IN CONVERSATION WITH TOVE STYRKE
interview by JANA LETONJA
photography by MARTIN AXÉLL
Swedish pop powerhouse Tove Styrke returns with Prayer, her first new single since the release of her 2022 album HARD, and her first music since becoming a mother. Known for her razor-sharp pop instincts, emotional precision, and fearless honesty, Tove enters a new creative chapter that blends intimacy, evolution, and undeniable pop clarity. Prayer arrives as the opening note of her forthcoming album The Afterparty, set for release this autumn, signaling a bold, reflective, and deeply personal era for one of Sweden’s most compelling modern pop voices.
Prayer is your first release in a few years. What made this the right song to mark your return?
Prayer is the first single from my upcoming full-length album The Afterparty, due out this fall. It marks the beginning of a new chapter for me. It’s the first song on the album and the only logical place to begin telling this story. It also felt emotionally true. I didn’t want to return with something ironic or distanced. I wanted to start with honesty.
How does Prayer introduce the emotional world of your upcoming album The Afterparty?
You can look at Prayer as your invitation to The Afterparty. It sets a tone of anticipation and hope, like sundown in a big city full of possibilities. It’s exactly what the title suggests, a prayer, an affirmation, a moment of asking without knowing the answer yet.
Your music often balances vulnerability with confidence. Where does Prayer sit on that spectrum for you?
Right in the middle, with a big portion of both. It’s a vulnerable thing to admit what you want from the universe, but there’s confidence in daring to say it out loud. Setting an intention is powerful.
What does the title The Afterparty represent at this stage of your life and career?
I feel like we’re living in the afterparty phase of our time. The album is a reflection on what that does to a person, told through the lens of an actual afterparty. Becoming a mother, and reconnecting with nature through studying biodynamic horticulture and gardening, has deeply influenced the art I make.
Humans have done so much to sever the bond between ourselves and nature, which is our original sense of belonging and context. That disconnection makes us feel lonely, without purpose, and out of place. The album lives inside that feeling.
Sonically, how does this new album build on or break away from HARD?
Sonically, it doesn’t sound like anything I’ve released before. The entire album is built around a strict sonic palette, mainly analogue synthesizers from the 1970s and 1980s, with additional live drums, electric bass, and guitar. There are no samples. Every sound you hear was either created from scratch on a machine or recorded live in the room.
That limitation is what makes the world cohesive. I approached the project as if I were scoring a film. It has an arc, a storyline, and moves dynamically between different emotional states.
Becoming a mother is a profound life shift. How has that experience reshaped the way you write and record music?
It’s changed everything. It’s made me more attuned to my feelings and my inner world, and it’s made me care less about things like my career or being successful. Those ideas fade into the background when you become a parent. That shift has made me more fearless as an artist.
Was there any pressure returning with new material after such a transformative personal chapter?
None. Just pure joy in creating. I felt grateful more than anything, grateful to have a life that allows me to make art on my own terms.
You’ve always written with emotional precision. What feelings were you most drawn to explore this time?
I’m drawn to the cyclical nature of life. Everything has a rhythm, a pace, and our inner worlds do too. We return to the same feelings over and over, constantly evolving while becoming more ourselves at the same time.
Duality is a recurring theme. The internal and the external, isolation versus connection, suffering from constant attention in a digital world while simultaneously craving validation. Death. Rebirth. Life.
How do you protect your creative identity while embracing growth and change?
I protect it by allowing myself to grow and change. The key for me is to look inward and avoid outside distractions. I deleted social media from my phone, stepped away from the music world for a while, and filled my life with other creative outlets. I did theatre, focused on gardening and learning about plants, and practiced meditation.
Do you feel more fearless as an artist now than earlier in your career?
Yes. I think many artists are fearless when they first start out. Then you become more aware of expectations, especially what others expect from you, and it becomes harder to create freely. At some point, you have to actively seek that freedom again, and I feel like I finally have.
Has your understanding of success or fulfillment changed since your last album?
I keep learning and unlearning that success isn’t something others assign to you. It’s something you have to define for yourself.
As you step into this next era, what feels most different about Tove Styrke today?
Everything. Nothing is the same as it ever was before.