Back for the new year, and we're kicking it off with a pair of talented females in the independent music world that will be making waves in 2008.
The first thing anyone probably wants to know about the Swede Lykke Li is how to pronounce her name. I'm fairly confident that it's pronounced like "Luke-ee Loo" (it is Swedish), as far as I know - if anyone knows differently for sure, feel free to email me). Once people get past how to say the name though, they will discover the pop melodies of Lykke Li. Her first single, "Little Bit," is just so darn... cute. The song seems like such a sweet and innocent number about love, but it also hides lyrics such as "And for you I keep my legs apart / and forget about my tainted heart." It's the quiet ones you have to watch out for.
Considering the strength of her songs and her connections with Peter, Bjorn and John (Bjorn Yttling produced the "Little Bit" track and she opened for them on a tour), it's only inevitable that you will be hearing about Lykke Li a lot more this year. She'll be releasing her debut album Youth Novels on January 30th in Sweden, but no word yet on the rest of the world.
SoKo has been around for a while and really isn't that "new," but I realized the other day that I haven't mentioned her once on HSB before, and I'm not really sure why. The French songstress with the oddest lyrics (are they funny? ironic? bitter-sweet?) combines soft, pop songs with the blunt lyrics that you'll grow to love in a combination that makes it hard not to love her, although it's been said that she's a very love-her-or-hate-her kind of artist. Well, if that's the case, count me in the first camp. Watch the video for the original single "I'll Kill Her" below and then grab the song.
