Swedish pop star Tove Styrke on switching up her sound on new single Say My Name, Max Martin and more - Interview

Tove Styrke is feeling very relaxed. When we phone her up for a chat, she’s hanging out at her flat in Stockholm doing various bits of popstar promo including interviews and making Spotify playlists, all the while admiring her house plants.

 “I’ve actually been able to grow these from scratch,” she tells us with a sense of disbelief in her voice. “They are my babies – and I don’t have green fingers - but I think I’m succeeding with these ones. If this place caught on fire right now, those would be the first things I would grab, because I made them and I don’t want them to die.”

Tove is part of the ever-expanding collective of Swedish singer-songwriters who are turning out A-grade electropop. Since finishing third place on Swedish Idol in 2009, she’s released two well-received albums in her home country (2015’s Kiddo features the criminally ignored Ego), and after two years playing around in the studio, she’s back with Say My Name; a hook-laden track that oozes confidence and showcases a marked shift from her usual sound.  

“This song was the first that I did with this guy I’m working a lot with now, called Elof (Loelv, who co-wrote Rihanna’s Stay), and I just loved it so much straight away,” she explains. “As soon as we did it, we were sitting in the studio wondering how we were going to top it. I think we managed it though – I have some pretty good songs still to come out you know!”

Say My Name, Tove says, is “a good starting point” for what’s to come from her in 2017. Describing her last record as having a “more is more” vibe to it, she says that she’s challenged herself to hold back on big production this time out. “I wanted to strip it down and get rid of everything that’s not necessary and keep it quite dry… that’s been my thing this time. It demands more of the song if the production is going to be that small. The songs needs to be able to carry itself without those big ‘OOOF’ sounds.

“That’s been the challenge. With the new songs I’ve been way more meticulous than ever before. Every word counts because so much depends on my voice.”

Despite holing herself up in a studio for the last two years, Tove says there are no plans to release an album any time soon. “I’m just going to keep writing songs and go with my gut feeling and put out whatever I feel like when the time fits it,” she explains. “I want to approach releasing music that way. I also want to keep on working in the studio whilst I’m releasing music. I love touring, so I want to keep that part going as well, rather than wait ages until there’s an album.”

Given she’s a fully fledged member of the Swedish pop clique (other include Robyn, Tove Lo, Icona Pop, Lykke Li), we can’t resist asking her if she’s come face to face with Sweden’s (and the world’s) ultimate pop producer Max Martin - the behind countless worldwide smashes for just about every global popstar over the last 20 years.

“The first time I met him I think I was a complete jerk to him,” she reveals, giggling with embarrassment. “To me, he was some random guy just sitting in the studio. He introduced himself as Martin and there are a lot of Martin’s in Sweden. He asked me a load of random questions and I think I was a bit of a dick to him. I was young. When he left everyone was laughing and telling me, ‘you know that was Max Martin?!’

“I’ve since recently spoke to him on the phone. He told me he likes Say My Name, so that was a nice conversation. When Max likes your song, it’s encouraging.”

Tove Styke's Say My Name is out to download and stream now.