Astrid S releases at the same time as the record:

– I decided early on that it would be a road trip album, and that it would be called “Joyride.” It was a bit ironic that I don't even have sheet music when I'm doing a road trip album, so I started with that along the way, Astrid S reveals,

During the interview, she's wearing a custom-made varsity jacket: it's bright blue and has decorations all over the front of the car — with a blonde-haired girl inside.

– This is me! I'll wear the jacket while driving, she smiles.

Dad's car stereo

But where did the idea for an album dedicated to road tripping and driving just for fun come from?

“I started thinking about where my happiness with music came from,” says Astrid Semblas, who kept giving me the same answer: from the music I heard in the car.

– There I discovered new music, and it became a thematic connection for me when I had to write new music: Me, My Father, and the Car.

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As a passenger in his father's Mercedes, where the sound system was impeccable, he played everything from Coldplay and Kane to Fleetwood Mac, ABBA and Joni Mitchell. Old and newer next to each other.

recognizable

– Sometimes we were driving aimlessly, says Astrid S. When she shared the idea behind the album, she was surprised by how universal the idea was – so many good memories were created on car trips with parents.

“I wanted to make meaningful music that a father and daughter could listen to together and learn about themselves,” says Astrid S.

She's the one who has ideas for music. She takes the sketches into the studio to the various producers she chooses, because she loves collaborating and playing ball until the final song. I took her on a trip to everything from Stockholm and London to Nashville.

– I had the idea that everyone I work with should be able to play an instrument, says the pop star.

– Not a country album

In particular, she highlights the people she met in Nashville. Not only did they learn about the topic; About having a car almost as a shared love language – talking to your dad in the car while listening to music.

– They were also really interested in me creating something, and wanted to know what I had in mind. We sat in the studio with each of our instruments, almost in a circle, and worked it out. Then the songs become more consistent.

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The album, which will be released Friday, also contains a song called “Hello,” but it is not a country record. Astrid S believes that the best gesture is how to play what you hear on real musical instruments.

– I was blown away by the fact that I approached the country genre a little bit. I'm inspired by country music, and I like the lyrics to be clear and narrative, but this is a folk album. What's happening, she says, is that these two species are starting to flow into each other.

– Homesickness

Growing up in a town in Trøndelag, she is no stranger to what she calls “a bit of theft culture.” She believes the nostalgia began when she realized she had lived in Oslo for ten years to focus on her music career.

-I started thinking about where I came from. Maybe he was a little homesick too? She meditates. Last year, the 27-year-old began “redefining success.”

– Maybe it's the age that does it? I've been on autopilot for many years – and I charge forward. Then the pandemic came and everything stopped.

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It made her think about who wrote her songs, which have been streamed more than five billion times.

– Perhaps I forgot a little what I wanted to do and hear myself, and became preoccupied with what others should like. For this new album I made songs for myself.

Festivals await

She's already thinking about the next record – about writing new songs. But first she will play “Joyride” songs at Norwegian festivals. Among other things, Astrid S performs on Øya for the first time.

-I'm excited to do it live. “There are quite a few new songs included, and when you play them live you see how they work,” she says.

Her band, which she played with for eight years, loves its new, livelier sound. It will now be grouped with previous good songs that the audience will also expect to hear.

– I am ambitious and I still work abroad. But I noticed a big difference after the pandemic, how markets abroad became more local, says Astrid S., who is clearly an artist she wants to be for many years to come.

(© NTB)