Lykke Li: The New Gay Interview

We like looking at the lovely lips of Lykke Li.

In this, the final piece of our never-ending Lykke Li coverage, I learned that a propensity for writing gentle love songs does not make one an easy interview. Though my boyfriend is excited about the new asshole that Lykke tore for me, I'm getting really tired of eating soft foods and sitting on an icepack.

To Lykke's credit, though, it is that dichotomy which makes her music so interesting. The 22 (not 19) year-old Swede is capable of whispering "For you I keep my legs apart and forget about my tainted heart" on one song, trying to make us forget her jaunty assertion of "You'll be callin' but I won't be at the phone" just four tracks earlier. This is generally the part where I would compare her to other compelling Swedish artists like Robyn and former tour-mate El Perro Del Mar, but she doesn't like that so much either. You can read the full admonishment below the fold, as well as listen to a Lykke Li mixtape.

Lykke Li plays Sunday, November 19, at the Black Cat with Miles Benjamin Anthony Robinson. Doors at 8. $15.

The New Gay Zack: Your debut album is called Youth Novels and it often times feel like listening to the diaries of a young girl. Is that what this album is like? How personal is it?

Lykke Li: I’m not talking about anybody else but myself. It’s a diary of myself, I guess.

TNG: Judging by your songs, it seems like you have two distinct sides: There’s the bad-ass Lykke and the more vulnerable side. Which more accurately represent you?

LL: I have so many different sides to me, every song represents me in some way. I don’t only have one side to my personality.

TNG: But are you really as vulnerable as some of the songs make you out to be?



LL: Of course I am.

TNG: Love and relationships seem to be a big theme throughout “Youth Novels.” How do keep a love song, something that people have been writing since the dawn of music, updated and relevant and not just something you write only for yourself?

LL: To be honest I don’t think about anybody else. I don’t think about anything, I just write down what I feel. I can’t answer that. I just write whatever is on my mind. Then I leave the analysis to you guys.

TNG: What is the makeup of your live audience? Do you mostly attract women or do you get men as well?

LL: It’s very mixed up. It’s nice that there are older people as well at the show.

TNG: You yourself are pretty young, 19 or 20...

LL: I'm 22. Where’d you get the 19?

TNG: Bad math, actually. I had your birthdate in front of me and counted wrong. Sorry. Is your relative youth a disadvantage in writing songs?

LL: You can be wise at every age.

TNG: Touring the world, as you are, are you worried about getting jaded and losing some of the youth that characterizes your songs? Do you think that will change your music?

LL: I can’t say that. Life is a process. Everything will change. My titties are going are going to sag. I don’t know how that feels.

TNG: You’re part of a wave of Swedish women that are getting really popular in the states, like Annie, Robyn and El Perro Del Mar. What do you think differentiates you from the others?

LL: I think it’s lazy to compare people to one another because they have boobs and are Swedish. I have more in common with Rick James that other female artists. I never listened to them, they are not my influences. I’m just going to do with I do. It’s not up to me to write a slogan like “Lykke Li is different from the other Swedes.” I’m just going to play.

TNG: How was touring with El Perro Del Mar, at least?

LL: It was very nice. She’s a wonderful person and a beautiful artist.

TNG: OK. And to back up, what do you have in common with Rick James?



LL: We’re both crazy.

TNG: Anything else?

LL: Our love for women.

TNG: How do you love women?

LL: I think we’re the best.

TNG: I sent you some email questions for our “Ask A Straight Girl” feature and you called yourself “open minded” about changing your sexuality. How fluid is your identity in that respect?

LL: I just don’t believe in telling someone ‘You’re straight, you’re gay.” You are whatever you are. I’m a child of the ‘80s. I have so many friend that are bi, I believe people can be that if the environment is right. I’m not saying if I am or not. I don’t bother to narrow it down. You fall in love with people.

TNG: How do you feel about sex? So many of your songs are about that, which is such a personal subject...

LL: How do you feel about sex?

TNG: I love it.

LL: I hate it.

TNG: Really?



LL: What’s to say? It’s a really complex question.

TNG: I’m just wondering how is to take sex, which is so personal, and let everyone know your attitudes toward it on an album.

LL: I just tell them how it felt in that personal moment. How many of my songs actually are about sex?

TNG: I thought a lot of them were, but I might have misinterpreted.

LL: It’s all in there. I don’t have to explain it anymore.

TNG: Do you see your music going off in any specific directions after this?

LL: I’ve already done so much different stuff. I’m not so interested in doing one style. At the same time I don’t plan. We’ll see. Whatever happens, happens.

TNG: Is it intimidating to receive as much press attention as you have while being a relatively new artist?

LL: It's weird, but I’ve noticed that press is a very dangerous thing to be depending on. Good press can easily turn around to be bad press. I try to stay out as much as possible.

TNG: Have you had any bad experiences?

LL: No, but every time you open a magazine it says something bad about people. It’s quite a dangerous territory.

TNG: Would you be pissed if the press turned on you?

LL: Of course. It would be terrible. Life goes on, but that’s not life. That’s a printed paper that’s sometimes not even true. You have to find a way not to care.

TNG: Do you have any advice for your fans on not caring what people think? You seem like an expert on the subject.



LL: I think it’s a dangerous time for young women. Everything you read and see, you believe it’s true. There’s a lot of stuff that’s totally not true. When I read articles about myself they get the facts wrong. They write stuff that I’ve never said or that isn’t true. I think people should definitely not read too much into what they see or hear. They should just live life and be thankful for what they got and try to to move people in other ways. TNG