Inserting a dominant confidence and self-empowering message back into her music, Sigrid has returned to the pop arena with one of the years catchiest singles yet. ‘Mirror’ is the Norwegian singer-songwriter’s first single since her 2019 debut album ‘Sucker Punch’ which certified her as one of the most exciting up-and-coming pop acts. It’s the first glimpse at what’s to come from her forthcoming sophomore record, and it’s a bold affair that harnesses her love for performing live.
Capturing the moment where you finally love who you see staring back at you in the mirror, this track is a self-love anthem that will particularly resonate with people who have struggled with mental health, body dysmorphia and anything in-between. For herself, she notes that this song is very much a personality based track for her that plays a reminder to love herself.
Sonically representing this re-found confidence in a bold synth led production, she pulls comparisons to the likes of Dua Lipa and Years & Years with a disco-pop sound that pulsates with big synths, groovy guitar riffs, and slinky keys. She even throws in a little gospel and disco crossover with big handclaps before the final chorus which will ultimately become a big singalong moment in her future live shows, and she’s eagerly awaiting that moment.
I recently chatted to Sigrid about the self-love messaging behind her new single ‘Mirror’, explored how she builds her songs up sonically from piano ballads, and reminisced on her 2018 Australian tour. Check it out BELOW;
THOMAS BLEACH: ‘Mirror’ is a self-love anthem all about finally loving who you see staring back in the mirror and it’s sonically such a bold beginning of this new chapter for you. So can you explain the creative process behind this track?
SIGRID: It is about exactly what you said; accepting who you are, what decisions you make, and for me it’s a very personality based song. It’s sometimes really hard to know how to deal with things and I don’t know if it’s because of my job or if it’s just in general because of life with social situations but I’m always scared of doing the wrong thing and that causes a lot of stress and I need to hear that it’s okay. It’s quite unapologetic, and that’s an energy I crave and want in my life as I need to hear it. I’m generally a dark person, so I need to be reminded of it and I think that’s so fun with the songwriting I do as I get to make reminder songs for myself and then maybe others will relate as well.
So that was the idea behind the song, and I needed it to be wrapped up in a nice way so it didn’t feel too heavy every time I sing it because I know now that ‘Mirror’ is going to be my life *laughs*. Sonically it is a pop song and has those strings that are super hooky. I was very inspired by how we take pop songs to a live stage with PA’s and how the songs come alive in a different way, so I wanted to bring that into the original production of this song. I wanted to capture that live energy, so that’s why the bass is really hard and there’s proper drums and everything.
TB: Are you someone who genuinely starts a song stripped back on piano and then builds it up from there and did this song follow that?
S: Absolutely, I usually start on the piano or guitar, but mostly piano as it is my main instrument. With this one, the producer Sly and the co-writers Emily Warren, Caroline Alin and I started it on piano because of this beautiful classical rhythmical thing I had written down in my notes. I played it in the session and we took away how cool the rhythm was and it inspired us to write the mid bits which was the first thing that came to us.
TB: My favourite song of yours is ‘Dynamite’ which was released in its rawest form as a demo, and I love that on your debut album you left it like that and didn’t rework an orchestral version or big production version. Were there any other songs you were tempted to do that with that you’ve released?
S: We tried so many times to produce ‘Dynamite’, and there are alternate versions of it, but it just didn’t fit as well as the emotions of the demo. Me and Askjell who produced the track actually recorded it at the same time while he was playing piano and I was singing. That was the best way for us to do it. But there might be some more songs like that…but I don’t know… *laughs*.
TB: Sonically this song is a real disco, gospel and festival pop crossover moment that hears you being unapologetically confident. It reminds me a bit of Dua Lipa and Years & Years, but who or what were you referencing in this session?
S: I love Dua Lipa and Years & Years, they are so sick! When we were writing this song I was actually thinking of big rock bands like Muse. They were a big inspiration for the bass and sound of it, particularly with ‘Supermassive Black Hole’. It was a song that came quite naturally, it was just flowing.
TB: Lyrically it hears you finding self-love and acceptance within who you see in the mirror. It’s something that can be interpreted in so many different ways. Personally for me as someone who suffers body dysmorphia, I see it as a celebration of finally loving who I see. Where does this song personally rise for you?
S: Thank you for being so honest, I’m really glad to hear that it means something to you. For me it’s more personality wise. Like I said before, with my job I’m out everywhere a lot and you have really insecure moments because you’re on display all the same time. So it’s definitely inspired by that, and I’m trying to lift the perspective up a bit and learning to love myself.
TB: The music video is a very playful affair that sees you chasing after and dancing with yourself. So what was one of the funniest or weirdest things that happened on the shoot?
S: Firstly, the chameleon was the real star of the shoot *laughs*. Everyone had to be really quiet when the chameleon came in, it was really funny. But I really appreciated it because there was a lot of people and a lot of noise, but everyone respected that we needed to be quiet while we had it on set. I was just laying on the floor and the chameleon was just walking all over me, it was super chill and nice. Also secondly, I was struggling a little bit with the bow and arrow, but I made it in the end. I couldn’t get it in the first few go’s, but I ended up doing it.
TB: It’s been two years since you released your debut album ‘Sucker Punch’. When you look back at the creative process of that record, touring it, and seeing how fans reacted, what would you say is the biggest thing you learnt about yourself as an artist that has impacted the outcome of this next chapter?
S: Looking back at all of that, I would say I just sit back with an immense proudness. I am so proud of everything I’ve done, and everything my team have done. It’s been an incredible team work really, and to have the support of the fans all the way, and that you’re still here is so exciting. That was something I was really looking towards while writing new music. When I’d get comments like “where is the new music sis”, I was like “I’m still here!”, and it was really nice to see that people were still excited to hear new stuff from me.
That album was such a rollercoaster. Like so much happened and I’m incredibly proud of being able to do that. It just makes me feel ready to do it again!
TB: You toured a lot very early on in your career. and you had a setlist of unreleased tracks that up until now have still not been released. Are there any songs from those days that you’ve considered rearranging and releasing at some point?
S: *Laughs* Are you talking about ‘Go To War’?
TB: Yes, ‘Got To War’ and ‘I Don’t Buy It’!
S: Oh my god! *starts singing ‘I Don’t Buy It’ chorus*, it is a tune! Ummm, I don’t know. It’s a shame with all the songs as it’s so limited with what we can release, but I love those songs, I really do.
TB: You visited Australia in 2018 for Sydney City Limits and some headline shows in Brisbane and Melbourne. What was one of your favourite memories from your time here?
S: That Australian tour was a dream, it was so much fun! My tour manager has family in Australia, and my sound technician lived in Australia for 2 years as he studied there, so we have a bit of a connection with Australia and everyone is always so excited when Australia is on the agenda.
I was a little scared of meeting snakes at random times, but I was okay as I didn’t meet any. One of my favourite off days on tour we’ve ever had was actually while we were in Brisbane. We were in a hotel in the city and we wanted to get out, so we got into this family van and went on a proper field trip down to the Gold Coast which was a few hours away. We went to this cosy Mexican restaurant on the beach and had so many margaritas and mojitos. We then all went swimming in the ocean with the waves when it was raining, and it was the best!
‘Mirror’ is out now!