Norwegian pop deconstructionist SKIA wields her formidable musical talents in the service of building glistening melodies, waves of emotional release, and a dancefloor ecstasy that lingers for days, coloring the memories of nights spent writhing in coordinated movements. Her remarkable ability to perceive the boundaries of pop music, and then push back them is a source of endless fascination for both her listeners and herself. Never content to simply experiment with the core elements of the genre, SKIA has molded the spirit and attitude of dance-pop into something far more mischievous and self-aware.
She will release her debut EP, Apricot, on May 1 via Heist or Hit, and it finds her continuing to both expand and dismantle the sounds with which she’s grown accustomed. There is no place for pop music to hide from her byzantine creativities, although she just as often trades in something that focuses on more minimal compositions, drawing out the core emotional echoes of these sounds without sacrificing the ecstatic lure of their deeper grooves.
On her latest single, “Not Anymore”, she channels both the naked earnestness and brazen swagger of Bangerz-era Miley Cyrus and the whirlwind pop dynamism of Robyn’s Body Talk EP series. She’s indebted to the comforts and assurance of the club but is also true to the intimate contours of her heart, filling each passage with honest introspection and emotional inclusivity. He voice is a truly captivating thing, raw and unconcerned with external expectations. The music is focused on keeping the spotlight on her, carving out a mesmserizing dance-pop atmosphere where personal insight and revelations are discovered in the span of just a few minutes.
“‘Not Anymore’ is about feeling like you’ve lost your way a bit and you’re not really sure how to move forward,” SKIA explains, “and other people’s opinions and actions are distracting you from focusing on yourself and what’s best for you. I think a lot of people can recognise themselves in this, no matter what they’re doing in life, we all have days when we feel we can do absolutely anything, and then have days when we feel the opposite. I think most things work themselves out in the end though, and of course there’s a hint of that in the bridge. Power on!”
