Queen Of The Clouds
Having written songs for Icona Pop as part of super-producer Max Martin\'s homegrown songwriting crew, Swedish chanteuse Tove Lo steps into the spotlight on her pulsing debut. *Queen* is thematically organized around the phases of a relationship: i.e., \"The Sex,\" \"The Love,\" and \"The Pain.\" \"Talking Body\" is surging electro that celebrates physical intimacy, while on \"Not on Drugs\" Tove asserts over high-voltage EDM, \"I\'m not on drugs/I\'m just in love.\" The millions who danced to the soaring \"Habits (Stay High)\" in 2014 know how things end: \"Binge on all the Twinkies/Throw up in the tub.\" That\'s amore!
26-year-old Swedish singer and songwriter Tove Nilsson's debut album showcases her foibles and off-kilter perspective on heartbreak. She offers shape and personality to a record that might otherwise be written off as too slick or inert, or indistinguishable from a host of peers making competent, spacious, and downcast pop music.
Swedish singer/songwriter Tove Lo followed her hit single "Habits (Stay High)" -- a disarmingly vulnerable recounting of all the shocking things she does to numb a painful breakup -- with Queen of the Clouds, a debut album that falls somewhere between Icona Pop's sugar rush hedonism and Sia's moody confessions.
Tove Lo’s tales of sex, drugs and swearing can be a bit much at times, but the undeniably massive choruses make up for it
The 27-year-old Swede's debut album is smart and sleek but eschews her erstwhile mainstream stardom, says Neil McCormick