Three years after releasing her critically acclaimed debut album, “Sucker Punch,” Norwegian pop star Sigrid is back again to give us a record we don’t want to miss.
In a virtual press conference via Zoom on April 25, Sigrid talked about her forthcoming sophomore album “How To Let Go.” The singer shared that the album is about letting go of things and moving on.
“It’s an album about letting go of things,” Sigrid said. “[The songs are all] about letting go of all these fears and doubts that you collect in [your] early 20s. Letting go of all the relationships that weren’t that great and, you know, you’ve gone through. Letting go about some life lessons that you’ve learned and moved on.”
Apart from letting go as the central theme of “How To Let Go,” Sigrid also added that the album touches on the concept of taking a break and making boundaries, but still finding joy in it—a concept that she can resonate with.
Sigrid’s “How To Let Go” was first announced on March 11 during a YouTube livestream. The album is produced by Evil Twin, John Hill, Martin Sjølie, SLY, and Zakk Cervini, which will feature 12 new tracks, including lead single and self-acceptance anthem “Mirror,” “Burning Bridges,” “It Gets Dark,” and “Bad Life” featuring English rock band Bring Me The Horizon.
Sigrid also shared that there’s one song that she deemed as her favorite track, and that’s “It Gets Dark,” the third single from the album, which was released on March 9. She revealed that the song was the first track she wrote for the album way back in early 2020 when she was still touring.
“I was touring intensely for four years or something, and I hadn’t really had a proper break. I think at one point, I started to get a bit confused,” Sigrid admitted. She even recalled that there were times she questioned the concept of home.
“I feel extremely privileged to be doing what I’m doing as an artist. I’m able to travel the world and go to places like London, Los Angeles, New York, and a little bit of home [Norway] as well. But it just constantly feels like you have one foot in and one foot out,” the singer explained. She then revealed that she felt like living a double life because she felt different in English than in Norwegian. These realizations, however, had become Sigrid’s inspiration to write her gleaming single, “It Gets Dark.”
“I guess you have to pull through the negative stuff to get to the good side of things. You need to have both in a way that you just can’t get either/or. So that’s “It Gets Dark,” and it’s way more of a rock song than I’ve done before,” she said.
The Norwegian pop singer has also talked about her latest single, “Bad Life,” where she teamed up with Bring Me The Horizon. When asked about how the album came about, Sigrid shared that before meeting the band, she has been a fan of theirs for a couple of years. Later on, she learned that the band has also been listening to her music as well.
But according to Sigrid, nothing happened during those times, not until last year when she met Jordan Fish, the band’s keyboardist, last year at the Reading and Leeds festival.
“I was at the Reading [and Leeds festival] in the UK last year backstage, and then I saw this guy walk up to me and my manager. He’s like: ‘Hi! I’m Jordan [Fish],’” Sigrid recalled. She then admitted that she didn’t recognize Fish at first, but when he introduced he’s from Bring Me The Horizon, Sigrid freaked out. “I almost fell to the floor, like: ‘Oh my god! Aah! Such a fan,’” she said.
Shortly after that encounter, Fish and Oli Sykes, the band’s vocalist, sent her the demo of “Bad Life.” “A couple of weeks later, we went into the studio and wrote some lyrics. I added my little twist to it, and then that’s how ‘Bad Life’ was born,” Sigrid shared.
As the song tackles mental health struggles, Sigrid and Bring Me The Horizon hoped that the song could be a “comfort blanket” to their listeners who are going through a rough patch, sending a message that “it will pass and get better.” “I’ve listened so much to this song. It really picks me [up] when I’m listening to it in the car or if I want to go somewhere,” Sigrid said. “We’re so proud of it.”
Now with a new album on the way and huge success under her belt through the past years—from being a multi-awarded artist to headlining her own shows, Sigrid looked back to her 2019 self and said she’s proud of herself for “still staying noob” and for not changing.
The Norwegian pop sensation said: “I’m really proud of myself for still staying the biggest noob. When I’m home, I still do the same things that I’ve always done.”
“I’m really proud that I’m still enjoying the same things that I do—like playing Sims, cooking tacos four days in a row because I don’t know how to cook—stuff like that,” she added.
Sigrid also gave her younger self a piece of advice, which is to set personal boundaries and not be afraid of saying no. “I’m thinking like saying no to [in a sense of], ‘I don’t know if I could sing four days in a row.’ Okay well, then say that […] because that’s been a learning process [for me to know] how much I can take in terms of workload and stuff like that.”
Sigrid’s “How To Let Go” is out on May 6, 2022. Click here to pre-save the new album.
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