I Am Karate

Swedish duo I Am Karate introduced their polished, buoyant electro-pop sound through a self-titled EP that arrived in 2015. Their follow-up single “Bitter,” issued later that year, marked the first release to surpass one million streams.

Erika Ahlström and Marta Pettersson, both raised in Dalarna, Sweden, and already drawn to songwriting, first crossed paths in 2014 and soon resolved to collaborate on original material. They named Robyn and Susanne Sundfør as primary influences. Sharing lead vocals while Pettersson handled keyboards and Ahlström managed electronic effects, the pair began performing live and issued the self-released I Am Karate EP the following year. On the strength of that EP and several independent singles, Gaffa magazine placed them on its 2016 shortlist for Best Unsigned Act. Before the year ended they signed with Universal and delivered their second EP, In Thin Air.

Now operating out of Stockholm, the duo performed on national television and accumulated hundreds of thousands of streams across several tracks before heading back into the studio. After their split from Universal, I Am Karate resurfaced in 2018 with the independently released single “Expectations,” produced by Eirik Røland. Two additional tracks followed before December, among them the self-produced “Work It Out.”