"She ghosted me for five months": Inside Kygo and Victoria's first music collab – and first home – together

Chatting about the weather is often dismissed as idle small talk; a conversational crutch for when there is nothing better to say. But in Scandinavia, where skies can shift from grey to glorious in a blink of the eye, it's practically a cultural calling card. For Kygo and Victoria Nadine, it’s particularly significant – it’s the interaction that brought them together.

A rare burst of sunshine in the Norwegian city of Bergen, Kygo’s notoriously rainy hometown, made its way onto Victoria’s Instagram story, prompting him to slide into her DMs. “It’s sunny in Bergen, heart eyes, or something,” Victoria chuckles, remembering the meteorologically-inspired interaction that sparked their story.
I’m meeting Kygo and Victoria over Zoom. The couple sit side-by-side in front of a fireplace, with two oversized Daft Punk portraits hanging behind them. I’m calling in from London, seated in front of a framed print of Bianca Jagger’s 1974 Vogue cover. Unintentionally, our backgrounds feel somewhat meta for a conversation about music, identity, and cultural icons.

Kygo, whose given name is Kyrre Gørvell-Dahll, needs no introduction. One of the most recognisable DJs and producers of the last 15 years, the 33-year-old came onto the scene during the colossal commercial upswing of dance and electronic music, quickly cementing his place alongside names like Avicii and Zedd. For more than a decade, he’s shaped the sound of dance floors across the globe.

Victoria, by contrast, is a newer name to the music scene, but her rise has been nothing short of extraordinary. Like many other Scandinavian stars, 25-year-old Nadine started out young, auditioning for Norwegian Idol at just 16 years old. “I feel like a lot of young girls want to be like a superstar or whatever. But I just really wanted to do music,” she says.

Known as “the very insecure, nervous one” on the reality series, she’s come a long way in just a few short years; in 2020, one of Victoria’s earliest songs, ‘Be Okay’, shot to number one. “I had this ballad, I sent it to every label, and every label said no. I was like, ‘Okay, ‘I’ll release it myself’. And then it actually went number one in Norway,” she says with a grin. “I feel like that’s when I started to believe in myself and my intuition.” A clear testament to the power of her artistry, every Norwegian record label that had once passed on her talent came back, tails between their legs and record deals in their hands.

But before we even touch on music, we dive headfirst into the origin story of their relationship – the DMs, the meet-ups, the mishaps – a classic will-they-won’t-they tale (spoiler: they will). Victoria confesses she had a certain preconceived notion of Kygo, one shaped less by his status as one of the world’s biggest DJs and more by Norway’s “small” social circles. Namely, a “picture of him being this DJ guy that didn’t care,” she says, lowering her voice to mimic the stereotype.“You know the type,” she says, her eyes wide, locking with mine – and yes, I do. “I think that’s why we didn’t date the first time we met,” she says. Kygo shifts in his seat as Victoria and I laugh, until he says sweetly: “She was a little sceptical, but I thought she was very cute and very nice, and we had a great time together,” he says, before pausing. “But she ghosted me for five months, so I had to really work for it.”

After a beat, they both burst out laughing, as it seems absurd to think there was ever a scenario where they wouldn’t have ended up together. They eventually linked up at a music festival (once again in Bergen, although I’m sure this time in the rain). The moment Kygo sat down at a piano at the afterparty something shifted and Victoria fell in love. “I just realised he’s such a down-to-earth, good guy,” she says, smiling at him.

That was the summer of 2022. Now, three years later, the couple have just wrapped Kygo’s headline world tour – with Victoria joining as the opening act. They casually reveal they’ve just bought an apartment together in Oslo (where this cover shoot took place, offering the first exclusive glimpse inside). Perched above the shimmering waters surrounding the capital, it’s the couple’s first shared home. “It’s the view for me,” Kygo says of what sold him on the house. “That, and the couch set-up where you can enjoy the view.” Victoria’s favourite feature? “The bedroom, it’s calm and zen,” she says, before adding with a grin, “and the walk-in closet, of course.” For our photoshoot, the pair embrace on their new balcony, framed by the expansive blue of the springtime sky and sparkling Oslofjord waters. It’s a perfect match for the blue Levi’s denim they both wear, in various states of undress, exposing their respective tattoos.

Property aside, the couple are today stepping into an ever bigger joint project: releasing music together. “Before we even knew each other, I loved her voice, and I felt like it would be perfect for, you know, a collab,” Kygo says, glancing at Victoria. Collaborations, of course, are Kygo’s forte. Over the past decade, he’s carved out a cosmic career with his instantly recognisable dance productions featuring some of the biggest pop stars of the last ten years, from Selena Gomez to Ellie Goulding and, most recently, One Republic.

This new team-up is extra special, taking the concept of “collab” to a whole new level, merging not just Kygo and Victoria’s music but their entire lives. Stepping into the studio together just made sense. “We always thought it would be natural to have a song together. It was just about finding the right one,” Kygo says. “So we went into the studio many times now, just playing around with different ideas, and it’s obviously fun, you know, when we’re together,” he says. Music is a central thread in their relationship. Throughout our conversation, they gush about playing each other their respective new music, trading notes and feedback, and cheering each other on. Kygo reiterates that they talk about music “a lot”, so it was only a matter of time before they joined forces on a record.

‘Can’t Get Enough’ strikes the perfect balance, a true meeting point between Kygo’s signature dance productions and Victoria’s golden vocals and melodies. It’s a sound that feels fresh for both of them, a fusion that is entirely their own. However, it wasn’t all smooth sailing. Being two of Norway’s most famous artists, expectations were inevitably high, and the pressure seeped into the hallowed halls of the studio. With ten tracks under their belt, choosing the first one to release became a daunting task. “We have a lot of songs that we really love, but I think we had to just be like, let’s just go for something,”Victoria says, resting her hand on Kygo’s shoulder,“I feel like some people might have these expectations because we’re a couple that both do music, but I think it put some pressure on you too, at least on me. I was like, it has to be perfect.” Kygo nods before adding, “it also felt like a song that was kind of in between our worlds. It wasn’t like full dance or full pop, it was kind of somewhere in between. So it felt like a good place to start.” Victoria concludes, saying, “I don’t think it’s the song people expected us to release, but I think that’s what makes it a little bit more exciting in a way.”

And there’s even more to be excited about. Victoria has just signed with a record label in New York City. “Now I’m super excited to actually get my music out there in the world – not only in Norway. I love Norway, but it’s a small country,” she says, as both nod in agreement. Still, relocating to the U.S. isn’t on the cards anytime soon. The couple remain rooted in Norway, having spent years shuttling between Kygo’s hometown of Bergen and Victoria’s base in Oslo before finally settling into their new apartment together. “I’ve been traveling for like 11 years,” Kygo says, explaining how he considered getting a place in the U.S. when he spent months at a time doing Las Vegas residencies. But alas, there’s no place like home. “Norway and Bergen, that’s going to be my home base, and that’s where I always go back,” he says patriotically, as Victoria adds, “I don’t feel like we have to move somewhere else because we travel everywhere. I love Norway. I don’t think I could ever feel like somewhere else is home.”

Meanwhile, in the wake of today's track’s release , the pair are hitting the road again with a string of festival dates stretching across the summer. This time, though, things feel extra magical: they will have a shiny new song to play together side-by-side on stage. While they had already teased ‘Can’t Get Enough’ during shows in Korea and Japan, audiences have now formed their own relationship to the song. “I’m excited to play it again, but it was very scary those first times that we teased it. I was like blacking out almost because I have these expectations,” Victoria reveals with a chuckle.

“I’m trying to get the song a little bit more under my skin and get used to singing it and having fun on stage because we’re going to do a lot of shows in the summer together. I’m very excited.” As it turns out the couple really can’t get enough of each other.