In the process of attending Swedish-American events in the US for a good part of my life, I have been increasingly disappointed by the limited music that is played. Swedish-American groups will just not let go of folk music! Folk music always has a place, but there is so much more to Scandinavian music.
Why am I focusing on Scandinavia? Primarily because it is a part of the world I am most familiar with outside of the United States.
I am not always listening to Scandinavian music, and to be honest, I think the vast majority of it that I hear on mainstream radio is horrible. It often seems like Sweden has never been able to fully let go of the pop sounds of Abba.
Nonetheless, there are some Scandinavian songs I occasionally revisit. Here they are.
E-Type – “Life” feat. Nana Hedin (2001) -Sweden
I love this song! Such great build ups throughout the whole song and fabulous vocals by Nena Hedin. Great dance song for sure.
Bomfunk MC – “Freestyler” (1999) – Finland
This song is so cool to play to a strobe light! I love the hip hop mixed with electronic. Unique and iconic song.
Röyksopp – “Monument” feat. Robyn (2014) – Norway
Royksopp is such a neat electronic group, up there with Daft Punk in my opinion! I like many of their songs, but this one is amazing. Swedish singer Robyn’s voice is perfect, the beat is screaming “dance!”, and the subject of the lyrics is deep. Great great great song.
Röyksopp – “Running to the Sea” feat. Susanne Sundfør (2012) – Norway
Note again, I love many of Royksopp’s songs! I will give this one a mention. So lovely, so danceable. Featuring Norwegian singer Susanne Sundfør.
Wardruna – “Helvegen” (2013) – Norway
A few years back someone shared this song with me and I thought it was lovely. I later learned Wardruna, from Norway, created much of the music for the famous Vikings TV series. I really like this effort to create a sound that depicts historic Scandinavian culture.
Side note, this particular live performance features Aurora, a Norwegian singer who has had international success during the last decade.
Aurora – “Running with the Wolves” (2016) – Norway
Norwegian singer Aurora has hit airwaves around the world. She is a Scandinavian artist that has stood out to me.
Sabaton – “Primo Victoria” (2005) – Sweden
I am typically not one who listens to metal, but I do have to give a mention to the Swedish band Sabaton. I particularly like their music because they discuss war history, which I find to be very unique. I particularly like the song “Primo Victoria” that is about the Normandy landings, a critical event in World War II. A very moving song for me.
Lordi – “Hard Rock Hallelujah” (2006) – Finland
Fun song. What makes this song even more hilarious is that it won Eurovision, the biggest music competition in Europe, in 2005. Usually pop songs win Eurovision, but there is a theory that all of the rock fans got together to vote for Lordi and ensure their victory.
I am sure there are more Scandinavian songs I like and will probably add them to this list, but this is what I have for now!
Photo by Andrea Piacquadio from Pexels