We had the opportunity to chat to Swedish artist Estherlivia, who recently dropped her latest single “hollow”
Born Esther Ribbstedt Österman, Estherlivia is a 24 year-old singer, songwriter and producer hailing from Sweden. Having started out as a producer producing old school hip-hop beats in her childhood home in Mariestad, her music later evolved into a pop oriented sound. After spending four years in the capital city Stockholm, she found her sound— a sound that we ourselves have fallen in love with.
Her latest offering “hollow” effortlessly combines indie, pop and electronic music to create a captivating sound that has a universal appeal with dark undertones. She delivers a stunning vocal performance over a lush production she co-produced with Martin Eriksson Sandmark, and also showcases her songwriting ability.
No country does pop music like the Swedes, and it was only right to get to know another rising star. Read our conversation with the amazing Estherlivia below:
How are you doing Estherlivia?
Hey! I’m doing really good. I’m so happy that you support me!
You’re welcome! You have a cool name, how did you come up with that?
Thank you! And thank you mom and dad for giving me those names. Esther is my first name and Livia is my middle name.
Nice! By the way congratulations on releasing your new single, what was the inspiration behind it?
Thank you so much. It feels so good to be releasing music again. I was actually really angry when I wrote it. I went to the studio and the song more or less wrote itself. It didn’t turn out very angry sounding, but that was the emotion behind it.
The meaning behind the song, is this something you personally experienced?
Yes. But there are a few different experiences combined together in this song, so it’s not about a specific situation.
Cool. Talk us through the creative process of “hollow”.
I was at a friends apartment (shout-out to Axel) and I made a bassline. Then I built chords on top of that bassline. I instantly felt like I was going to be able to write on it, so I went to the studio the next day.
Sounds good. Are you currently working on a project? Or plan to?
I have soooo many songs just waiting to be released. So my next plan is to make a plan, haha. Everything just takes so much more time than you originally think, if I could have on superpower I think i would choose to just snap my fingers so the songs we’re mixed and all the PR was done.
Ah yes, I know exactly what you mean. If you had an opportunity to collaborate with three artists, who would they be and why?
This is such a hard question for me because there are so many good writers and producers out there. But I love Tyler’s (Twenty One Pilots) melody language, and I think we could make something really cool together. Gorillaz would also be a dream come true. And hmmm.. Just to make my 12 year old self die of jealousy I would like to sit in the studio with Gerard Way (My Chemical Romance).
That’s very interesting. How would you describe your sound to a complete stranger?
I instantly regret saying that the previous question was a hard one. Beat based (sometimes) alternative hip-hop, often pretty dark. Kinda?
Nice. And you found this sound when you moved to Stockholm right?
Yeah, kind of. It evolved to this at least. Before I moved to Stockholm I never thought I could sing. Then one day in the studio I was told to sing in a demo because they wanted a girls voice. Since then I’ve been singing. So after that it was so much easier to write on my own productions, and I think that completed my sound, even though it will always evolve of course.
Wow, that sounds cool. You’ve got a commercially appealing sound, so I was wondering, are you ready to takeover the world next year?
Thank you so much. I never thought my sound would be labeled as commercial, but I totally get it with this one. And because this kind of music is getting more attention these days, (thank you Billie Eilish), I’m really hoping this song will make grow a bit, so that I eventually can take over the world.
Stream “hollow” below:
