Elliphant Takes on SXSW and Beyond

Ellinor Olovsdotter is a Swedish girl who never thought she’d be making music. A wild moment of spontaneity found her singing over friend and producer Tim Deneve’s beats (one half of Swedish producer duo, Jungle) at a party. Deneve realized Ellinor could sing and asked her to help him with his demos. Two friends making music quickly burned into a molten musical fire as Ellinor morphed into Elliphant, igniting a provocative pot of pop that found the singer signed to TEN Music Group only six months later.
With a self-titled debut EP and debut album that were only released overseas, Elliphant’s ascent has been a gradual one. The recent worldwide release of her EP One More last fall (which included the tantalizing title track featuring Danish singer MØ), coupled with the trifecta of girl pop power of her tour with Charli XCX and Femme, has Elliphant primed for a musical takeover as fierce and guttural as her music. We caught up with the singer to talk the Swedish music scene, her favorite way to get to know a city on tour, why performing is comparable to sex, and what she looked forward to at this past week’s SXSW festival.

 What's the music scene in Stockholm like?It’s very big actually! It’s a lot of pop coming out of Sweden. We have a big indie rock scene. We have a big metal scene. We have a BIG Swedish hip-hop scene also! That’s probably about 50% of what’s on the radio. We have a big music culture in Sweden. There’s a lot of music!


Do you think the culture of your hometown has had an effect on your music?Oh, I forgot to say we also have a big minimal house, techno progression scene. I think I am very inspired by — at least with my lyrics — early techno parties. When I was 16, 17, that was when I was at amazing parties with people that welcomed me with dancing and beautiful, fluffy pink clothes. I’m very inspired by the love, almost like that festival love, in the electronic music scene. Also my sound is very big and I’m not shy when it comes to adding electronic elements to my music.

Who are some of your favorite artists to have come out of Sweden’s music scene?There’s many I really like! I think it’s amazing Tove Lo is doing so well! She’s someone that I’ve been with in the same group of people and I love seeing how much she’s grown. She’s been amazing for years — I’ve seen a lot of performances by her. I really like the little bit more underground but still commercial scene of Sweden as well. Seinabo Sey is growing big time! Jasmine — she’s so sweet and so incredible.


What were you like growing up? Was there a defining moment when you realized you wanted to pursue music as a career?Well, I think when you grow up, sometimes you end up becoming exactly like your family, and sometimes you revolt. My mom was so very great and so into music. She was constantly, constantly playing music. She put all her money into buying new records and sound equipment. She had a lot of parties and would play music all the time. I think my sound is very inspired by her, but I was so tired of music because all the time it was right in front of my nose. Sometimes she had one CD playing in the kitchen, one playing in the living room, and another one in her bedroom at the same time. She was like ADHD with her music! I think it was too much. I was never hunting for idols. I was never hunting for music. I never had a big interest but I always appreciated a good song or a good sound. And I loved going out to dance and have music around me and getting shit-faced.

You describe your music as provocative pop. Can you elaborate a little more on what that means to you?I call it provocative in the sense that I’m not really choosing a genre. I’m not chasing a sound — I’m catching sound that comes my way from producers and that interests me. You’ll probably not be able listen to the whole album at the same kind of event. So I call it provocative because it’s not a genre. It’s a wild pop project. The sound hasn’t made up its mind at all because I have no set plan of what I’m doing and I just want to be honest about that. I appreciate everything that comes my way. So it’s provocative pop because it’s always going to have a bit more attitude and always going to be changeable. It’s rock pop. It’s hip-hop pop. It’s techno-pop.


Let’s talk about your EP One More. I love the title track with MØ but another highlight for me is this triumphant, powerful anthem “Save The Grey.” Can you elaborate a little on what that song is about and what it means to you?“Save The Grey” is something I thought about so much in my life — about greyness in the mind. I think grey is very underestimated because it’s a very important place in us and the new world doesn’t really have the patience for it. It doesn’t really have a place for the grey mind. I look at all my fellow people with different mind-related diagnoses and I see a lot of experimental medication and how it’s not always helping people. It’s dulling their spirit. I was diagnosed with ADHD so I’ve always been fascinated with the grey of the mind. The fact that it’s always in the grey zone where the creativity is going on and where choices are made. The whole story is there. It’s in the grey space.
Also, when I stand up for something as an artist, I want to focus on something I feel is important. Animals and nature are everything to me. I’ve been very lucky and done everything I wanted to do in my life, but it’s my biggest dream — the only thing I’ve ever longed for in my entire life — to get close to nature and animals. The grey animals in the world are very endangered. They need help and I felt like I could help them, at least a little bit by raising money under the “Save The Grey” project for the endangered rhino, the elephant, the shark, the whale, and the wolf. I hope to create many more songs on the subject, with other bands in different ways to raise awareness. Maybe in the future we can have a real foundation for these old, sensitive, wise animals. If we kill them, I don’t know how we can survive that.

Is that why you landed on the name Elliphant? For your love of these endangered animals?I’m very focused on animals. I always have been since I was a kid, talking about animals, drawing animals, being obsessed with animals. I really love elephants. I mean, how can you not? It’s the coolest fucking animal on earth. I don’t really have a favorite animal, though, so the name wasn’t really for elephants. There was a friend that I was going to make music with and he began saying it. And at first I didn’t like it, but then I thought you know, it’s really pretty cool. Over a beer I was like, 'okay, let’s do that! Let’s be Elliphant!' For me, it was important not to be Elli. A lot of Swedish artists, and especially Swedish girls, are doing their artistic thing under their own names. I just really wanted to expose myself so I didn’t want to have my name [attached]. I just wanted to be something big and something that was a contrast to me. It’s something you will remember: a Swedish girl named Elliphant. I warmed up to it quickly and really love the name now.

You’ve been on tour a lot recently (last year with Charli XCX and Femme, and most recently across Europe). Do you have a favorite city or venue you’ve played?That’s so hard! I actually don’t really have favorites. Sometimes I have a favorite song but it’s over very quickly. It’s the same with venues. Sometimes you’re in a really shitty venue and you have the best show of your life. Sometimes you’re in this amazing venue and the sound is just too good and you don’t get a vibe.

What's your favorite way to learn about a city or culture when you’re visiting? What’s your favorite thing to do in each city?I always try the local beer! Usually, you’re there just one day and you use a lot of time traveling. Usually we’ll go straight from the airport to the venue, have soundcheck, do press, and then go to dinner. I’ll always try to have a good dinner everywhere I go because if you go to a local, cool place you get a pretty good vibe of the city in a short time. I go to the venue, I go to the bars, I try the beer and eat the city’s food!

You’ve done so many live shows. How has your live show evolved from your first show until now? What can an audience expect at your live show? I think I don’t scream as much anymore. Before I had no voice control at all and I was just so excited that I couldn’t control myself. I would be exhausted after just two songs. My heart would be racing. I’m now better at that, at controlling my physical self and being a little bit more chill. Also nowadays, I have this earpiece and I can listen to myself over the volumes which makes it a little bit easier with the voice control. My set is still very much me. I haven’t changed it too much. It’s still me and a DJ and it's still really raw. I’ve done some production on some songs and made it a little more effective on stage. And now I usually have a sound manager with me that helps me with the sound of the songs. It’s cool stuff like that. I didn’t evolve too much. Every night it still feels very new. That moment is very new every time. It’s almost like having sex with someone. Even if you have sex with someone for 20 years, as soon as you meet a new person it’s going to be like you’ve never had sex ever before. It’s going to be an entirely new experience. You open yourself up like never before and it’s really intense and honest between artist and fans. It’s just never the same every night, but still it’s the same.

You’re here in SXSW — have you ever been? And what are you looking forward to most?Yes, I’ve been to Austin twice before! I don’t remember the name of the place — it’s over the bridge, over the river, and you go a little bit further and it’s this big warehouse. The people that have that venue are so cool and I really love that space. The sound is almost too good. It’s not so loud. Even if you’re at a punk show, you can still talk to each other with the music playing. That’s definitely a super cool venue. The performances there have always been so cool. And also Austin people are so cool. I really love the audience and I have so much fun every time I’m there. There’s a big sausage place there too! I’m so excited to go there. Have you been? It’s a really big, cool, trendy place where you can buy amazing sausage inside of the tent. It’s in the area of where SXSW is. I don’t remember what it’s called though. They have the most amazing sausage there. So I’m looking forward to that! [Ed. note: We're guessing Banger's Sausage House and Beer Garden.]

You're performing SX. But is there anybody you’re looking forward to seeing play?Yes! I always want to go and check out the Mad Decent show because there is always new, cool bands playing and people to meet. It’s always wild fun and a good party. I also feel like it’d be cool to see Tove Lo. I haven’t checked too much because one of the best things about this festival is you are in the zone. If you have too much planned, it’s going to fuck your shit up a little bit. I think it’s good to just go with the flow and fall into random shows and be a little bit disorganized. I think it’s good to be a little bit wild! But my schedule is crazy. I am doing a lot of shows so I just hope I have time to be a little bit spontaneous and rumble around. It’s going to be so much fun. I’m really excited!

 by Jessie Morris

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