On my last post I wrote a review about Charlotte Eriksson, a young artist coming from Sweden who has recently brought out her new EP "This Is How Ghosts Are Made". Now, due to the overwhelmingly positive comments that I received on that review, I have decided to treat all the readers and followers of this blog. I have contacted Charlotte and she was super nice to answer all my questions, which I am sharing with you all here. Enjoy!
Can you describe a bit your beginnings as a musician? (for example, family background, studies, school bands, etc.)
I got into music very late, I think I was around 15 or 16 that I even started to really listen to music. But when I ”discovered” it and the way it could make me all hypnotized, I was hooked. I guess when I really started to take it seriously was when I moved to London all alone last year. Then I started my record label in May 2011 and released my first EP, and since then I’ve just kept going!
Have you done any formal musical studies?
I went to a songwriting/producer-school in Sweden before I moved, but it wasn’t any high level, just very basic, and then I went to some music-business classes etc. at a music college in London. But I’ve never taken any lessons in any instrument.
Do you play any instruments? If you do, which one(s)?
I play the guitar and the piano and I’m trying to learn how to play the drums.
How old were you when you wrote your first song?
I was 15, or 16, and it was actually called ”The Glass Child”
Many prominent artists come from your country: Abba, Roxette, The Cardigans, Jill Johnson, Ace of Base... Have they had any influence on your music? Do you relate to any of them? If so, how?
We definitely have a lot of amazing pop artists from sweden, but to be honest I’m not into Swedish music at all. The Swedish music-scene is very stuck and in their own little box and it’s the same with the fans in Sweden - they only listen to the bands that everyone else is listening too. I’m very influenced by a lot of Swedish folk singers though, like a guy called Lars Winnderbäck. He’s only writing in Swedish, but he’s probably my biggest hero when it comes to lyrics.
What's your most important source of inspiration?
My weird little existence and the way my mind works. How to live, how other people live. Human behavior and just how people choose to spend their lives. Everything I write about is about real things and experiences that I’ve been through or felt, so it’s all about my real life.
Could you describe your song-writing process? Do you come up with lyrics first? Is it the music and then the lyrics? Does anybody help you with melodies/harmonies?
It’s very different for every song actually, but it always starts with something that I need to say. Something that I need to say to a person, or to a group of people, or just something I need to explain and that I feel that I can’t talk about. So, I always know what I want the song to be about before I start writing it, but then sometimes I start playing on the piano or the guitar and the melody and the words just kind of appears. Other times I might write something in words on the tube or on the bus and then I just start singing them when I have an instrument. There’s no formula really and I can’t even really describe it, and I think that is the magical about music. It just appears.
Do you ever write/sing songs in Swedish?
I’ve actually written a couple of songs in Swedish, mostly when I just moved to London and was horribly homesick and missed my friends and family. I started to listen to quite a lot of Swedish folk singers just to feel more like home, and I wrote some Swedish songs as letters to the people I’d left behind. But I’ll probably never show them to anyone, haha!
What do you think of Swedish as a language for pop/rock songs? Is it suitable? Why do you sing in English?
No I don’t really like Swedish in pop-rock songs, it sounds very corny and weird, and to be honest, English comes so much more natural for me. I’ve never really felt at home in Sweden, so I guess that’s why don’t have so much connection to the language. But it’s really beautiful in acoustic folk-songs though.
Can you name your three favorite records and say why they are your favorite ones?Counting Crows - August and everything after
This is the first record I ever bought, because I stumbled upon the song Round Here, and that’s the first song I ever connected with in music. This record is as real as it can ever get for me, and I can honestly say that it has shaped me in so many ways.
Ani Difranco - Not A Pretty Girl
Because her music is so real and she’s probably my biggest inspiration when it comes to being a vocalist. I even think she’s the one who taught me to sing, especially the reason to why I wanted to sing in the first place.
Valencia - We All Need A Reason To Believe
This is such an amazing band that never got the recognition they deserved. They just broke up and I was so sad when I heard that, I never got to see them live. This album is just perfect all the way through, the melodies, lyrics, production, everything.
Can you name your three favorite singers/artists and say why they are your favorite ones?
Well, obviously the ones above, but after those it’s probably Ben Harper, Augustana and CocoRosie. They’re all amazing songwriters , singers and just beautiful people. I’ve been listening to them since I got into music when I was 14 and I always go back to their albums.
Do you have any side jobs?
Before I moved to London and decided to go for the music I wanted to be a professional dancer, but now I’m just working as a dance teacher some times because it’s fun, both in London and Sweden. Other than that I spend every minute of every day on my music.
Do you have any hobbies other than music?
Tons! I love everything that has to do with art. I write and read a lot, I love photography and dancing obviously and I’m spending days in the dance studio as often as I can, choreographing, just to get to express myself in a different way than music. I love going on small adventures or roadtrips, alone or with friends, to nowhere at all just to see what can happen and what you can learn. I love hanging with my friends, going to gigs and going to new cities.
Where do you see yourself in a ten-year's time?
In ten years I’m full-time touring the world and living for music and art. I’ve released a hand full of albums (hopefully one each year, so ten albums), I’ve grown as a person and I have hopefully figured myself out a bit more.
How much time of your life does music take up?
Basically every minute of every day. First of all because this is what I love and what I want to do every minute of every day, but also because that’s what it takes to get your music out if you don’t want to sell yourself to a label that pays for success. It’s only hard work and determination that can get you anywhere.
It seems to me that your EPs have gotten a huge response by your followers. Which role have the internet and social networks played on this success?
The internet with twitter, facebook and tumblr is the reason for almost every single fan I have today. I’m a white shy person and I’m not very good at interacting with people face to face, so I figure quite early that I connected so much better with people on the internet because I have so much easier to express myself with written words. Also, since I don’t have any money for touring or expensive features in big magazine, the online-buzz is my only chance, so the internet means everything to me really.
Being so young and leaving everything behind to settle down in a foreign country and pursue your musical career seems a bit scary. What can you say to people wanting to do the same?
It was scary and it was the hardest first months of my entire life, but I can honestly say that I would never ever have found myself and figured myself out if I hadn't done it. I think it’s so important to move away all alone, so that you can become who you are meant to be. If you stay around the same people, in the same place, doing the same things, you will never grow into the person you were born to be. You will get stuck in habits and in old comfortable behavior, and that’s the biggest mistake you can do as a human, in my opinion. For those who want to do what I did: it is going to be hard and you’re going to cry a lot and miss people and regretting ever leaving, but those days are the days you grow your strength and when you realized that you got through it, you will realize that there are so many opportunities in life if you just dare to push yourself into uncomfortable situations. It’s worth ever second.
Would you like leaving a message for your current and future fans around the world?
Please check out my new album This Is How Ghosts Are Made that is out everywhere and you can stream it on my website www.charlotteeriksson.com. And also, I’m answering to every single tweet or message I get to write to me on Twitter, Tumbler or Facebook or just say hi! Dream big and stay strong!
(Don't forget to read my review on Charlotte's Latest EP: This Is How Ghosts Are Made)
(Photos taken from Charlotte Eriksson's website: www.charloteeriksson.com)
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