Light Me UpIcona Pop

Icona Pop

Arguably one of the most anthemic musical duos out there, the pair of Swedish electropop women together known as Icona Pop have been impacting the charts and the dance floors since 2009. Comprised of Stockholm-raised Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo, who met accidentally at a party, Icona Pop seeks to make among the world’s best dancepop and synthpop music. The two came to the spotlight initially with the powerfully spunky “Manners” as part of 2011 EP Nights Like This, drawing attention from NME and The Guardian, among other publications.

In the late spring of 2012, Icona Pop gave the world a pre-release single off their debut album Icona Pop and the EP Iconic – the would-be titanic hit “I Love It” featuring the rising UK artist Charli XCX and producer Patrik Berger, of Robyn fame. The maximalist track, anthemic and nihilistic, found itself on the soundtracks of many major projects, namely Girls, The Vampire Desires, Glee and many commercials. “I Love It” eventually rolled to a Top 10 hit status on the Billboard charts and topped the UK Singles chart, selling over 4 million downloads worldwide. The eponymous album faltered chart-wise, but the rest of the album was no less significant than “I Love It” in shaping the synthpop artists' signature sound. The two also found themselves opening the North American leg of Marina and the Diamonds‘ tour accompanying Diamandis’ Electra Heart.

Come 2013, the duo pushed out the feminist “Girlfriend”, interpolating a 2Pac track, which previewed Icona Pop’s debut international album, This Is…Icona Pop, after the releases of “I Love It” and “We Got The World” in 2012. “All Night” came not long after, topping the Billboard dance chart. This Is… marked the true establishment of the Swedes into the dance scene, with its jam-packed nature of maximalist, genre-bending tracks and youthful lyrics of dual emotions. The next year, in 2014, the Swedish duo released “Get Lost”, and worked as opening acts of Miley Cyrus and Katy Perry.