We Are Serenades

The Swedish pop duo We Are Serenades formed when Adam Olenius of Shout Out Louds and Markus Krunegård of Laakso crossed paths by chance at an autobahn rest stop, even though the two had begun as frontmen of rival acts. Prolonged competition across the Swedish music scene later dissolved into friendship, prompting the pair of creative kindred spirits to launch a songwriting partnership. Having each grown accustomed to dominating their own bands, they instituted a strict creative code for We Are Serenades that demanded every track stay positive and uplifting and required the two to deliver vocals in unison rather than swapping lead lines. Studio time secured in 2010 gave Olenius and Krunegård the chance to put that approach into action while developing new songs. The results surfaced in 2012 when Cherrytree Records released the duo’s debut full-length, Criminal Heaven.