Inspired #66 - Skott
Swedish singer, songwriter and producer Skott makes her grand return with new single ‘Midas’, an intimate track about a mythical king with a golden touch. She took a moment to talk to us about the inspirations behind the track.
Who are you top three musical inspirations?
Computer game and video game music is possibly my biggest inspiration. When I was 13 or 15, my main hobby was to compose and produce game inspired “blip-music”. I listened a lot to this kind of music, and I love how you can paint a scene, environment, intrigue, emotions, everything in this genre. If you hear a part of a game soundtrack, if it’s good, you can tell where and what’s going on in the game by only listening to the music.
Melancholic Swedish folk music, I grew up with it. In both violin music and my own songwriting, melody leads the way. Chords and harmonies carefully follow the journey of the melody, and lyrics come last – they emphasize what the music is already saying.
Muse was my first contemporary music crush, guess maybe it wasn’t such a big jump from the cinematic and epic soundscapes of some of my favourite games, with the melancholy and slightly more dark and mysterious harmonies you can find in their music.
Is there a certain film that inspires you?
I don’t think any movie has ever affected my life as much as the Lord of the Rings trilogy. When the first movie came out I was like twelve I think, I was mind blown. It extended into my childhood – I spent years after that making little capes and duct tape swords, getting into role play and stuff. In the village where I grew up, all we really had to play with was the surrounding forest, so that was perfect.
What city do you find the most inspiring?
There are many inspiring places, but I remember one place that stood out a bit to me when I was on tour – Austin, Texas was super exciting, I remember. Maybe because I didn’t have any expectations or maybe because they have little turtles swimming around in the river in the center of the city, I’ve never seen that before and I can’t get over it. Such cool animals.
Who is the most inspiring person to you?
My mom, seriously my number one role model in my life. She has a magical way of really seeing people, taking a sincere interest in a person’s deepest being and making them feel important. She is spreading a feeling like “meaningful-ness” around her, love and kindness. And the crazy part is that it’s not an act, like sometimes it feels like people are trying too hard to be so good. But with her it’s just as natural as breathing and I know because I know her pretty well.
What is the inspiration behind the track?
The melodies for the song came quite quickly, and it reminded me of violins and romance. Something made me want to go all-in with this theme of eternal love, and it became wrapped up with the story of King Midas. His wish was granted, but at a great cost. He could basically have anything he wanted, except love.
How would you like to inspire people?
Something I wish for is that people, especially young people, have the courage to navigate through all the bullshit lies and shallowness projected onto them by the media, social media and society. Having to look and act a certain way in order to “be someone”.
If there’s anything my music can do, I’d love for it to remind people of what really matters. You matter. And what is honest, pure and meaningful in your life, hold on to that.