Kerli

Estonian vocalist and composer Kerli cultivates an ever-shifting sonic palette that draws from disparate genres yet stays anchored in crisp, melody-driven pop. Her 2008 debut album Love Is Dead fused goth-tinged rock textures with soaring alternative-pop hooks, yielding a pair of modest crossover successes; a luminous, club-oriented reinvention soon followed on the 2013 Utopia EP. That project produced three U.S. dance-chart entries and paved the way for a more integrated sound on her long-awaited second full-length, Shadow Works, issued in 2019.

Born Kerli Kõiv in 1987 inside the Soviet-controlled Estonian hamlet of Elva, she nurtured ambitions of pop stardom from childhood, immersing herself in vocal training, dance, acting, and piano lessons as a means of escaping a difficult upbringing and eventually leaving her native country. She placed second in the 2001 edition of Eurolaul, Estonia’s national contest for Eurovision selection, and two years later advanced to the second semifinal of Sweden’s Melodifestivalen before being eliminated. Persistent live performances and songwriting eventually secured an audition with L.A. Reid, resulting in a 2006 contract with Island/Def Jam. Working alongside producer, songwriter, and mixer David Maurice, she assembled a collection of autobiographical material; the earliest tracks surfaced on the 2007 digital EP Kerli. Two of those songs carried over to the full-length Love Is Dead, released in summer 2008. Its genre-blending, goth-inflected aesthetic drew comparisons to Björk, Evanescence, and Avril Lavigne, earning modest placement on the Billboard 200 while claiming the top spot on Estonia’s domestic chart. Capitalizing on her growing international profile, she placed original music in such projects as Fringe, Smallville, Punisher: War Zone, Almost Alice, and Frankenweenie.

Kerli resurfaced in 2013 with a markedly different identity. Though conceived as a complete album, the Utopia EP introduced a high-energy electronic-dance framework suited to raves and festival stages. Its lead single “The Lucky Ones” ascended to number one on the U.S. Dance chart, while earlier promotional releases “Army of Love” and “Zero Gravity” reached positions one and six, respectively. Later that year she exited Island and aligned with Ultra Music, subsequently teaming with electronic acts including Benny Benassi, Cash Cash, tyDi, and Seven Lions for several joint recordings.

A subsequent pivot brought the luminous dance-pop singles “Feral Hearts” and “Blossom,” both evocative of Marina, followed by the heavier anthems “Diamond Hard” and “Spirit Animal.” These four tracks had been slated for her second album, yet those sessions were ultimately discarded in favor of new material. The first preview of that revised project emerged in late 2018, signaling yet another artistic transformation.

The brooding electronic cut “Savages,” together with the similarly cinematic “Better” and “Legends,” anchored Shadow Works, released in early 2019 on Seeking Blue more than ten years after her debut. The twelve-track set debuted at number 24 on the U.S. Heatseekers chart and featured production contributions from AFSHeeN, Crash Cove, and Said the Sky, although Kerli herself wrote and produced the majority of the record.