The Tamesis
When Lykke Li picked up the phone early Monday morning, I found her in Los Angeles, where she was rehearsing for Coachella. Tonight, the brooding Swedish singer-songwriter and what collaborator Mark Ronson calls a “high priestess of heartbreak and grief” will perform material from her sixth studio album in Indio, after party (Published May 8).
Lee breaks into the independent music scene for the first time with debut album youth novel 2008, mainstream success 2011 with “I Follow Rivers” wounded nursery rhymefound the prospect of performing new music quite daunting. It reminds her of the early days of her career: “When I was 19 or 20, I always had to prove myself or win someone over.”
She faced this creeping insecurity with a fighter’s spirit. “I was like entering a brutalist boxing ring,” Lee explains. “I can’t expect any fans or any love out there. So I have to fight my way through this set.”
Li also expressed a similar attitude after partysidestepping her sadder tendencies. I asked if this shift was intentional. “Yes, of course,” she said. Her last album was 2022 eyes”, “I met those demons within myself and now I’m somewhere else, which is very exciting. ” She describes this moment as her “existential moment.”
This is consistent with what is going on after party Lyrically: This album is more hopeful, curious, and philosophical than anything else we’ve heard from Lee to date. “Baby, hold on tight/til the bitter end/and if we’re lucky/we’ll be lucky again,” she sings on “Lucky Again,” the album’s first single. She is open to love but no longer pursues it like she once did. “When you’re young, you have a feeling that someone can save you from yourself,” Lee reflects. “For my part, I have a romantic idea of what redemption means.”
The afterparty itself is a layered metaphor. In its most literal interpretation, it conjures up a space where, at the end of the night, “you do something you might regret.” But she also sees afterparties as something that happens after the chaotic freedom of youth. “In your 20s, you’re in the pre-race phase and everything is waiting for you. Are you going to fall in love? Are you going to be famous? Are you going to move somewhere?” she mused. “Now, with these life experiences, you’ve been through a few heartbreaks and you’re around the block.”
