Four Words to Stand On was released in 2008 which garnered them attention. They released their debut album, Tourist History, 2 years later in February of 2010 (Republic of Ireland release) and toured the UK and Ireland in the spring of 2010 in support of its release. The band also played a bunch of European Festivals in 2010 including Reading and Leeds and opened for Phoenix during their 2010 U.S. Tour. Their debut album earned them two NME Award nominations.

The band continued to tour going into 2011 playing a co-headlining tour of the U.S. and Canada with Tokyo Police Club. 2011 brought stops at Glastonbury, Coachella, and Lollapalooza, as well as another stop at Reading and Leeds. They began work on their second album in 2011 and by the end of August 2012, Beacon was released.

In 2013, Two Door Cinema Club released their second EP Changing of the Seasons. They spent spent 2013 playing shows and festivals throughout Europe and North America. The group finally took a break from a steady 3 years of touring by 2014 and began to work on their third album. They began touring again in 2016 in support of the release of their third studio album, Gameshow, which came out in October. That tour has continued into 2017 and includes the stop in Indio.

Two Door Cinema Club is part of the indie rock genre. Some of their songs verge on indie pop as well. Their new album even has a funky, soulful feel, so you can say the band sort of spans across genres.

I first discovered Two Door Cinema Club in 2011 in the prime of my indie music phase. I bought their debut album that year. It was never a stand out album to me despite my love for their style of music. It was always just a solid indie rock soundtrack to my drives that fall. Since then, I haven’t really followed up much on Two Door Cinema Club. I did hear of them touring and making music though so I knew they were still around. I was just never as into them as I was with other bands.

So why am I previewing them for Coachella and telling you to see them? Because despite not being really, really into them, they’re a good band and festivals are the time to see as much music as possible especially if you’re somewhat familiar with a band. So I guess that’s the only condition. If you’re not into indie rock and you’ve never heard of Two Door Cinema Club, by all means, don’t feel obliged to see them perform. If you do like indie rock or you know a few songs by Two Door Cinema Club, you should check them out, assuming their set doesn’t overlap with another set on your must-see list. If you already love them and plan on seeing them, I have no doubt they’ll play a great set. I know I would probably see them at Coachella because I don’t think I’d actually buy tickets to just see Two Door Cinema Club on tour and that’s okay. That’s what makes festivals great. Maybe you’ll see them and they’ll be unexpectedly amazing causing you to want to see them on tour. It’s their 3rd time at Coachella too so they’re not new to experience. They play Saturday and at this point they’ll probably be on a little later in the day. Here’s what you need to know if you plan on seeing them:

1. Are We Ready? (Wreck)
2. Bad Decisions
3. What You Know
4. Sleep Alone
5. Something Good Can Work
6. I Can Talk
7. Changing of the Seasons
8. Next Year
9. Undercover Martyn
10. Sun
11. Gameshow