Barometern 2021-11-24
By: FRIDA LINDSTRÖM
For several decades, she has been considered one of Sweden’s best singers. Now she’s coming to Kalmar. For Barometern-OT, Helen Sjöholm talks about the unrest during the pandemic years, about one of her greatest songs being given new life after Så mycket bättre (So Much Better) and about how it feels to finally be on stage again.
– The live thing is what I love the most, Helen Sjöholm says.
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Helen Sjöholm undeniably has many strings on her lyre, but she´s basically a singer. One of Sweden’s best, if one is to believe the critics. And tomorrow, Thursday, she will come to the Kalmar Hall.
– We´re really looking forward to it, the Kalmar Hall is so nice. We were supposed to go on tour a year ago, but just like many others, it didn´t work out. We have pushed it forward and now in the end it can be done even if of course you can not take anything for granted. But it has felt euphoric, in fact. So amazing fun.
This autumn’s tour is called En ny tid (A New Time), a name it shares with her latest album. It was released in September 2020 and now the songs can be performed in front of an audience for the first time.
– A New Time can be interpreted in many ways. It feels like a new time for corona reasons, but it´s also a new time for me as an artist and human being. When you have been sprinting for 25-30 years, you are in a place in life that feels like a plateau, in some way. What happens now, what can you do, what can you not do? And it’s not just for evil, but for good as well. The album came out of a desire to write songs for me, and not for any performance or as interpretations of someone else’s songs. It feels joyful to meet the audience out in the country.
Although the pandemic contributed to many things being put on ice – it also meant new opportunities. Helen Sjöholm recorded the album when the virus ravaged the worst and also took the opportunity to participate in several television and movie productions. One of them was Amy Deasismont’s acclaimed Thunder in my heart, where she played the main character Sigge’s mother.
– It was fantastic fun to be part of, so fun to see the series grow and to follow Amy’s work. It was a great pleasure to work with during the autumn.
Right now, season twelve of the TV4 program Så mycket bättre is shown. Last year, Helen Sjöholm was one of the participating artists – which has come to color her throughout 2021. In addition to making several appreciated song interpretations herself, Newkid’s version of her Du måste finnas (You Have To Be There), from Kristina from Duvemåla, was a smash hit. (…)
– It’s absolutely fantastic! He does his own thing, it’s so personal that I was deeply moved when I first heard it. The song has broken through in a new generation and is as it were free from Kristina, which is incredibly fun.
She describes being part of the program as “slightly unreal”. She herself had followed it for several years and was very nervous when she had to present her interpretations to Markus Krunegård, Jakob Hellman and Loreen.
– It was even more nervous than I thought – almost hard, in fact. You think “do not let them hate this now”, and you become so insecure. But at the same time it was great fun. It´s the song interpretations that are the thing, to be able to give them. Somewhere, the meeting between different artists and generations is the strength of the program and one of the reasons why it has been able to live so long. It´s a great experience to be part of. It was a journey with very intense days, but it was fantastic.
The concert in the Kalmar Hall will contain a blissful mix of material from Helen Sjöholm’s repertoire. There will of course be a lot of music from the new album, but also several older songs.
– There will be some interpretations from Så mycket bättre that I´ve not been singing since last autumn. I´ve also included some of the songs I´ve lived with for a long time, and of course many songs from the new album. When I get to perform them live, they lift – with input from my fellow musicians and what happens when you play together, the music takes a little different paths and gets a little more body. The live thing is what I love the most.
(The entire interview is not reproduced for copyright reasons)