{"id":63194,"date":"2026-04-24T12:02:27","date_gmt":"2026-04-24T12:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/swedish-pop-duo-talk-new-album-ritual\/"},"modified":"2026-04-24T12:02:27","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T12:02:27","slug":"swedish-pop-duo-talk-new-album-ritual","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/musicianvoice.com\/index.php\/2026\/04\/24\/swedish-pop-duo-talk-new-album-ritual\/","title":{"rendered":"Swedish Pop Duo Talk New Album ‘Ritual’"},"content":{"rendered":"


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\n\tAfter nearly 20 years of friendship, Icona Pop<\/a> had to make a choice. The two members of the usually inseparable Swedish duo behind hits like 2013\u2019s \u201cI Love It\u201d were amid the upheavals of motherhood, heartbreak, divorce, crushing anxiety, love, and rebirth \u2014 and they would have to go through it all individually in order to find themselves, and each other, again.<\/p>\n

\n\tNow, Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo are preparing to release their fourth studio album, Ritual<\/a><\/em>, due Aug. 14, an offering dedicated in part to the small, daily acts that can pull a soul out of grief.<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe were both going through a lot of changes,\u201d Hjelt tells Rolling Stone <\/em>over a Zoom call from Stockholm. \u201cWhen it comes to personal stuff, you can be there for each other, but you can\u2019t fix the problem. You have to give each other time to heal and grow.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tWhen they were ready, Jawo adds, \u201cWe had to choose Icona Pop again.\u201d In some ways, she says, that was an easy choice: \u201cWe never doubted, but we could have.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tThe result is an album of cathartic sounds where Icona Pop brazenly shed the past. \u201cThis is a new Icona Pop era,\u201d Jawo says. The tracks are more vulnerable, biting, and self-aware than ever, and in some cases, feature lyrics pulled right out of Hjelt\u2019s diary. \u201cI don\u2019t think people understand how honest this album is,\u201d adds Jawa. \u201cWe\u2019re so good at doing heartbreak songs and disguising them in happy melodies. But now it\u2019s like, fuck that. Let\u2019s just go hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tRitual<\/em> is also the first album they\u2019ve fully created in their studio (a space they found toward the end of making their 2023 comeback album, Club Romantech<\/em>). Being able to fill a creative space with the people they love was always a dream for Icona Pop. The record brought together the band\u2019s main producers, Sebastian Furrer (who also writes) and Jason Gill; co-writers Ines Dunn, Erik Hassle, and Yaeger, who was featured on the last album\u2019s \u201cShit We Do For Love\u201d; their close friend and fellow Swedish singer Tove Lo<\/a>; and Daya for the title track. \u201cIt\u2019s our happy place,\u201d says Hjelt.<\/p>\n

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\t\tEditor\u2019s picks<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tJawo gets emotional when she discusses the journey it took to get there. A year ago, she was still in a \u201csuper bad place\u201d following the death of her grandmother. Jawo had also just given birth to her second child, and she felt a shift both emotionally and physically. \u201cI was laying in bed for weeks,\u201d she says, adding that she was constantly sick during this time. \u201cYour body gives you so many signals before saying goodbye.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tShe found herself questioning what she wanted from life. \u201cWhen I got my first child, I was trying to fit my old Aino into a new Aino. I think that\u2019s where everything went south. I was trying to be a \u2018super cool, party pop star girl,\u2019 and that\u2019s not at all who I am,\u201d she says. \u201cI love partying \u2014 but I\u2019ve actually had such bad anxiety most of my life, and being social can get super uncomfortable for me. All of that drained me for so many years, so I had to take this time off and start to lick my wounds and piece together how I want my dream life to be.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tJawo says it started with small walks and meeting with Hjelt for coffee. Afterwards, Jawo would go home and sleep for hours, but eventually, she was able to step outside. She also recognizes how lucky she was to have Hjelt and her husband as her support team during this time. <\/p>\n

\n\tThese periods of gradual growth are reflected in Ritual<\/em>\u2019s title track, which holds deep significance for Jawo. \u201c[The song] explains the small rituals you do to get back to the new you, to piece your life back together,\u201d she says. \u201cYou can make your body heal just by seeing things differently.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\tTeitur Ardal<\/cite><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

\n\tDuring the same time, Hjelt was going through the complex process of divorce. She says at least one song on the album expresses her \u201cbrutal acceptance\u201d: finding the beauty amid the hurt and sadness, and having faith that it\u2019s going to be OK.<\/p>\n

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\t\tRelated Content<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\t\u201cSuddenly, I was facing a lot of time with myself and that was very hard, but I learned so much,\u201d says Hjelt, who began going to their studio. As she dove back into the songwriting process, Hjelt traveled to Los Angeles to visit Tove Lo, who suggested that Hjelt open her diary for songwriting inspiration.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWe started writing, and everything came so naturally,\u201d Hjelt says. \u201cThen, when I was going to record just the demo, I almost had a panic attack, because I really opened up something that needed to come out.\u201d It was a turning point that made her realize Icona Pop couldn\u2019t control what the album was going to be and that they would have to embrace the unknown.<\/p>\n

\n\tDoing so required Hjelt and Jawo\u2019s friendship to evolve. \u201cWe had been so good at keeping it up for each other and almost scared of hurting each other,\u201d Hjelt says. \u201cNow, we\u2019re in this amazing place where we can be very honest and straightforward, which is because we went<\/em> there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tHjelt continues: \u201cThe whole album is about being forced to go through change, acceptance of where you are and feeling like you lost yourself, and the journey of finding yourself again.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSongs across the LP like \u201cDance to This<\/a>\u201d \u2014 a love letter to being lost and found on the dance floor \u2014 and \u201cRitual\u201d echo this renewal. There\u2019s a line in the latter that speaks to their rediscovery of self, or as Jawo put it, the ego death.<\/strong> Hjelt says the track details the story of a close friend who went to a \u201cmedicine man searching for answers,\u201d and was told, \u201cYour body is cold. You need to dance and eat warm food. You need to make your body feel alive.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\tGuest vocalist Daya lends her vocals to this part of the song, before the hook repeats: \u201cThis is my ritual\/Yeah, I do it to survive.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tThere\u2019s also a line that\u2019s inspired by Jawo\u2019s therapist, who told her, \u201cCaroline, she\u2019s like a Ferrari. She drives quickly and fast. You\u2019re like a Volvo car. You\u2019ll catch up, but you just take a little bit longer. You\u2019re not as quick as the Ferrari, but you\u2019re as good.\u201d Jawo says it\u2019s about sticking to their lanes and letting her other half \u201crun free.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cWhen you said that to me, that was the same week I found out that I have ADHD,\u201d Hjelt tells Jawo. \u201cEverything made so much sense. I move fast, but it\u2019s also so important to sometimes be like, \u2018Wait, let\u2019s think about this.\u2019 It\u2019s all about balance\u2026.It\u2019s so funny, because we\u2019ve been growing a lot, getting wiser, but I feel younger.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\tSo, after all these years and changes, what keeps bringing them back together?\u00a0<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cI think we probably lived together many lives ago,\u201d Hjelt says, then addresses Jawo: \u201cYou feel so familiar to me. You feel like a sister. There\u2019s just something pulling us constantly back to each other.\u201d<\/p>\n

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\t\tTrending Stories<\/p>\n<\/h2>\n<\/section>\n

\n\tIn a way, Ritual<\/em> celebrates the two club kids who met at a party in Stockholm back in 2009. \u201cEveryone could be who they wanted. If you were sad, you went to the club and you cried while dancing, and then you talked to your friends, and it was fine,\u201d recalls Hjelt. \u201cIt was such a beautiful community, and I don\u2019t know who we would be if we didn\u2019t have that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\n\t\u201cit\u2019s not as easy to find that today,\u201d she adds. \u201cSo maybe that\u2019s what we need to do. Maybe that\u2019s our mission.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n


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