It’s been nearly a decade since Tove Styrke planted her feet firmly on planet Pop, graduating from “Swedish Idol” in 2009 to release her self-titled debut album the next year, at just 17 years old. Now 25, the singer and songwriter brings the confidence of a seasoned pro to her third album, Sway. Released on the heels of her stint with Lorde’s Melodrama tour and just weeks in advance of her opening slot on Katy Perry’s Witness tour, Sway is a half-hour romantic romp that positions Styrke at the forefront of contemporary pop.
For the past year and a half, the Umeå, Sweden native has been crafting what she calls “a little collection of love stories.” Sticky and sweet, these new songs revel in intense emotions like desire, tenderness, anxiety, and lust. From the thrill of a secret crush to the shame of alcohol-stained temptation, Styrke embraces all varieties of romantic vulnerability.
That boldness is evident in Sway’s expanded range of vocal styles, from the shredded whispers of “On the Low” to the warped Auto-Tune taunts of “I Lied.” (The vocal effects on the album are used for fun rather than deception; Styrke’s voice is the clearest and strongest it’s ever been.) More importantly, her newfound audacity gives the songs a sense of playfulness. The title track is a woozy, seductive overture, with Styrke pausing to catch her breath between vowels as her voice maneuvers around come-ons like an ice cube melting through hot fingers. But “Sway” is a nervous stream of consciousness more than a mating call, capturing the anxiety of being forced to read a vibe: “So if you’re into me I got the energy/Why are you on your phone?” Amid pounding drums and hand-claps, she imagines a variety of possible outcomes.
Styrke defines a successful pop song as one that is a “shortcut to your heart. It triggers emotion just like that.” Working mainly with Katy Perry and Icona Pop collaborator Elof Loelv, as well as Joe Janiak, a co-writer of Britney Spears’ “Make Me…,” she satisfies that requirement with bangers that are sure to provoke a wide range of strong feelings. During the bridge of Tilt-a-Whirling dancehall gem “Changed My Mind,” vocoder makes her voice bleed and blur like she’s wiggling her tongue as she coos, “Pull me closer.” Styrke even reinvents Lorde’s “Liability,” with an album-closing cover that transforms the bruised ballad into a scoffing, eye-rolling assault on the haters.
The pleasure of Sway is in the witty, unexpected details. Beneath the layers of rubber-band bass and cinematic drum rolls, a sample of a zipper illustrates lyrics about dropping trow on “Mistakes.” Paired with the line, “Can’t deny we got a real vibe,” on the same track, the sound of a vibrating phone becomes an aural joke. The subtle echo toward the end of “On the Low” gives way to bird calls, transforming Styrke’s lonely cave into her very own Garden of Eden, where temptation isn’t taboo. Each sound is a metaphor for a different type of desire.
Sway is a pure Top 40 pop album, jammed with breathy whispers, earth-shaking sex anthems, and bedazzled, Charli XCX-style melodies. But no matter how loud they get, the songs play like inner monologues. They’re not confessional, but they are intimate in the sense that they find Styrke asking herself (and often her friends) highly personal questions: Why do we love or hate or want to sleep with this one particular person? How are my brain and my body reacting to this touch? This joie de vivre and curiosity about the psychology behind human connection make Sway Tove Styrke’s most cohesive work to date—and one of the most exuberant albums in recent memory.
