Winona Oak

Winona Oak, the stage name of Swedish artist Johanna Ekmark, specializes in minimalist electronic pop laced with dance rhythms. Initial notice arrived via her vocals on collaborations with What So Not and the Chainsmokers, setting the stage for her first proper solo album, Island of the Sun, issued in 2022. After losing her mother to cancer, she issued the Void EP in 2024.

Born in 1994 on Sollerön, a small forested island north of Stockholm, Ekmark grew up steeped in music because her grandmother played in the Swedish Royal Orchestra. That background led her to start violin at age five and piano at nine. As a teenager she trained as a horse acrobat while writing poetry on the side, then relocated to Stockholm to launch a music career.

Neon Gold/Atlantic Records signed her in 2018 and connected her with What So Not for “Beautiful” and the Chainsmokers for “Hope.” Later that year her debut single arrived as a cover of Haim’s “Don't Save Me,” which was included on the label’s tenth-anniversary compilation NGX: Ten Years of Neon Gold. Island of the Sun followed in June 2022 and featured production from Andrew Wells, Julian Gillström, and several others.

The May 2024 EP Void served as an outlet for Ekmark to address her mother’s death from cancer. Further standalone singles such as “You're Always High,” “My Body,” and “I Broke Me First” appeared afterward.