Music

All or Nothing: The Emotional Worlds of Veronica and Miriam text Natalia Muntean photography Sandra Myhrbergfashion Mi Märak Both Miriam and Veronica admit there was never a Plan B. “If you have a wide emotional range, or if you always have a broken heart, you need to get the emotions out,” says Miriam. And writing did that for her. It was the same for Veronica. She felt like she had no choice and knew she wanted to write “in some form or another” early on.There is no need to introduce Veronica Maggio and Miriam Bryant. With almost 17 years of writing, producing, and singing, Veronica has become an institution of Swedish pop music. Miriam debuted over 11 years ago, since then becoming one of the most recognizable voices in Sweden.I met them at the end of a long shooting day and tried to probe into their creative universes. Miriam explains that the lyrics were always the starting point for them as artists, “then came the singing.” Writers first, singers second. Broken-hearts Club no moreI’m always interested in how collaborations come about, so I ask how theirs started. Veronica tells me that four years ago they worked together on one song for Miriam’s album, and after that they wanted to write more songs together. “I liked this one too much, and I wanted to get in on the action,” Veronica says about “Under någon ny,” an exploration of what it feels to be the heartbreaker instead of the broken-hearted one. “We’re both very dramatic when it comes to heartbreak and relationships. But you forget the times when you’re the heartbreaker,” Miriam explains. The song is a departure from the heartbreak theme both of them felt they had been stuck in for too long. It seemed tempting to be the villain for once and take ownership of all the hearts they’d broken. The single was released together with a 30-minute musical drama – a collaboration with renowned director Jonas Åkerlund. “We never thought he would have the time, but we were so happy that he wanted to work with us,” says Miriam. The result is a unique production highlighting the mix of their artistic visions. But the two household names of the Swedish music scene aren’t content to stop at a duet and a musical drama. Miriam and Veronica are currently working on a joint tour consisting of seven shows that will start at the end of July in Göteborg. With fifteen musicians combined, the tour promises to be an exciting and unique experience for fans. “We wanted to do something nobody else had done before,” Veronica says of their intention to show case both their individual hits and their collaborative work. “So it’s not like you’re going to see us at a festival – your set first and then mine. Where’s the fun in that? We’re going to mash them together.” Balancing two sunsAs I listen to them talk and laugh, it appears they share a deep creative bond driven by a mutual desire to push boundaries. “We both always want to go bigger and bigger and bigger,” says Veronica. “And there’s no one there to stop us. But it’s so much fun.” I wonder how they find a balance between their visions in such a partnership and in an industry known for pitting female artists against each other. “We don’t have to balance our individual creative visions, it just happens,” Miriam explains. “We have found a very natural organic balance between the two of us. That’s why it’s so fun.” Veronica agrees, “We like each other’s ideas, too, and bounce off each other a lot. When I have nothing, she always has something and the other way around.” The two artists credit the easiness of their collaboration to shared motivation and deep respect for each other’s creativity. “There’s never been a forced moment between us,” says Miriam. We’re both motivated by the same emotions when we’re in the studio and also when working on the music video or the tour.” But sometimes collaborations can be double-edged swords. On the one hand, it can create powerful synergies, and on the other, it can also be fraught with ego clashes and creative disagreements. I am curious if they have experienced these moments within their duo and how they handle them. “Sadly, this can happen. You can feel bad about yourself when you see the other person, but that might be because you are not okay with yourself. You don’t notice these things when you are the only star around and everybody looks only at you,” says Veronica. Miriam adds that jealousy towards someone you like is never about the other person, and that these situations can help you become “aware of your fears and grow.” Their ability to communicate is the key to overcoming such pangs of jealousy. “Veronica always notices if I’m down and the other way around. So we’ve had talks when one of us was feeling negative, and it’s a good thing. It’s like having a colleague to share with and understand what it feels like to have all that pressure when there’s a job to be done,” says Miriam. Veronica adds, “It will be nice when we’re playing live to be like a little team.” The highs and lows of being an artistI am eager to understand how they perceive each other, their similarities and differences. “In terms of our visual narrative, the focus has been on highlighting our differences. The darkness in me and the light in Veronica,” says Miriam. “But that’s because of our hair,” laughs Veronica. “We have many similarities. We’re both all-or-nothing people,” says Miriam. My curiosity gets the best of me and I can’t help but ask about their star signs. “We are both Pisces,” they say. Miriam adds with a smile, “I have to sacrifice myself for everyone else all the time.” This is when I get my explanation for the emotional highs and lows Veronica describes and why she says they are “a couple of moody bitches.”

Varas and the Highs and Lows of Being in Your 20s text Natalia Muntean As a child and teenager, Varas aspired to the greatness of legendary artists like Queen, the Rolling Stones and David Bowie. Growing up in a small town two hours outside of Gothenburg, he was influenced by his dad being a dancer. Witnessing his dad’s performances on stage got him curious about what it would feel like to take on different identities. He recalls that seeing his dad perform helped him to feel comfortable performing “and cured a little of the stage fright that you can have.” But the moment he realised the impact music would have on his life was during a car ride when he was about 12, when“the best ballad ever,” as proclaimed by his dad, came on the radio. The song was “Stairway to Heaven” by Led Zeppelin and it ignited something within him. “We just sat there for seven, eight minutes, and listened to the whole track. That was pretty mind-blowing.” This was a significant turning point, sparking a newfound interest in guitar playing. He then spent the next couple of years immersed in YouTube tutorials, teaching himself how to play the instrument. “Stairway to Heaven” was, of course, the first song he learned to play. “I think I wouldn’t make music if there weren’t other people I liked or were inspired by,” says Varas, a moniker for Benjamin Munoz Varas.He formed his first band at 13, an experience that lasted for a couple of years and was influential. However, it was at 19 when he delved into computer-based production, unlocking the ability to craft complete songs beyond his guitar and vocal skills. He honed his producer skills to help others create the songs they imagined. Putting his talent and skills to others’ use meant not only gaining experience – “it is rewarding to get out of my head sometimes.”Producer, songwriter, and emerging artist, 25-year-old Varas released his second EP “There You Go!”, this spring. The creative process took over two years, with him writing and producing it. “When I make music, I aim to connect with myself on a deeper level and put out music that truly represents me,” he says. Detaching oneself from one’s own thoughts or others’ expectations can be difficult. “Sometimes I get caught up in overthinking or trying to please everyone else and I constantly have to filter out those influences,” says Varas.Listen to the EP here. There is Varas the music project and there’s also Benjamin Munoz Varas, the person. Do you have trouble separating those two sides? Or do you not intend to separate them?At the beginning, I think I separated them a bit more. Maybe that was because I didn’t really see myself as an artist at all, and maybe I was somebody that was ashamed to do it. But it’s the same person. When did you see yourself as an artist?Maybe during the pandemic, which is ironic, or maybe it happened because I was getting older. I always wanted to do creative things but I wasn’t an artist. It felt like such a big word. And then when I decided to see myself as an artist, it became easier to work and come up with original ideas. I take pride in it. So it was mostly a thing you did to yourself, you just decided?Yes, I realised during the pandemic that I really wanted to do music because I wasn’t feeling good when I couldn’t play live or meet people. It became very clear to me that this made me feel good and I just wanted to do that. I realised what kept me happy when I didn’t have it in my life. What inspires your creative process?Other people’s work, like books or poems or songs, movies. Mostly, my inspiration comes from the outside. What works have touched and influenced your music lately?One book that inspired me lately is Autobiography of Red by Anne Carson.  It’s inspiring to me how some people can write sentences and combine words you wouldn’t expect to mix. It’s the same with music – mixing a style with another style you didn’t expect. It feels like there aren’t any limitations. Your music blends different genres. How do you decide which ones to incorporate into your songs? And how do you ensure they go together?It depends on my mood and the energy I want to exert. Different genres have different attitudes and what you get out of them, so I don’t really have many no-gos within genres. If it fits what I feel, I take inspiration from it. How would you describe your sound?It’s some kind of pop, but it’s influenced by many things, mostly 70s rock, 2000s indies. And hip hop. Sometimes hip hop can feel like it’s not been processed but that’s intentional, and I like it when things sound raw. Can you talk about some of your recent songs such as HELL NO, and what inspired it?With this song it was about the feeling of being sick of being responsible, I guess and just always, always meeting deadlines and always doing your work. Which is, of course, rewarding because you get things done, but sometimes you feel like a robot, and then a year has passed and it’s still the same thing. If you don’t have a hamster wheel, that’s all you desire. Sometimes you want to get into routines and then when you have them, you’re not happy anyway, so we can never truly win, I guess. But the other songs are about being in your 20s because it feels like there are a lot of things to learn at this age. I remember at 18-19 my only goal was to have one song on Spotify. And then I thought I would be content for the rest of my life. jacket Deadwoodshirt Weekdayjewellery Lotta Hasselblad Tell me more about “There you go!” – why is it called that? And what inspired its creation?The EP has five songs, it came out on March 31st,

Nea is Ready for the Spotlight text Natalia Muntean photography Sandra Myhrbergfashion Alicia Hurst jacket Beyond Retroshirt Nümphearring Charlotte Bonde “It’s been the busiest spring ever. It’s been very hectic, but also really, really fun”, says Nea about where she finds herself in 2023. A well-established name in the songwriting community, Nea is the pen behind hits such as “Lush Life”, a song that represented her breakthrough. “With that song, so many of those doors opened, and I felt like I became somebody that people reached out to, instead of always being the one knocking on doors. That was a really big moment for me,” says Nea. In 2019, she stepped into the spotlight and took on the role of an artist. This year marks a special one for Nea, as her first album, “TRANSPARENT”, is expected to be released in the autumn. Nea remembers singing in the car with her family as her first memory of music. “I don’t have any family in the music business, but I feel like everyone in my family has musicality. I grew up in South Africa until I was four, so we sang a lot of South African gospel songs.” Her musical journey took her from writing songs as a child after her family relocated to Sweden, to writing songs for her band as a teenager, to travelling to Cuba to learn guitar and Barcelona to record her first demos, to basking on the streets of Stockholm, to eventually lending her penmanship to singers like Zara Larsson, Tove Styrke, Sabina Ddumba and many others. She credits artists from the early nineties as her main sources of inspiration when she creates, drawing from sounds created by Alanis Morissette, No Doubt, and Lily Allen, but also from bands like Fleetwood Mac. Her transition from songwriter to artist happened by chance when, as she pitched “Some Say”, she was told she should sing and release it as an artist. “At first, I was unsure if it was the right move because I love the process of being a songwriter. As a writer, you’re trying to put the light on somebody else and make it real for them. And as an artist, you have to take that light to yourself, and you’re a bit more exposed,” says Nea. What started as a play on Eiffel 66’s “I’m Blue” melody eventually became Nea’s debut single, being released in the autumn of 2019. “Some Say” managed to top the charts in more than 20 countries and gathered over half a billion plays only on Spotify. At the beginning of 2023, Nea released “A Lover Like Me,” a feisty self-love anthem peppered with ironies and born out of dissatisfaction with the selection of lovers. It was followed by the dreamy “YES”, a song Nea wrote years ago but took her time to find the right sound to match the lyrics, to mature and grow into it, mirroring in some ways the trajectory of her career. “It’s the oldest song on the album, and it’s the song I’ve always come back to,” says Nea about the piano-heavy number. In addition to dedicating herself to fine-tuning the last details of her debut album, Nea is also mentoring young songwriters as part of Songland, a TV show on national Swedish Television SVT from March to May, where experienced songwriters mentor newcomers in the field and help them pitch their songs to established artists. “My heart is really in the songwriting community, and I felt like it was such an exciting idea to help these up-and-coming talents finalise their songs and turn them into something perfect for the artists.” Natalia: You mentioned in one interview that the first years after moving to Stockholm were very difficult and that it felt like it was constant hustling. What made you want to continue?  Nea: Coming from a small town and not having any connections in the music industry was hard because you hope to be found by somebody who can open those doors for you. But it wasn’t that easy to know where to start because the music business is pretty small and closed before you’re in it. I feel like I was knocking on every door and nobody cared for many years, but at the same time I knew that I wanted to do music for a living and, for that reason, I continued. Also along the way, I always got support from friends and random people telling me that I’m great, and not that it made any difference to connect with the industry, but it strengthened that feeling that if I want it, I should keep going. N: How do you approach writing?Nea: It’s always different, but I feel like for me, melodies come very naturally and intuitively. Lyrics too of course but sometimes it’s harder work to find those exact words. So I spend a lot of time typing down lyrics, always trying to have a bank of ideas to work from. And if I watch TV, I will pause many times during a show to type stuff down and pay attention to how words are used. I also read books in English and the latest one I liked was Paradise by Abdulrazak Gurnah. N: Tell me more about the transition from being somewhat in the shadows as a songwriter to stepping into the spotlight as an artist? Nea: Some Say had its peak during the pandemic, so it was very special to have such a big song and big opportunities coming in, such as playing festivals. And then, one by one, everything got cancelled. At the same time, I was a bit overwhelmed by the whole thing back then. I hadn’t been planning on being an artist and when things got cancelled, it was a bit of a relief, to be honest. I didn’t feel ready to get up on that stage and meet an audience yet, but I did a lot of TV and radio interviews when I didn’t have an audience during the pandemic.