Singer Tove Lo rising on pop charts as singer and songwriter
In this March 21, 2015 file photo, Tove Lo performs at Perez Hilton’s One Night in Austin Party during the SXSW Music Festivalin Austin, Texas. Tove Lo will perform at the Rock in Rio USA festival Friday, May 15, in Las Vegas. (Photo by Jack Plunkett/Invision/AP, File)
LAS VEGAS — Tove Lo is having a sexy year, musically speaking.
The Swedish singer is riding high off her recent hit, the sex anthem “Talking Body,” and she also co-wrote Ellie Goulding’s “Love Me Like You Do” from the ubiquitous “50 Shades of Grey” soundtrack.
“I was basically a part of helping with the lyrics,” Lo said of Goulding’s multiplatinum, Top 5 hit. “I watched the movie and when it comes on in the movie, you’re like, ‘I was part of that!'”
“I’m not a Mr. Grey girl. He’s not my type at all,” she added. But “Talking Body,” which climbed to No. 15 on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart this week, describes a guy Lo can’t get over.
“It was after a very good night and kind of when you’re thinking about when you’re stuck in a sex phase with someone, and you never want to get out, never want to get in the real world,” she said. “It’s a sex song basically. I hope people are making love to it.”
The song is the follow-up to Lo’s debut hit, “Habits (Stay High),” which peaked at No. 3 on the Hot 100 chart.
“I don’t think I realized how many people were going to hear this very personal story about me — that goes for all of my songs,” she said Friday after rehearsing at the Rock in Rio USA festival in Las Vegas, where Taylor Swift and Bruno Mars are headliners. “A lot of people can relate — that’s why I think it did so well because people were like, ‘That’s me. I feel that pain!'”
The songs appear on her debut album, “Queen of the Clouds,” released last year. It features honest lyrics about the rising 27-year-old’s life, from having sex to being insecure.
Lo hit a minor setback at the top of the year when she had surgery to remove a cyst from her vocal cord.
“January through March, I was like completely in my apartment, going crazy, being quiet,” she said. “It was so bad by the end of last year. I could barely sing.”
Lo, who toured with Katy Perry international, has written songs for Hilary Duff, Icona Pop, Lea Michelle and others. She has worked under pop powerhouse Max Martin (Britney Spears, Taylor Swift) and songwriter Shellbeck, and says collaborating with fellow singer-songwriter Sia would be a “dream.”
“I’m in love with everything that she does for herself because it’s so emotional and it has inspiration that I love, and her voice is just out of this world,” she said. “Big fan!”
