Tove Lo - 'I like u'
Often touted as Sweden’s darkest pop export, Tove Lo has never been the vague type. With blunt lines like “I’m fully charged, nipples are hard, ready to go” in chem-sex club number Disco Tits, her sparse electronic arrangements make room for steamy locker-room confessionals brimming with unbridled lust. Her new single ‘I like u’ swerves this common trend, instead opting for the budding innocence of locking eyes with a future lover across the room.
Paired with a low-budget music video, the Swedish singer wanders an empty mall dancing in escalators, twirling on CCTV camera footage and finds solace in a karaoke bar to serenade us with a blissful rave anthem. The soaring chorus recalls 90’s classic ‘Rapture’ by iio and Nadia Ali, with the lilting “la la like u, la la like u” providing the highest point in the euphoric hit.
Speaking about the inspiration behind the track, Tove Lo revealed, “I wanted to make another dance song that sonically felt like a nod to 90’s and Y2K dance music. I wrote this song with Timfromthehouse, we worked on it for months in between tours to figure the perfect arrangement. It’s not the usual pop structure but it’s perfect for this song, I think.”
With a nod to her queer fanbase, a portion of the proceeds from the track will be donated to The Trevor Project, the leading suicide prevention org for LGBTQ young people. Her North American tour continues this autumn from September 5th with multiple dates in Chicago, New York and Washington DC following a string of sold-out shows.
Discussing the lyrical themes, she continued “Lyrically I’m telling the story of my thoughts the first time I saw the love of my life. They’re not clean but at least I never said any of them out loud.” A bold follow-up to her fifth album DIRT FEMME, the abstract floor-filler doesn’t take itself too seriously and fixes focus purely on the most natural high.
Words by Oliver Evans
