Teenage nostalgia. It’s when the 14-year-old Helen appears
as the concert really lifts.
Aftonbladet 110130
By: JENS PETERSON
Photo: ROBIN LORENTZ-ALLARD
+ + + + for Helen Sjöholm
SUNDSVALL. The cultural Helen is good. But it’s cool 14-year-old Helen who lifts the concert. Teenage memories of playlists and 1980s hits.
The frame is excellent album “Euforia” in which Helen Sjöholm sings Billy Joel in Swedish. She also sings Elvis Costello’s “I Almost had a Weakness” for string quartet. Interprets Aniara from Stockholm City Theater. Nick Cave’s “Where The Wild Roses Grow” in duet with Jojje Wadenius.
Tells us about her teenage years
She has great dignity. Tackles Shakespeare rather than Eurovision Song Contest. Well, she sings Shakespeare. Martin Östergren has put to music Shakespeares sonnet number 18 about to look like a summer day. But the playfulness is also needed. Funny Helen Sjöholm shines through when she talks about her teenage years in Sundsvall. She illustrates it by singing snippets of hits from the 1984/85 Foreigner, Prince, Lionel Ritchie et al. Together with nice talk between the songs, it was a charming self-portrait. She concludes with passionate versions of “Ärlighet” (Honesty), “New York” and “Gabriella’s Song”.
Ignores Bjorn & Benny
Is there something she doesn´t sing? Yes. Helen Sjöholm fills two powerful hours without ever mentioning the things she made by Bjorn and Benny.