Tove Lo

**Affiliations** | Lorde (friend)

Tove Lo is a co-writer of Lorde's sophomore album Melodrama, being a co writer for the song "Homemeade Dynamite".

## Background

### Early Life

Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson was born on 29 October 1987 in Stockholm, Sweden. Lo grew up in the affluent Djursholm district of Danderyd Municipality, just north of Stockholm. She describes her childhood as being "very protected" and her family as "pretty posh" In an interview with the *BBC*, she explained, "Growing up so safe, I think I was looking for something else".

Lo then developed a love for music and formed a girl band with her friends. With the band, she wrote her first song at age 10 or 11. By age 15, Lo had written a compilation of lyrical content which "nobody ever saw" and had performed twice on stage, before enrolling at Rytmus Musikergymnasiet, a musical school in Stockholm. During her time at Rytmus, Lo developed a friendship with Caroline Hjelt, who would later form the Swedish duo Icona Pop. After two years, Lo graduated from the school and felt assured that her career would be in music despite her parents preferring otherwise.

An interview and profile of Tove Lo in W magazine in October 2016 referred to her as "openly bisexual," citing that as one of several identifiers that "she once took for granted but are now very much part of her public persona." In an interview with Attitude magazine in January 2017, Lo referred to her own sexuality in non-binary terms: “Being open and owning my sexuality in both ways – with both men and women – I think that’s just never been a big deal”, she says, adding that she was very lucky growing up in a liberal country. In March the same year, she gave an interview with *Out* magazine, stating that she had never been in a relationship with a woman.

### Career

#### 2006–2013: Career beginnings and collaborations

In 2006, Lo began writing songs with Christian Bjerring, a guitarist from Rytmus. The pair then formed a math rock band, Tremblebee, with three other male students from the school. Tremblebee played together for "a few years" in bars across Sweden, independently releasing some of their songs, before breaking up. During her time with the band, Lo developed a passion for performing on stage, and was introduced to Swedish production duo The Struts. After the dissolution of Tremblebee, Lo's musical focus turned toward pop. She then decided to focus on her own tracks, spending six months in her shed studio producing a demo,[4] while doing session singing as a means of income. She also learned how to play the drums and garnered knowledge about music programming and record production during this time. Lo later spent time living with Icona Pop, in a suburb near Stockholm.

Lo later met an A&R who she handed her demo to. Lo initially met him upon the occasion of a party in Stockholm celebrating Icona Pop's first record deal, and later she met him by chance in a bar in London. The A&R liked Lo's demo and subsequently introduced her to a songwriting group which included The Struts and Hjelt. In 2011, Lo decided to pursue a career in songwriting and earned a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music. This new career path led her to travel to Los Angeles, and work with Swedish producer Max Martin. In 2012, she collaborated with British production team Xenomania and Swedish producer Alexander Kronlund, co-writing Girls Aloud's "Something New", Icona Pop's "We Got the World" and tracks for the duo's self-titled debut album.

Lo then decided to manage an "artist indie career on the side", recording her more personal compositions and releasing them independently. She released her first single, "Love Ballad", in October 2012, and her second single, "Habits", in March 2013. The latter gained her a substantial online following. Lo was featured on Swedish disc jockey Lucas Nord's single, "Run on Love", released in June 2013 for his album *Islands*. She also featured on the single, "Strangers", by Seven Lions and Myon & Shane 54 for *The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones* film soundtrack (2013), and Seven Lions' extended play (EP), *Worlds Apart*  (2014). Throughout 2013, Lo was mentored by Martin and his fellow Swedish producer Shellback. She also co-wrote Victoria Justice's "Gold", and tracks for Tal's *À l'infini* and Icona Pop's *This Is... Icona Pop*.

#### 2014–2015: Truth Serum and Queen of the Clouds

Due to the strength of her online following, Lo was offered a recording deal in 2014, signing with Island and Polydor Records. Lo then shifted her focus to an international singing career, earning critical acclaim for her first live shows in London and during South by Southwest in the United States. Lo's debut EP, *Truth Serum*, was released on 3 March 2014. It became her first charting release in Sweden where it peaked at number 13. The EP was also a critical success, and led to several news media sources referring to Lo as "a pop star in waiting". The EP spawned two singles; "Out of Mind" and a re-release of "Habits", re-titled "Habits (Stay High)".

Lo was also featured on Swedish DJ Alesso's single "Heroes (We Could Be)" for his debut album, *Forever*. The single was a commercial success, peaking at number five in Sweden, number six in the United Kingdom and number 31 on the U.S. *Billboard* Hot 100. Lo served as the opening act for the third leg of American singer Katy Perry's Prismatic World Tour in November 2014. She recorded the song "Scream My Name" for *The Hunger Games: Mockingjay, Part 1*film soundtrack released that month. In late 2014, she was signed to Max Martin's songwriting collective Wolf Cousins. Tracks co-written by Lo were featured on the 2014 album releases of Cher Lloyd's *Sorry I'm Late*, Lea Michele's *Louder*, and Zara Larsson's *1*. She also co-wrote "What Are You Waiting For?" by The Saturdays. In December 2014, Lo announced that she was taking time off to undergo surgery on her vocal cords which had developed cysts. The surgery successfully took place on 3 January 2015.

At the 2015 Grammis, Lo won in the categories for Artist of the Year, and Song of the Year for "Habits (Stay High)". Lo was featured on Swedish group Urban Cone's single "Come Back to Me", released in March 2015 for their album *Polaroid Memories*.In May 2015, it was announced that she will be featured on a song for Adam Lambert's upcoming album *The Original High*. Lo also co-wrote the 2015 singles "Love Me like You Do" by Ellie Goulding and "Sparks" by Hilary Duff. She went on to write other two tracks of Duff's fifth album *Breathe In. Breathe Out.*, "Stay In Love" and "One in A Million"."Love Me Like You Do" earned Lo her first Grammy Award nomination for Best Song Written for Visual Mediaat the 58th Annual Grammy Awards. On 2 October 2015, a repackaged version of *Queen of the Clouds* was released as the Blueprint Edition. It features all tracks from the original release, as well as "Over", "Out of Mind", and "Paradise", taken from the 2014 *Truth Serum* EP, and Tove Lo's collaboration with Alesso, "Heroes (We Could Be)".

In support of the repackaged edition of Queen of the Clouds, Lo completed a 16-date tour over September and October 2015 across North America.

In late 2015, she won the STIM platinum guitar prize. Lo was featured on Coldplay's "Fun", a track from their seventh album *A Head Full of Dreams* released on 4 December 2015.[54] Tove Lo was also featured on the lead single to Nick Jonas's third studio album, *Last Year Was Complicated*, titled "Close". The song was released on 25 March 2016. Tove Lo is the featured artist on Australian artist Flume's single 'Say It', which was released on 20 April 2016.

#### 2016 - present: *Lady Wood* and *Blue Lips*

In an interview during the 2016 Billboard Music Awards, Lo confirmed that she had finished recording her "darker and dreamier" second studio album.

To promote her upcoming album, Lo acted as an opening act on 18-dates of the Maroon V Tour across the United States.

On 4 August 2016, Lo released the lead single from her second album, "Cool Girl". The following day, it was revealed that the title of her upcoming album would be *Lady Wood*, and its release date was announced as 28 October 2016. Around this time, she co-wrote the song "Homemade Dynamite" with singer Lorde, for her album Melodrama.

Five days prior to the album release, Lo announced an upcoming European and North American solo tour entitled the Lady Wood Tour that will take the singer across twenty-one cities across the two continents to further promote the new release. More tour dates were later announced after the release of the album.

In February 2017, Lo was featured in the song, "Lies in the Dark", from Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack. On February 16, 2017, it was announced that Lo would be opening for British band Coldplay on their A Head Full of Dreams Tour from June to October 2017 across Europe, United States, and Canada.

On September 7, 2017, Lo released the single "Disco Tits", the lead single from her forthcoming third studio album, *Blue Lips*, the follow up from 2016's *Lady Wood*.