Ana Johnsson first entered public view during the opening season of Sweden's Popstars series, performing as part of the commercially dominant girl group Excellence. She departed the ensemble in 2002 to launch a solo path, moving away from the collective's sugary Europop toward a rawer teen-pop approach modeled on Avril Lavigne. Her opening solo release, "The Way I Am," reached number 17 on the Swedish charts in 2003, while her debut album, Cuz I Can, followed in 2004. Commercial results for both remained limited, yet an executive at Columbia Tristar soon invited her to record for the Spider-Man 2 soundtrack. The resulting track, "We Are," brought her worldwide attention, climbing into the top ten in Sweden, Austria, Norway, and Britain and reaching number 25 on the United World Chart. Her second album, The Way I Am, issued the same year, topped the chart in Japan and registered at number 15 in Germany, number 20 in Switzerland, and number 27 in Sweden. It collected multiple award nominations in Sweden and positioned her among the nation's strongest emerging pop acts of that period. Little Angel, her third album, appeared across Scandinavia in 2006. Although the project itself posted modest chart numbers, it produced two top-20 singles: "Days of Summer" peaked at number seven in Sweden, and "Exception" reached number 11. Around the same time she collaborated with Finnish rockers Bleak on an award-winning song for the Finnish-Chinese film Jadesoturi (Jade Warrior).
