Swedish duo Icona Pop released its second studio album, titled This Is…Icona Pop, this week, and I could say “I love it,” but that would be a complete understatement. I want this album to be my personal soundtrack that blasts as I strut down Foss in slow motion. The album is packed with memorable hooks, simple but driving beats, and takes female empowerment to an entirely new level. Icona Pop embraces its self-proclaimed image as a “90’s bitch” with in-your-face dance anthems celebrating freedom, fun, and a carefree attitude.
The band’s biggest hit, “I Love It,” opens the album and sets the tone perfectly. The song requires scream-singing along as a cathartic outlet for teenage angst by living out a fantasy of essentially not caring about a breakup. With edgy lyrics, powerful beats, and a massive hook, this first track prepares listeners for the empowering and catchy tunes that follow.
“We Got the World” presents a no-care message juxtaposed with a spread-the-love essence that I absolutely adore. An epic drop combined with major quotability makes it impossible not to sing along and believe the ladies preaching, “Live fast, die young…live the dream until we die.”
As soon as I heard “Girlfriend,” it stole my heart, and I guarantee listening to it is an instant mood lift. The track begins with a teasing “na-na-na-na” that’s playful and almost childish and then, reworking classic Tupac lyrics into girly pop, tells the boys off and belts out with pride, “All I need in this life of sin/Is me and my girlfriend.”
Other carefree dance-y tracks include “All Night,” which has a killer pre-chorus that chants, “make the pop go rock,” and “Ready for the Weekend,” which rocks a crazy drop and solid club beats despite superficial and repetitive lyrics. “On a Roll” is the kind of upbeat song that gets stuck in your head the first time you hear it, and it reminded me of early Lady Gaga. Despite simplicity of musicality and repetition of lyrics, there’s a perfect mix of self-confidence and attitude, as the song proclaims that it’s “So good to be me.” I particularly dig the breakdown in the bridge, during which the girls croon out “Hope I feel like this forever,” which I see as a perfect representation of the album’s theme and the band in general.
Though dance anthems account for much of the album, Icona Pop strayed from the power jams on a few tracks. “In the Stars” and “Hold On” pay more attention to vocals with slower beats and more subtle background music. “Hold On,” in particular, feels a bit darker compared to other tracks on this album, but the basic musicality and classic chords are enjoyable nonetheless. “Light Me Up” still fosters girl power in a slower but positive tone that can only be described as the best kind of simple pop that makes you want to sing along.
“Just Another Night” is probably the most vulnerable and honest of the tracks. It’s more of a slow number with an emphasis on vocals and a longing for love, a refreshing change after seven tracks with similar messages and sounds. It immediately calls to mind Robyn’s “Dancing on My Own.” The lyrics read, “Just another night/On the other side,” the other side being insecurity, loneliness, and powerlessness as opposed to the total confidence and carefree attitude displayed in earlier songs. The complete honesty of the lyrics shocked me, especially the line “Close my eyes and we’re still naked,” which highlights the synthesis of provocative lyrics and of soft and pure musicality. The use of acoustic guitar at the beginning and piano at the end gives the song a pure, ballad-like sound. “Just Another Night” seems to contradict the theme of rest of the album, but in an honest and understandable way that reflects the natural fluctuations of human emotions.
Icona Pop closes the album on a high note with a final dance anthem, “Then We Kiss.” Plain lyrics and a basic tune match perfectly with the simple message about the magic of the build-up to a first kiss, and the cheery beat mimics the skipping heartbeats that ensue immediately after. The track overall is really cute in its simplicity and honesty, as if a child were telling a story, ending with the hopeful proposal, “Then, we kiss!”
The title, This is…Icona Pop, suggests that the album is a sort of coming out for the band, a self-proclamation of “this is who I am.” The duo seems proud of its sound, not holding back emotion while at the same time supporting female strength and solidarity. It is a dance album, a feminist album, and a pop album. It’s easy listening, but it’s also fun listening.
Icona Pop celebrates freedom, living in the moment, happiness, having confidence, and the album empowers you to embrace and achieve all of those things while also obliging you to dance and sing along with the band. The lyrics don’t provoke any deep soul searching, but they don’t need to, because “all I want to do is have a good time.”