Emotions roar and GRANT soars in her new ‘Vertigo’ EP, an immersive panacea of sultry and soulful pop.
Stream: “Words” – GRANT
Emotions roar and GRANT soars in her new EP, an immersive panacea of sultry and soulful pop. Rising and falling like with dramatic passion and visceral energy, Vertigo cements the Swedish singer/songwriter as one of the voices at the forefront of indie and alternative pop.
What if words don’t make it better?
What if time won’t get us right
Baby what are words if they never matter
Will we use our doubts to make up our minds
What if words don’t make it better?
What if time won’t get us right
I was only in love
When I questioned my will to live
The whisper was soft but the sound was a scream to m
Released October 15, 2020 via Milkshake in partnership with Sony Music Sweden, Vertigo is a high-flying, cinematic and finessed pop drama. The four-track recording arrives over two years after GRANT first established herself with 2018’s debut album In Bloom, itself a worthwhile adventure into the light and dark spaces of incredibly catchy electro- and synth-pop glory.
“It’s a part of me,” GRANT says of her debut. “I don’t live those exact experiences anymore but I carry them with me always.”
Meanwhile, Vertigo is very real display of who she is right here and now. “It captures me along the way of learning how to write about the experience of being in love, focused on the moments of revelation that stood out,” she tells Atwood Magazine. “Trying to fit a whole relationship into one song became a bit overwhelming and felt terribly insufficient, so first there’ll be this EP and then there’ll be an album, and we’ll see if it will be anywhere near enough.”
Vertigo inhabits four very different spaces through its four cohesive, compelling songs. “Don’t Recall Growing Old” opens with intimate flare and reflection as the artist releases herself from previous identities and younger perspectives on love and connection. The standout lead single “Words” is a fervent, upheaval of love, fracture, fragility, and doubt.
“I’m in my first long – term relationship, and I’ve found that words can create chaos and cause the most horrific mix – ups , even though they’re really just sounding air,” GRANT explains. “I have my boyfriend telling me all the time how much he loves me and yet I still have a problem trusting those words, so I wanted to explore that in a song.”
The back half continues to bathe in the deep end of the emotional spectrum with the dreamy, euphoric “Hell Yes, I’m Betting on You” dark, dazzling closer “Vertigo.” All of these tracks seem to explore love in some ways, going far beyond the surface level to explore the impact of romance and connection on the psyche, on our wellbeing, our approach to relationships, and much more.
“I’ve thought of happy love like a really good pop song – easy, instantly touching, revealing and after a while kind of repetitive – and this repetitiveness can either be comforting or irritating,” GRANT reflects. “This was my point of view before I dug into scrutinizing the different scenarios, feelings and bits and pieces that all together make up my relationship. In a way I let you follow my thought process making this EP, laying out the groundworks for what will be the album where I’m at the other side of thinking I’ve got the answers. I conclude the EP with declaring I don’t know a thing.”
Vertigo is a definitive step forward for GRANT in her music, her lyricism, and her emotional acuity. “I think I’ve grown into my own skin a bit, at least I feel a bit more comfortable. It had to get worse before it got better though. I felt very confused and out of touch with my feelings and my idea of self. I’ve learned how to love deeply and that’s most evident on Vertigo, I hope.”
With this new set of songs under her belt, GRANT is prepared to take off. Already a streaming success with 1 million streams on Spotify alone, Vertigo sets the artist up for present and future successes. “I’ll remember it as the moment when it clicked and many things became clear, or at least some arrows lit up and it was beautiful to know where I was going for once,” she says.
And if listeners can take away anything from this EP, GRANT hopes it’s a healthy measure of inner strength and self-confidence. “Doubt is part of believing, and love takes courage to endure.”
Experience the full record via our below stream, and peek inside GRANT’s Vertigo EP with Atwood Magazine as the artist goes track-by-track through the music and lyrics of her new release!
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:: stream/purchase Vertigo EP here ::
Stream: ‘Vertigo EP’ – GRANT
:: Inside Vertigo EP ::
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Don’t Recall Growing Old
[This is a song about] breaking down the barriers you built when you were young and idealistic and had very high demands on what love should be… I’ve come to terms with the fact that love can’t fix me, and started to accept love for what it is — which I always thought was something for grownups. I’ve managed to get to know some really good, funny and talented people the past few years. Two of them being Phil Cook and Cassandra Casso, whom I wrote this song with. Cassandra is an amazing listener and we’d talk about love and especially the beginning of love. She’d challenge me and my way of thinking and writing in the most inspiring way. This is the beginning – this song is about the first few weeks before weeks turned into years and she really helped me gain perspective as I orientated myself in the subject that would eventually bloom into the subject of the whole EP.
Words
I’m in my first long-term relationship, and I’ve found that words can create chaos and cause the most horrific mix-ups, even though they’re really just sounding air. I have my boyfriend telling me all the time how much he loves me and yet I still have a problem trusting those words, so I wanted to explore that in a song. While working with Martin Sjølie, it came up that he knew and had worked with two friends of mine, Teo and Frans. I took my first tentative songwriting steps with Teo and Frans but had never finished anything or worked with them since, but Frans is to this day playing bass in my band and they’re two of my best people in this world. It seemed obvious and fun that we should write together all four of us and we set up a date for us to play around in the studio. I’d by this point realized I wanted to write about my relationship and was already very deep into the thought process that would become the subject of the lyrics for what we wrote that day. Like a crescendo that barely reaches its climax, both the melody and the production mirror the lyrics. The hardest part of loving for me is trusting the other person will understand. Words are curious and even as I use them to communicate something true I’m worried something will be lost once I open my mouth. It’s just sounding air and yet it can be the most effective weapon. How do you even recognize something sincere? I’m trying to understand and I’m trying to trust and not dull the meaning of what I say even as my words of affirmation are repeated.
Hell Yes, I’m Betting On You
I wanted to show the irony of not really believing in the idea of lifelong love, but also hoping so desperately for it. This was written on my first ever writing trip abroad where I got to spend two inspiring days with funny, kind and talented producer Martin Sjølie. I was still searching for the right sound and most urgent subject of the heart to write about, such matters that seem so obvious once you realize but that take so much of your time and spirit before you get there. The melody and the synthesizer was the core build right from the beginning and then the drums. I loved the groove instantly and knew it would be special. As sometimes happens, sometimes when you know you’re onto something and the words are just at the tip of your tongue you go completely blank. I went back home to write lyrics and gave up immediately, just waiting for the all-solving epiphany before I had to go back and record. I wanted it to be perfect in such a way that I didn’t dare to start. It took me right until the day before recording to spill it out and an hour before going into the studio until I had the title and the chorus. It’s the biggest sense of relief to watch your thoughts structured on paper. It’s still one of my favorites and worth every minute of anxiety to have it turn out exactly what it needed to be.
Vertigo
A friend of mine and I planned to do a photoseries called ‘Vertigo’, exploring what it feels like when you’re falling in love in a more literal sense,” says GRANT. “The song was inspired by this idea, and it’s mostly about how I can never make sense of my boyfriend: he really does have a mind of his own, and he thinks in ways that I don’t understand. The melody and idea for Vertigo had actually been with me for quite some time, probably almost two years before I knew what to do with it. It had these chords and specific mood that I hadn’t tapped into yet and so I waited for the right subject to fit the melody and one day it felt obvious. Me and my photographer friend, Angelina Bergenwall had discussed vertigo as a phenomena and how it must be the best metaphor for falling in love and suddenly the melody made sense and I was home.
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:: stream/purchase Vertigo EP here ::
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