We met up with Swedish singer and songwriter Josefine Myrberg to talk about her music, her inspirations and influences, and dreams for the future. Check out the video above and read on to find out more about Josefine.
Josefine Myrberg first caught our attention with her raspy voice and disarming smile on the Swedish Idol season of 2014 – the year Lisa Ajax won and Josefine placed third. She was just 16 then and says Idol taught her most of all about performing on stage, which is something she had not done at all before that. She also got her first experience of working with other people who loved music as much as she did.
After Idol she got signed to a label which pretty much specialises in Idol graduates and Melodifestivalen artists, but it did not feel like a good match and the label wanted different things than she did. When Josefine started writing her own music with producers and songwriters that she really liked, she felt she had found her own sound but the old label did not like her direction. So she got out of the deal and joined a smaller independent label called ART:ERY instead.
“Now I can do whatever I want and it’s great. We are like family here and they listen to me.”
This year Josefine has now released three new songs, which give a glimpse of what she wants to do with her music. First out was Human, which was a rather dark song about the state of the world right now. The follow-up Lucid Dream was more positive and upbeat song about following your dreams. And the latest Head over Heels describes strong emotions of falling in love and maybe forgetting about everything else.
We also asked Josefine what direction she wants to take her music now and she says she likes the country vibe, maybe with some rock influences. That does sound like a good direction for her, as her great voice is at its best when she gets to use that special rasp of hers.
“My future plan is to keep writing and keep feeling the inspiration. I want to always feel that the music comes from my heart and that it is the music I really want to release. And then let’s hope people will like it.”
All three of Josefine’s latest songs have also got accompanying music videos. For her the videos are a way of putting pictures on the emotions and the stories that the songs are telling. It is refreshing to see her music complemented with the videos, as Swedish artists in general are putting far too little effort on the visuals.
Asking about Josefine’s musical influences, she first mentions Jessie J – whom she admires for the way she has control over her voice, as well as her songwriting – “she can put words on a feeling in a special way”. But Josefine gets inspiration from many different artists in different ways, such as Miley Cyrus for her voice and Beyoncé for the way she moves on stage.
“The dream that I want to reach in music is just to be able to stand on a big stage and to sing my songs and to see the people really feel it.”
Josefine’s just moved to Stockholm after finishing her school in Gothenburg (she went to a high school with a music and songwriting profile). She says she’s waited two years to be able to make the move and to be able to finally focus fully on her music. She seems to love it here so far…
“Stockholm is a great city. It feels like every person can be whoever they want…”
So we are definitely looking forward to more music from Josefine now that she is free to be herself and make her music the way she likes it.
