22-year-old Swedish artist, songwriter, and overthinker, jerlov has just released her debut single 'one not two'.
Inspired by the likes of Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and The 1975, Amanda Jerlov strives to make retro-driven pop music with playful and transparent lyrics with a goal of making her songs sound just as 'live' as her inspirations.
We had the chance to speak with Amanda on the release and more...
Introduce yourself and tell us a bit about you!
"Hi!! I’m Amanda Jerlov, a 22-year old swedish artist and songwriter, and I’m probably the most un-mysterious person on the planet. I’m very transparent, I try not to be but that never works. I like to write about my incredibly small problems that I tend to make a bit too big, a bit too often."
When did you first develop an interest in making music?
"I’ve always loved performing. I used to make my family and their friends watch my own little world concerts in our living room. I ran through 10 outfit changes in one hour and sang from the top of my lungs to my parents' 70's and 80’s cd’s into my amazing silver microphone - made out of aluminium foil and a pink hairbrush. I was living my best life.
My love for music definitely grew from performing. Singing and being on stage has always come easy to me. It kind of feels like the most natural thing in the world (even though I always think I’ll faint out of nervousness right before going up). As I got older I started writing more and fell in love with that as well. Now I see writing as something that I need to do. It makes me set things in perspective when my dramatic imagination gets carried away."
Where are you from and what’s your favourite thing about it? Do you feel as though
your surroundings have inspired your sound in any way?
"I’m from Gothenburg, Sweden. It’s the second largest city after Stockholm and it’s on the west coast of Sweden. I love Gothenburg! People in general are very open and outgoing (this compared in swedish measures haha) and the vibe is a lot more chill in contrast to Stockholm. I think the feeling of the city has inspired me to try and be a bit more “easy-going”. I tend to worry and overthink things a bit too much and whenever I’m back in Gothenburg my worries don’t get to me as much and that definitely reflects in my lyrics."
Who are your biggest inspirations, musically?
"I blasted the speaker with Diana Ross, Stevie Wonder and Fleetwood Mac during my little living room performances, and I still do today (not the forcing people to watch me perform for three hours though, but the blasting part - yes). They’re all big idols, and I’m so inspired by all of the amazing music that came out of the 70’s and 80’s eras. I just love how live the music sounded back then. I want my productions to sound just as “live” and retro as it did back then but combine that with more modern lyrics, written from a 22-year old girl’s perspective in 2021."
Who would be your dream artist to collaborate with?
"I think Rex Orange County is an amazing songwriter and artist. It would be a dream to write something together with him. Also Diana Ross, I would have wanted to make a real diva pop-song with her!!"
What would be your dream venue to play?
"I mean Madison Square Garden is the ultimate goal. But there’s one place I think I’d find
even cooler in some crazy way. I used to work in this big amusement park in Gothenburg -
Liseberg. Every summer they have these huge concerts and I remember always glancing
out at the stage, watching all the artists perform and I stood there daydreaming about doing
the same one day. So getting to play there would be amazing."
You’ve just released your debut single ‘one not two’! How have you found trying to be
creative during the pandemic?
"I just finished my first year at Musikmakarna, which is a music-school in a very small town in the north of Sweden. I spent the whole pandemic up there which might sound very uninspiring but it was actually quite the opposite. I mean yes, it was definitely cold, dark and horrible at times, but because of the pandemic we didn’t have much else to do rather than to be in school and write songs. I got time for music and I think I really needed that."
Tell us a little about the track!
"We had so much fun writing this one!! I wrote it together with Kajsa Klemets and Julian Ambs produced it. We wanted to write a “Thank god I’m single” anthem. It’s a positive and funny song about wanting to be single, but without forgetting the ups and downs that come with that. Like being lonely on a friday night when your friends are out with their amazing partners or having people complain about your non-existent love life. Feelings are versatile and one doesn’t come without another, and we wanted to highlight that in 'one not two'. But all in all it’s an upbeat, funny and retro-inspired summer song!"
What’s coming next for you?
"More music !! My next single is coming out mid August, and then I’ll continue to release music throughout this fall. In the beginning of 2022 we can look forward to an EP. An hopefully I’ll get to start having live-gigs soon!"
'one not two' is out now. Listen HERE @amandajerlov
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