Sigrid

Norwegian singer-songwriter Sigrid first appeared toward the end of the 2010s, delivering sincere, high-energy performances that gradually merged bright dance-pop textures with her commanding vocal presence. She supplied an engaging, youthful take on refined Scandinavian pop by issuing two EPs ahead of her platinum-certified debut album, Sucker Punch, which arrived in 2019. That record was followed in 2022 by the assured and seasoned full-length How to Let Go, and then by the Hype EP the next year.

Sigrid Solbakk Raabe entered the world on September 5, 1996, into a household devoted to music and was raised in the coastal city of Ålesund in western Norway, roughly 300 miles from Oslo. As the youngest of three siblings, each pursuing a musical path, she grew up alongside sister Johanne, a classically trained singer who had studied in Italy and Spain, and brother Tellef, who had achieved domestic indie recognition with his band. Early influences included classic artists such as Joni Mitchell, Chet Baker, and Neil Young; her grandmother instructed her on piano while her brother taught her guitar, and she spent ten years studying multiple dance styles.

Following a period performing with her brother’s group, Sigrid began writing songs and started her solo career in October 2013 at age 16 by releasing the single “Sun,” which earned airplay on NRK’s tastemaker program Urørt. Subsequent releases “Two Fish” and “Known You Forever,” combined with captivating festival appearances across Europe, solidified her standing as a skilled songwriter and live performer. Her rich, adaptable voice drew immediate major-label interest, culminating in a signing to Island. She fulfilled expectations with the expansive, anthemic February 2017 single “Don’t Kill My Vibe,” co-written and produced by Martin Sjølie. The track received prominent exposure as BBC Radio 1’s “Hottest Record in the World,” amassed millions of streams, and anchored her first EP, also titled Don’t Kill My Vibe. Another strong single, “Strangers,” appeared that November.

The following year brought the intimate, one-take recording “Focus,” which appeared on her second EP, Raw. At that stage her sound still carried an idiosyncratic, rough-hewn character, yet those traits soon gave way to a lively, buoyant direction signaled by the empowering single “Sucker Punch.” Released in late 2018 and later included on the album of the same name, the track was produced by Martin Sjølie, Odd Martin Skålnes, and Oscar Holter. Sucker Punch reached stores in early 2019 and featured the further singles “Don’t Feel Like Crying” and “Dynamite,” propelling the project to number one in both the United Kingdom and Norway, where it ultimately achieved platinum status. Later in 2019 she supplied the song “Home to You” for the film The Aeronauts. In 2021 she issued the colorful, festival-oriented tracks “Mirror” and “Bad Life,” the latter a collaboration with Oli Sykes of U.K. metal outfit Bring Me the Horizon. Both songs appeared on the 2022 sophomore album How to Let Go, a resonant fusion of shimmering dance-pop and expansive emotional themes that emphasized life’s brighter aspects. She continued that expressive momentum with the 2023 EP Hype, which contained the song “Ghost.”