25/04/11
Hello Jonas, how are you?
I'm fine thanks, how are you?
Where are you at the moment?
I'm in Leeds...
Sunny Leeds!
Well it's not sunny! It was yesterday, but today it's raining...
I can well imagine. So what are you doing in Leeds at the moment?
Just some promotion; visiting some radio channels and hanging out a little bit, you know, it's good to be back in the UK.
Very good - we're glad to hear it.
You know, I haven't been in the UK for a while; there've been a lot of other tours in other parts of the world and I've also been at home working on my new album, but now I'm back!
Do you always get a good reception when you come to the UK?
Always, yeah. I think, like, everywhere I've been so far has been brilliant; everyone's happy and they've been good shows and good people that I work with and stuff, so it's been great.
I saw that you've Tweeted this morning saying that you're in England at the moment doing some heavy promotion; is it a very tough schedule?
No, that was the wrong word for it - I meant to say, like, a LOT of promotion. It's not heavy, I mean, I love what I do. Like, I can say to myself that I'm one of the luckiest guys on the planet; I don't have any problems, and there are no negative sides to it, so it's lovely and I can't complain.
Aw, that's great. So if we look back, you grew up in Sweden in the 80s and 90s - you're the same age as me actually - so who influenced you in those days?
Erm, I listened to a lot of underground music that never got released, or known to many people. I listened to... I don't know really, I just listened to music; I didn't have any particular favourite group, I just liked certain songs. I listened to everything.
What else influenced you at that time? Was there anything else going on that led you to this path?
Well I started singing in a choir when I was like, fourteen, fifteen, with my mother and it was her choir. They had a big project and they needed some kids to join them for acting and stuff, so that's how I kinda got interested in singing. After that, I discovered a music program and I started using that and I've been doing it ever since.
Is it right that you were just 15 when you released your first record on the internet?
No, that's not right. I didn't get signed 'til 2006, so basically I've been producing a lot of songs and uploading them to the internet for free download, because I just wanted people to discover my music.
And how were you discovered Jonas? How did you go from being an internet hit to being signed?
Well, I made a song called 'Boten Anna', that is the original Swedish version of 'Now You're Gone', and I wrote it, recorded and produced it just as a funny thing, you know, and uploaded on to the internet and it exploded. A couple of weeks later, the phone was ringing from different managers and labels and stuff, but it all started out with me uploading songs on the internet... then I made one smash hit!
Obviously, as you said, that song has an English version, 'Now You're Gone', which reached Number 1 in the UK - did you ever imagine that it would achieve so much success worldwide?
Not in my wildest fantasies. I didn't even imagine... you know, I was so surprised even when the phone started ringing in Sweden, I mean like, it's just been going up and up and up, but when I got the success in the UK, it was unreal; it actually took quite a long time for me to realise what was going on.
You famously dressed in a Borat-style mankini when you achieved the Number 1 in the UK, so what will you do if your new single, 'Every Morning' goes to Number 1?
I don't know really... I promised that for the next Number 1 I will bungee jump in a pink bunny suit because a fan wrote in and said for the next Number 1, "I think you should bungee jump in a pink bunny suit with a firecracker in your ass." So yeah, I think that I'm not gonna do the firecracker thing because it would be too painful!
I don't blame you! You seem to have a lot of fun and a strong relationship with your fans - is it important for you to keep a personal level like that?
It's very important, because without them, I would have been nothing, I mean, they brought me here; they gave my career a success - it's because of them that I'm sitting here talking to you right now, so it's very important to let them know that they are very, very important to me.
That's great - a lovely attitude to have. I read that you were going to celebrate your Number One by "drinking whiskey and playing World of Warcraft" - is that an ideal night for you?
An ideal night for me? Well, there are a lot of parties and you choose whether you want to drink or don't wanna drink, I mean, if you party too much, you'll end up like destroyed one day, and I don't wanna end up like that! So, I'm a bit of a computer geek, so I always enjoy playing computer games for like, 24 hours straight, just drinking Coca Cola or something. It's like partying is like a daily life for me, but to just sit down and eat crisps and drink cola is quite a rare thing in my life now!
I was listening to 'Every Morning' and I've noticed that it's a slight change in direction for you; it's slower and more melodic and it's led to some fans on YouTube asking whether you've fallen in love? Is that the reason...?
Erm, well I wouldn't say it's that different, I mean, the bass and the riff is still similar, but it's just the whole feeling when you listen to it is a little softer. But actually, the song is a true story; I was dating this girl for a couple of months last winrer and I had a lot of time at home at that time, because I was working on the new album - I can't travel and produce an album at the same time; I mean I can, but I wanted this album to be really good, so I spent two and a half months at home. So I met this girl and I thought 'woah, this is really good', and it didn't work out though - I kinda freaked out and she kinda freaked out, I guess because of all the travelling and touring that I do, so I just disappeared. But anyway, I woke up one morning and I was in bed, the sun was shining and she was making a cup of coffee and she sat on the edge of the bed and said "Morning Darling, how are you doing?", and that was the inspiration for that song really.
Does it bring good sore memories or good memories when you perform it?
Good memories; I never memorise bad memories... I mean, they're there, but I don't recall them. The only thing I remember that's bad are mistakes, because if you make a mistake, you must learn from them, and to learn from them, you must remember them, but usually, I don't do any mistakes! You know, the best way to avoid any mistakes is to be honest, because it's like, if you're not honest, it'll come back on you ten times worse.
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