Coachella 2018: Sigrid’s ‘Raw’ Approach To Pop Music
By Scott Baumgartner.
There’s an unspoken code that charts the path to success in the pop world. The songs should espouse escapism, the performances need to titillate and the singers are encouraged to be larger than life. However, Norway’s Sigrid has embarked on a very different course. Taking the stage at Coachella 2018, the 21-year-old songstress delivered a high-energy performance highlighting her raw talent with songs that provoke introspection and a closer look.
“It’s my way of dealing with everything,” she tells Idolator at the festival. “Just being myself and being natural. I figured out quite quickly that that being an artist is quite weird and doing it… it’s best to do it my way.” So, how does she get away with such a stark departure from pop norms? Sigrid unabashedly embraces her own quirky, disarming personality on stage and in her music. Performing in minimal makeup and sidestepping some revealing getup, she instead seeks to connect with her young audience with her staggeringly catchy arsenal of tracks.
“Like strangers, perfect pretenders. We’re falling head-over-heels for something that ain’t real, it could never be us,” she sings on the track “Strangers.” How often have you seen a singer turn a reality check into a pulsating pop anthem? While most acts in 2018 are pushing reckless abandon, this rising star is a purveyor of authenticity, in its most exhilarating form.
“I understand why that can be nice sometimes too,” she admitted, when discussing artists’ propensity for taking on a persona with their music. “Because then it’s easier to separate those two things.” With a new EP in the works, Sigrid is once again tackling the dangerous game of sharing her songs and ideas with her ever-growing fanbase. After bursting onto the scene with her runaway 2017 hit “Don’t Kill My Vibe,” she now faces the challenge of proving she’s here to stay.
“It’s scary! It’s always scary releasing your baby into the world. Like all of my songs are so special to me and I have such an emotional connection to all of them… it’s called Raw,” she said of her EP, before reflecting on how her songwriting and performing is evolving. “The first EP was kind of like an elegant fuck you. This is a little more emotional, I guess.” Never has a phrase so beautifully summed up an artist. Sigrid is the very best kind of “elegant fuck you.”
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