Icona Pop will release ‘Club Romantech’ – their first album in 10 years – this September.
The Swedish pop duo, who scored a global mega-hit with their Charli XCX collaboration, I Love It, have shared details of the long-awaited follow-up to ‘This Is… Icona Pop’, which features the new single, Where Do We Go From Here?.
“As Icona Pop, we can release a pop tune or a super hard dance song, and that’s who we are,” says Caroline Hjelt. “When we started to write this album, we didn’t have any rules. We just had a vision we wanted to share with our fans. We’re inviting them into our world.”
Aino Jawo adds: “We put all of our problems and stress into what we’re doing. We love disguising our heartbreaks and sadness in uplifting songs you can dance to. It was a very emotional process, and it’s all in the music.”
Joel Corry, Sofi Tukker, Yaeger, Ultra Nate and Galantis are among collaborators on the new tracks, of which Aino continues: “We got back to what we love. It was the quietest period we’ve experienced in ten-plus years, so it’s crazy we made such danceable music. We felt the need to do something more up-tempo.”
“During these long conversations, we were dreaming of what we wanted the album to sound like,” recalls Caroline. “We finally had the time to explore, have fun, and try different things. It feels like we’re going back to our core, but from where we are today. Initially, we were devastated to leave L.A. and the whole system we had built there.
“Suddenly, we were in Sweden, and we felt alone. In retrospect, I’m very happy we were there, but there was a lot of crying at first. What kept us going during the pandemic was going into the studio.”
‘Club Romantech’ – featuring the singles I Want You (feat Galantis), Faster and Shit We Do For Love (feat Yaeger) – is out September 1 on Ultra Records and available to pre-save now.
Tracklist: Icona Pop – Club Romantech
1. Fall In Love
2. Desire (with Joel Corry)
3. Shit We Do For Love (with Yaeger)
4. Stick Your Tongue Out
5. Make Your Mind Up Babe
6. Stockholm At Night
7. Where Do We Go From Here
8. I Want You (with Galantis)
9. Loving You Ain’t Easy
10. Need You
11. Off Of My Mind
12. Faster
13. You’re Free (with Ultra Naté)
14. Feels In My Body
15. Spa (with SOFI TUCKKER)
Earlier this year, Icona Pop spoke exclusively with RETROPOP about their new material, explaining how the Covid-19 crisis compelled them to write and record their most joyous material yet.
“We’ve been touring for so many years and we’ve been trying to write music, then when we left LA and went back to Sweden before the lockdown started we were super bored and we ended up in the same studio where we wrote our first songs,” revealed Aino.
“We were also scared,” added Caroline. “What was gonna happen with our career? Would we ever be able to stand on stage again? Or travel? It was such a weird time…”
With the future of their career in doubt, the pair set about working on new material while touching base with fans with virtual ‘Rave Spa’ sessions on social media.
“We’d be doing sheet masks and DJing in robes. Just really fun things so we were still connected with our fans, which influenced us when we started writing,” Caroline continued. “We said, ‘OK – let’s go in, have no rules, and see where we end up.’ And it’s pretty cool that during the most quiet times of our lives, we wrote our clubbiest songs ever!”
