Marlene

Swedish artist Marlene is making waves with her Pop/R&B inspired melodies and top notch vocals. The artist made her streaming debut in 2013 with “Bon Voyage,” a single that gained over one million Soundcloud streams. Her EP, “Indian Summer”, was released the following year, which rose the singer to even greater heights. It’s title track currently has over 3.5 million Spotify streams while her song “I Do This For You” with Giorgio Moroder topped the Billboard Dance Music Charts. However, the artist’s unique musical style isn’t the only thing that sets her apart. In 2017, Marlene created her own record label, SWEET MUSIC, through which she has produced 4 singles to go along with Sweet, her debut album. As she prepares for an even better 2020, we spoke with her about her creative process, time at home, and more!

How did you get started making music?

I got signed to a publisher even before I had written any songs haha. They had heard some demos I did for other songwriters and told me “If you can sing like that, we think you can write too”. I told them from the beginning that I wanted to write my own music one day, and just started doing so. It took some years to develop my songwriting skills and figure out what I wanted my own music to sound like. I’ve been writing for 10 years now but I still learn from every song I write; I feel like I develop a lot still. I’ve been producing a lot more the past years which is such a great feeling!

If you could choose any artist to collab with, who would it be?

I just have to say Rihanna. I mean, to me, she’s the biggest artist alive so of course it’d have to be her. I think we would become really good friends too, but I’m probably not the only person feeling that. She just seems to be such a nice, fun, and down to earth person. I think we would have so much fun together writing!

Dream venue?

Any venue at all will do right now, seriously. And I don’t really have those types of dreams to be honest. It sounds super pretentious; But as long as I get to perform in front of people who genuinely want to be there, it doesn’t matter where it is, how big the venue is, or how many people there are. I feel like I don’t really need to dream about a certain venue or position in my career anymore cause I know I always do my best. It’s not that I don’t want it, but I just trust the process and focus on enjoying being in this sometimes stressful business. I want to make sure that I do what I want to do. Whatever stage I get to be on, I’m happy for.

"Good To Me" was a hit with our team. Walk us through its meaning and how you made the hit.

Thank you, it makes me so happy to hear you think it’s a hit! The song is about being tired of thinking about your ex, realizing your relationship maybe wasn’t that good after all, and that there might be someone else who’d treat you better. It’s a classic “getting-over-your-ex-with-a-rebound” song I guess. I wrote it in one day together with Ji Nilsson and Kerstin Ljungström. It was our first session ever but it was one of those sessions that you’ll always remember. We had so much fun and the song almost wrote itself. 

Favorite non-music activities?

I love playing Mahjong with my friends, cooking food, and going second hand shopping. I’ve always had a big interest in clothes and I grew up shopping things second hand and redesigning them. I couldn’t live without my sewing machine! 

Any future projects that fans can look forward to?

I’m actually planning my own concert night in Stockholm next week (Interview conducted June 18)! I’ve rented a beautiful outdoor stage and invited 3 other artists to join me. It will be live streamed so anyone who’s interested to join us live should follow me on Instagram for more info. And for the rest of the summer, I’ll be working on finishing my album that’s gonna come out later this Fall!