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Tove Styrke starts progg band ahead of election: 'Solidarity has become unfashionable'
🇸🇪 Sweden /Culture & Society

Tove Styrke starts progg band ahead of election: 'Solidarity has become unfashionable'

From Dagens Nyheter · () Swedish

Translated from Swedish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

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  • Swedish pop star Tove Styrke and her partner Sanna Sikborn Erixon have formed a progg band inspired by 1970s Swedish groups.
  • The duo, who are also a couple and have a child, will release an EP and a debut album this year, followed by a Swedish tour.
  • Styrke, who is also releasing a solo album, sees the band as a way to express solidarity, which she feels has become unfashionable.

Swedish pop singer Tove Styrke, known for her international career, has ventured into the world of "progg" music, a politically charged genre popular in Sweden during the 1970s. She has formed a band with her partner, Sanna Sikborn Erixon, drawing inspiration from iconic progg bands like Nationalteatern and Hoola Bandoola Band.

Solidarity has become unfashionable.

— Tove StyrkeStyrke's reflection on the current relevance of solidarity.

Styrke, born in 1992, and Sikborn Erixon, born in 1985, share a common idol in Nationalteatern, despite being too young to have experienced the band's heyday. They believe their upbringing in working-class cities like Umeå and Gothenburg fostered a connection to the rebellious spirit of progg music.

There is much to gain from being as clear and conceptual as them. There was humor but also an inner warmth. The pure declarations of love stood out among the political songs. And Anki Rahlskog has the most beautiful voice in the world.

— Sanna Sikborn ErixonErixon's praise for Nationalteatern's musical and lyrical approach.

The duo's new band, named "Var" (meaning "was" in Swedish), has released an EP titled "Är du nöjd nu?" and is set to release their debut album, "Året var 2026" (The Year Was 2026), in September, coinciding with the Swedish election. They plan a small tour across Sweden in the fall.

I and my friends went a step further than just listening to Broder Daniel. As a precocious teenager, you are drawn to music that rebels. It can be hip-hop or punk, but for us, it was progg.

— Tove StyrkeStyrke explaining her teenage attraction to progg music.

Styrke, who is also preparing to release a new solo album, views the band as a vehicle for expressing solidarity, a concept she feels has fallen out of fashion. The band's music, written in Swedish, is recorded live with four other musicians, and their EP was recorded in Årsta Folkets hus, a venue significant to the progg movement.

It was completely unthinkable. We've even joked about it, that it's the last thing that would happen.

— Tove StyrkeStyrke on the initial unlikelihood of her and Sikborn Erixon making music together.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Dagens Nyheter in Swedish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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