Track By Track: Ellen Krauss - Pearl EP
Swedish pop star Ellen Krauss has just released her new EP ‘Pearl’ - after a number of heavily praised singles, the EP sees her pushing the alt-genre into the beyond. Ellen took a moment to talk to us about the release - track by track.
Bali
This song is about a steamy date. Simple as that. The girl I wrote it about had planned a trip to Bali. In the first stages of making the song it was almost entirely acoustic and very calm. However, it got a new life to it when we recorded it in the studio. That's when my producers really worked their magic and added strings and some more electric elements.
The girl I wrote it about, who was going to Bali, couldn’t go because of the coronavirus. A lot of people can’t go places now. But that’s alright, we’ll just use our imagination and fantasise about hot vacations instead. That can be fun too.
No Talk
Sometimes we need to ignore the fear of getting it wrong for a minute, and just let ourselves be swept away. It’s okay to seize the moment even though you have no clue what you’re doing. You can make up your own rules. I think it’s like that for a lot of people and especially in the LGBTQ-community. There’s no handbook on how to do things, you have to navigate on your own. I wanted to write a song about that. A song that lets us take control over our bodies and our sexuality.
Silver Spoon
This tune is about two people, very different from each other, who choose to hold on. They’re not the perfect match, but they feel it’s better to be unhappy together than alone. It’s love after all. I’m proud of this song and I am especially proud of the sound image as a whole. There’s a perfect balance between the acoustic and the electronic/modern sounds. It’s like "folk but make it pop”.
Often?
"Often?" is about that moment when you meet someone and all you wanna do is just run away with them. Take a shot and go home together. Maybe even discover something new. This is one of my favourites to sing and play live. It’s a bit of a challenge but I like that.
New York
I posted this song on SoundCloud about three years ago which the producers I’m currently working with found. We’ve been holding on to this song for a while but we’ve barely changed it. We let it stay the same, it’s not at all far from the original recording I did with a USB-mic in my bedroom.
It's a song about dreaming and following your passion. It's quite cocky, but that’s okay. It’s alright to be proud and think big sometimes.