INTERVIEW: We get drunk with Swedish pop star Ängie and talk drugs and anxiety

Swedish starlet Ängie is one of Scandinavian pop’s hottest exports. Ever since releasing her disruptive single Smoke Weed, Eat Pussy early last year, she’s garnered attention from the music press, record labels and industry moguls.

Unapologetically modern, unabashedly original and undeniably sexy, she’s stormed the music scene in a shower of spliffs, synth and synched tracksuits.

Dylan Jones got drunk with her at Hoxton Bar & Grill before her gig, and they discussed anxiety, weed and aesthetics.

Hey Ängie! So you’re getting pretty well-known now…how does that feel?
It feels good! The only thing that’s worrying me is all these live gigs. Because I haven’t been performing live that much. I’ve only had weird gigs. I did a gig for 4000 people in Lund in Sweden, which is like the biggest stage I’ve done. It went super well. But then I had a showcase thing, with just like sixty people in an apartment, and that went super bad. I don’t know the live thing yet. But it will come to me. Like with any other artist. But it’s hard in the beginning.

I guess the more you do it, the easier it will be
Yeah! Some of my gigs have been really bad.

Do you get nervous?
Yeah. I have a disorder in my head that makes everything a bit worse. It makes me overthink everything. Every possible little thing that could go wrong.

I’ve heard a lot of people in our generation are suffering from anxiety at the moment.
It’s society’s fault, for sure.

How do Swedish people see the UK at the moment?
I’m not sure! I don’t even know how I see the UK. A lot of people here are nicer than the Swedes. Swede’s find it hard to say thankyou, like if someone’s holding a door for you. Swedes are really boring people. If you’re waiting for the bus, and if you talk to someone, they’re like ‘why are you talking to me?’ But here they’re like ‘oh sorry love!’ if they go past you. British people say sorry even if something isn’t their fault.

It’s our weird politeness thing.
I love it! I like talking to people, I like being friendly. But Swedes don’t. They’re so competitive I think. About who’s the coolest, and keeping it cool and stuff like that.

I feel like you’d do well in America.
I hope so! I kind of think so too.

I think they would see you as really subversive.
Yeah. Like Brooke Candy vibes. I just read a review where they said I had that Brooke Candy weirdness. And that’s a good thing to have said about you!

I bet you like Brooke Candy.
Mmm! I really love her. Even “Das Me” and the really early shit she released.

I remember that video where she had baby chameleons in her hair.
I was obsessing over chameleons after I saw that video. I was like ‘I need to get one!’ That’s a cool video. And she was so ratchet in it! Now she’s like a classy, cool punk rocker.

She’s got a song out with SIA now.
Yeah! That was a massive shock to me. It’s super good and she deserves everything that comes her way, but it’s just such a weird collab.

 So, typical interview question…who are your main influences?
I get inspired by so many things…movies, short films, music videos. To me the visuals are more important than the sound. I really like Lana [Del Rey] because she’s got it all.

I love how ridiculous she is.
What do you mean?!

Some of the things she says…
The Lust For Life trailer! Yes it’s amazing. By the way, I can smell weed…is it you?

No, I can smell it too! It’s probably someone in Hoxton Square.
Maybe it’s the beer. Newcastle smells like weed.

What, the whole place?
No, not the place! The beer! Haha!

Oh. Can I have this cigarette?
We can share it. I don’t have herpes.

Good to know. Cigarettes are really difficult to buy here.
Why?

We have loads of laws.
It’s really weird. You can’t smoke in really weird areas here. Like…the train station! What the fuck?! So weird. I lit up on my way back from a session yesterday and people were staring at me, and I was like ‘oh shit!’

So do you smoke weed as much as you say you do in your songs?
Yeah. Kind of. Well I try not to smoke as much now, because it’s hard to be stoned and do a lot of things at once. And sometimes when I’m in sessions I shouldn’t smoke as much weed as I do. Yesterday we smoked a lot of weed. We got lacey. But we still did magic. But it took forever. We were like “what are we gonna dooo….” For like five hours. Haha! “Wait I’ll roll another one, and then we’ll decide after that.” Haha. But yeah, I smoke a lot of weed. But I’ll have to address it soon. I can’t smoke as much I did when I was a teenager.

You were just talking about aesthetics…have you noticed pastel pink is a thing now? And like Katy Perry’s doing it and everything?
How boring. I think I might dye my hair black. Well actually, with every song I have a colour aesthetic. Like, pink with “Smoke Weed Eat Pussy”. Blue with Housewife Spliffin. And now green with [new single] “Spun”. I mess with my fans’ heads, because every time I dye my hair they’re like ‘It’s a song, it’s a song!’ and I’m like, no my hair’s just purple right now and I don’t know why.

What are your fans like?
I have this group on Instagram, which is a bunch of Brazilian fans! And they’re all gay. They’re so much fun. Just this morning, one of them sent a big photo of a huge hole in a tree with a girl looking through it and said to one of the other guys ‘is this your asshole?’ They’re so funny, and they’re really supportive. Some fans can be a bit intense. But I just have to get used to it. My fans are great though. It’s why I do what I do!

Angie’s new single Spun is out now.

 

 

 

 

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