Tove Styrke returns to pop with edgy new single

Now that the amazing Tove Lo is getting international recognition for her track ‘Habits’ and its remix, one would almost forget that Sweden has another poptastic Tove to offer; Tove Styrke! This young Swedish pop star rose to fame when she particpated in the Swedish version of Pop Idol in 2009. She finished in third position and focused on electro pop after the competition. She released her self titled debut album in 2010 and had hits with singles like ‘White Light Moment’ and ‘Call My Name’. Her best tracks, ‘High and Low’ and ‘Beating On A Better Drum’ are electro pop with huge soaring choruses at its best. After a few years, she is back with a new single with a rather long title: ‘Even If I’m Loud It Doesn’t Mean I’m Talking To You’.

Although Tove still delivers electro pop at its finest, the new song is quite a step away from the material on her debut record. Gone are the anthemic choruses and very poppy productions. Styrke is onto something more edgy here. ‘Even If I’m Loud It Doesn’t Mean I’m Talking To You’ is basically built up from one particularly strong melody line that is repeated in the verses as well as the chorus. Although this is not the type of track that has a huge singalong chorus, it is still catchy as hell in all its edgy electro boldness. The lyrics are full of attitude with a cheeky twist and Tove delivers them convincingly.

Although fans of her dreamy soaring melodies might need a while to get used to this punchy in your face beats and vocal delivery, I think this is a step forward in her still young career. Tove, who is only 21 years old, shows that she still deserves her place among Sweden’s crowded female electro pop singers population. The new track takes a bit of Annie, a slice of Robyn and a twist of Gwen Stefani, but mostly adds a whole lot of Tove Styrke flavour. She definitely got enough going on to set herself apart from all the others with this edgy, but promising new direction!