Lykke Li’s sad & sexy new album
Swedish singer Lykke Li explores the complexities of relationships, writes Pearl Boshomane Tsotetsi
Ilike it salt, I like it wet. I like my make-up in a mess.” This isn’t a song about sex — but about crying. Let It Fall is a great track (though not a standout, by any means) from Lykke Li’s 2008 debut album Youth Novels, and it’s a perfect snapshot of Li’s vibe, at least lyrically. Her music is sad, but it’s also sexy. A decade later, the super sensual Swedish chanteuse has just released her fourth album and it’s aptly titled so sad so sexy (yes, it’s all lower case, song titles included). For those fans (and there are many) who were worried that the singer’s being in a stable relationship and becoming a mother meant the demise of their favourite sexy sad girl, no need to panic: Li’s life is filtered through a rose-tinted lens on Instagram, but her music still isn’t.
(Her Fleetwood Mac-inspired side project Liv, on the other hand, is blissful pop-rock. Give the tracks Wings of Love and Heaven a listen — they’re worth it.)
One of Li’s strengths is her ability to swing effortlessly between genres while maintaining a trademark sound. Youth Novels was catchy, languid R&B/ pop, its 2011 follow-up Wounded Rhymes was melodramatic Goth pop and 2014’s incredibly heartbroken I Never Learn was ’80s power balladry for the Tinder generation. Now, living in Los Angeles, Li plays around with trap music — and it largely works out quite well. Over 10 tracks, Li explores the complexities and guilty feelings of being in an empty relationship and coming to terms with the fact that maybe she’s better off, as she sings on one track, “alone than lonely here with you”.
The album opens with Li’s sweet vocals over some strings on hard rain, which feels a bit like music for a film, but with some Auto-Tune thrown in. The lyrics deal with emotional distance between lovers (“I’m trying to get us back together/ though we never been apart”) and Li finds herself wondering if she and her lover want to be with each other — or just want to be with someone (“Do you need me to be near you? So you got somebody next to your body?” she asks).
Things get sensual on deep end (its video makes the viewer feel like a voyeur, shot entirely on her iPhone, in selfie mode, a montage of naked bodies, making out, swimming pools and parties). It also deals with disconnect between lovers (“your kiss is salty, chlorine”). It’s a fantastic song you can’t help but bop your head to.
One of the best tracks on the album is the gloriously dramatic last piece (“You packed the bag/ I guess that your mind is made up/ You take a drag off of the cigarette you said you’re quitting now/ Take a step back, when all I want is to hold you/ Drive away fast/ This ain’t the movie scene I thought we’d be in”). Even those in the happiest of relationships will get a lump in their throat listening to it.
Other standouts are the gorgeous title track (“I was only lying when I looked in your eyes, now I’m lying with you one last time and it’s so sad, so sexy”), better alone and bad woman, a track that is written from the perspective of a woman who breaks her partner’s heart.
That song starts off quietly, before slowly building up into a stomping slow-ish jam. “Just don’t go before I show you what’s behind all of my sorrow/ What’s inside all of the bullets I throw,” she pleads sweetly, sounding on the verge of tears. The album ends on a stunning note with the bare utopia. Anchored by a simple guitar, Li sounds hopeful about the future and hopelessly in love (maybe with her son, who features in the video): “I see the dream in your eyes and I want it/ it's burning bright like a fire from a comet/ if there’s a bomb in your heart I’ll disarm it.”
So sad so sexy lives up to its title. But if you’re not familiar with Li, this isn’t the place to start. Go to Wounded Rhymes instead. Then you’ll enjoy this one more.