.digital
TOVE LO
A Lot of Feelings, No Solutions
interview + written THINLEY WINGEN
Tove Lo is back with ESTRUS: her sixth studio album, born somewhere between instinct, anxiety, desire and a body that seems to have plans of its own. LE MILE spoke with the Swedish pop icon about having no answers, writing what you need, black cats and keeping the fire burning. There is something wonderfully inconvenient about wanting something your brain hasn’t agreed to yet. Tove Lo knows the feeling.
On ESTRUS, her sixth studio album arriving September 18, the body is loud, the mind is still catching up, and nobody seems particularly interested in pretending otherwise. The title itself is wonderfully unsubtle. Estrus is the biological term for the period when a female mammal is in heat. An animal ready to mate. Instinct taking over. Tove Lo takes that very physical idea and lets everything else rush in with it: anxiety, vulnerability, sex, doubt, appetite, fear, and all those feelings that tend to arrive at exactly the wrong time.
Some of the record took her back to a small Swedish fishing village where she spent her summers growing up and later worked on parts of Dirt Femme. Going back opened a few doors. Childhood. Depression. Her eating disorder. Breakups. Family drama. Loss. The younger, messier version of herself was apparently still there somewhere. The music looks backwards too, towards The Knife, Robyn and the Swedish indie dance she grew up with, then pushes those references through the sweaty electronic pop Tove Lo does so well. Longtime collaborator Ludvig Söderberg returns alongside Elvira Anderfjärd and Luka Kloser, with Stromae appearing on the album as well.
And then there is the cat.
While putting ESTRUS together, Tove Lo kept seeing a black cat in her head. Independent, nocturnal, unpredictable, happily uninterested in behaving. It became the starting point for the album’s cultish visual world: candles, ceremony, darkness, and just enough weirdness to make the whole thing feel slightly dangerous. She doesn't particularly care whether we read it the way she intended. Quite the opposite.
Maybe that is also the nicest way into ESTRUS. Don’t look for a lesson. The album literally opens with A Lot of Feelings, No Solutions. By the time we speak, Tove Lo hasn’t magically found any either. What she does have are questions, desires, and one piece of advice that sounds suspiciously close to a life philosophy: “If you don’t have desire in life, that’s when you get old. It should always be burning for something, whether you get it or not.”
Fair enough. Keep burning.
Tove Lo wears sunglasses by GUCCI, a hat by H&M and jewelry from FASHION ARCHIVE
Tove Lo wears a dress by LAURA GERTE, shoes by JIMMY CHOO and earrings by ALAN HAMILKO
Thinley Wingen
The title Estrus carries biological, emotional, and cultural associations all at once. What did that word allow you to explore that another title couldn't?
Tove Lo
It’s funny because it’s a very biological term, but it really does include all the vulnerable, fragile, and anxious emotions that usually come with animalistic intensity, in my opinion. It really sums up the contradictory place I’ve been in the last year.
There seems to be a recurring tension between the body and the mind throughout your work. How has that relationship evolved while making Estrus?
I think with Estrus it’s the most aware I’ve been of my mind and body battle. It’s a different one than it’s been in the past, and it’s freaking me out a little bit. It’s my body calling for something my mind isn’t ready for.
The opening track is called A Lot of Feelings, No Solutions. What conversations were you hoping to open by starting the record there?
I think just the freedom in not having answers for everything and accepting that. Nothing in life is for certain or 100%; things and you are forever gonna change and that is okay.
Is there a song on the album that feels closest to your heart?
It changes every day, but right now F.A.M.T is hitting hard because I’m not doing what I’m supposed to be doing.
Tove Lo wears a jacket by DIESEL and accessories by H&M STUDIO
Your songwriting has always felt remarkably unfiltered. Looking back today, what has changed about the way you're willing to reveal yourself through music?
I think I always fight my way back to “make sure you write what you need, not how you wanna be perceived”. It’s the weird thing about being so personal in your songs; every album process I have to shut out the thought that a bunch of people are gonna hear these very intimate stories. If I think about that while writing, I find it very hard to be authentic.
The visual world around Estrus feels almost ceremonial. How did the visual language of this record grow alongside the music?
It was a very fluid ongoing process as I put the album together. I kept seeing a black cat, like an independent, unpredictable night creature that had broken free from conformity. That’s where the cult imagery kinda sparked from. I love making the visuals this dark and a bit twisted; let people interpret it however they want, which might be very different from my intention. I love seeing it through different eyes.
You have spent more than a decade writing about desire from your own perspective. How has your understanding of desire changed over time?
If you don’t have desire in life, that’s when you get old. It should always be burning for something, whether you get it or not.
Looking back now, what feels different about the person who finished Estrus compared to the one who began it?
Honestly, the same. I still have no answers or good advice… only feelings, questions, and desires.
Tove Lo wears earrings by ALAN HAMILKO and carries a bag by FERRAGAMO
Tove Lo wears a coat by ISSEY MIYAKE and earrings by PORTUGAL JEWELS
watch
behind the scene
photography
SZYMON STĘPNIAK
fashion editor KLAAS HAMMER
make up JOHANNA NORDLANDER
hair LEO STERN using ORIBE
light assistant ALEX FORREST
camera assistant FRANCISCO RAMOS
styling assistant LOUISA EDOGUN
bts content SERGEY KUCHIN
interview THINLEY WINGEN
talent TOVE LO
fashion editor KLAAS HAMMER
make up JOHANNA NORDLANDER
hair LEO STERN using ORIBE
light assistant ALEX FORREST
camera assistant FRANCISCO RAMOS
styling assistant LOUISA EDOGUN
bts content SERGEY KUCHIN
interview THINLEY WINGEN
talent TOVE LO
credits
all Images (c) LE MILE
and Szymon Stepniak