Scandinavia is home to some of the greatest music in the world. Classic artists like ABBA and Björk have captivated us for decades, and contemporary artists like Miike Snow, Icona Pop and the Knife have more than proved themselves to be talented musicians.
Swedish singer and songwriter Tove Lo is not one of these artists.
In 2014, Lo released her lackluster debut album “Queen of the Clouds” and along with it her biggest single “Talking Body,” unarguably the most annoying song to hit the radio since Cher Lloyd’s “Want U Back.”
Her sophomore LP “Lady Wood” only continues Lo’s saga of trying to become some sort of lame love child of Ellie Goulding and Lana Del Rey.
Lo tries so hard on this record to sound “edgy” with lots of swearing, sexual imagery and drug content, but it’s simply too forced and sounds amateur. Lo writes music from the mind, not from the heart.
This is most apparent in songs like “Cool Girl,” “Influence” and the title track, probably the worst tracks on the album.
This lack of soul reflects in the instrumentation, as well. While this is a well-produced record, the drum machine and keyboards sounds too close to the first two Goulding albums for originality.
Until “Vibes,” the sixth track on this LP, begins playing, there seems to be too much dance and too little soul on this record that seems to be trying very hard to be inspiring but fails miserably.
Lo also said in an interview with Rolling Stone that “Lady Wood” is intended to be a sexually liberating album for women, despite the fact that its sexual songs are about as stimulating as a Vanilla Ice song.
For example, despite what you may think, the term “lady wood” is actually supposed to sound sexy and not gut-busting hysterical. Saying “Give me lady wood” surprisingly doesn’t increase a person’s chances of trying to turn you on.
Speaking of pathetic means of turning you on, both Wiz Khalifa and Joe Janiak are technically featured on this LP. But their appearances are so brief that you could easily miss them. What little time they were given, however, showed up everything else you will hear on this album.
Regardless, not every track on this record is terrible. “Imaginary Friend,” a self-pep-talk for Lo to help fight her personal demons and doubts, is certainly the best track on “Lady Wood.”
“Keep It Simple” and “Flashes” also do pretty decent jobs of conveying the message that neither fame nor sex are essential with healthy and happy relationships.
If only Lo could learn herself that copying other artists is not essential for making semi-decent music. Perhaps then she can join her Nordic brothers and sisters as truly one of the greats.
afaulds@indiana.edu
@a_faulds9615
