Icona Pop
Arguably one of the most anthemic musical duos out there, the pair of Swedish electropop women together known as Icona Pop have been impacting the charts and the dance floors since 2009. Comprised of Stockholm-raised Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo, who met accidentally at a party, Icona Pop seeks to make among the worldâs best dancepop and synthpop music. The two came to the spotlight initially with the powerfully spunky âMannersâ as part of 2011 EP Nights Like This, drawing attention from NME and The Guardian, among other publications.
In the late spring of 2012, Icona Pop gave the world a pre-release single off their debut album Icona Pop and the EP Iconic â the would-be titanic hit âI Love Itâ featuring the rising UK artist Charli XCX and producer Patrik Berger, of Robyn fame. The maximalist track, anthemic and nihilistic, found itself on the soundtracks of many major projects, namely Girls, The Vampire Desires, Glee and many commercials. âI Love Itâ eventually rolled to a Top 10 hit status on the Billboard charts and topped the UK Singles chart, selling over 4 million downloads worldwide. The eponymous album faltered chart-wise, but the rest of the album was no less significant than âI Love Itâ in shaping the synthpop artists' signature sound. The two also found themselves opening the North American leg of Marina and the Diamondsâ tour accompanying Diamandisâ Electra Heart.
Come 2013, the duo pushed out the feminist âGirlfriendâ, interpolating a 2Pac track, which previewed Icona Popâs debut international album, This IsâŠIcona Pop, after the releases of âI Love Itâ and âWe Got The Worldâ in 2012. âAll Nightâ came not long after, topping the Billboard dance chart. This Is⊠marked the true establishment of the Swedes into the dance scene, with its jam-packed nature of maximalist, genre-bending tracks and youthful lyrics of dual emotions. The next year, in 2014, the Swedish duo released âGet Lostâ, and worked as opening acts of Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry.
In 2015, Icona Pop released dance chart topper âEmergencyâ, featured on the enormously popular video game FIFA 16. The infectious hit previewed an EP of the same name, and Icona Pop was soon announced as an opening act for the massively popular 2015 One Direction tour. In March of 2016, the Swedes debuted their track âSomeone Who Can Danceâ at the Swedish Grammys, to relative critical excitement. In October of the same year, the duo released âBrightsideâ, an anthem celebrating their friendship. In June 2017, âGIRLS GIRLSâ was released. In October of 2018, the duo came back with a disco song âRhythm in My Bloodâ. Itâs quite apparent that Icona Pop have the potential to change the state of musical maximalism and synthpop for the ages, provided the right tools â who knows what kind of anthem theyâll pump out next?
Icona Pop Releases
- remixes: Icona Pop - Shit We Do For Love (and Yaeger)
- remixes: Icona Pop - Next Mistake
- remixes: Icona Pop - Brightside
- remixes: Icona Pop - Someone Who Can Dance
- remixes: Icona Pop - Emergency