Hannes and waterbaby come together today to release a new single titled Stockholmsvy. Here, they tell Vogue Scandinavia about their creative process, making a music video in one shot, and what colour music is to them
I'd heard of Hannes' critically acclaimed EP When the City Sleeps last year, and so I've eagerly been waiting to see what he'd release next. I knew this drop was going to be something special, especially when informed the track featured the mysterious waterbaby. She’s only released one other feature and it was with the sensational Seinabo Say nonetheless.
Stockholmsvy is an infectious pop song. Despite having a Swedish title, Hannes keeps to his anglo-poetry with the lyrics written in English. After a few listens, the choice of the Swedish word title becomes distinctly obvious: you cannot capture that Scandi melancholic feeling of vemod that comes with a word like Stockholmsvy in English. This song shows that some feelings cannot be translated.
Hannes, waterbaby (born Kendra Egerbladh), and I chat about the song over Zoom. They sit in Kendra’s beautiful sage green kitchen drinking champagne and eating chips in the evening. Hannes begins to describe the process of creating the song, saying that Marcus White, the producer, had played him the beat and that the chorus melody came naturally.
Photo: Hannes
However, Stockholmsvy developed from looking for a word that rhymed with memory: “We just goofed around with ‘Memory, demory semory, Stockholmsvy,’" Stockholmsvy made Hannes react, cementing itself as part of the song. "That was at the beginning of the process of making the lyrics for the chorus,” Hannes explains. To put it into context, the first word that came to mind for me was documentary, so it’s a true testament to Hannes’ immense skill of lyricism that he settled on “Stockholmsvy.”
Before waterbaby was on the track, she reveals that she was absolutely obsessed with the song. Their shared-producer White had played it for her in the studio. “I was obsessed, and every time I went to the studio I asked them to play it for me. I asked them to send it to me. By the time I got the question if I wanted to be featured, I wasn't tired of it, but I had murdered the song by constantly listening to it,” she says and laughs. “I was very happy to jump on it.”
To visualise the track, this dynamic duo took to the metro of Stockholm, filming the music video in one shot. Hannes doesn’t exactly know how to describe the video, but one sentiment stuck: ”We f**k around”.
While shooting on the metro, the people on the subway had not been informed of the imminent performance taking place, which stirred a bit of a reaction. “I didn't notice it at the time when we recorded it. But when I see it now, it's typically Swedish – a lot of people are really uncomfortable,” Hannes says. Egerbladh also adds that a few people started clapping along and joining in, or asking for the name of the song and the release date.
Watch the music video here:
It only felt right to record the video this way, as the entire song has the essence of Stockholm in the summertime attached to it. So, of course, the city had to actually be featured, with unedited emotions and reactions.
This stirs something in Egerbladh, who begins to describe what colour this song is to her. It is safe to say that she has synesthesia, where you see senses as colours. To Kendra, Stockholmsvy is brown, to Hannes it is blue, and to me it is lavender. But, no matter the colour, it definitely sounds like the song of the summer.
Listen to Stockholmsvy on Spotify: