Tove Styrke Shares New Single ME/YOU (ALWAYS & FOREVER)

Tove Styrke has released 'Me/You (always and forever),' an '80s new wave-infused meditation on the one relationship that lasts a lifetime: the one we have with ourselves. Out today, the track is the latest glimpse of the Swedish alt-pop star's forthcoming album I thought this story wasn't about me, out November 6th.

Tove pictures it as a moment of staring into a mirror at a party, 'looking at yourself like, 'I guess it's just you and me…' You are your own worst enemy, but you're also the last one looking out for you.' The opening line sums the feeling up: 'I got you every night and day, now it seems you're a problem, babe.'

'Me/You (always and forever)' joins 'Prayer,' 'Space,' 'Let's Go Camping,' 'Song and Dance Man,' and 'Sunflower' in offering another glimpse into the ethereal, alt-electropop world of the new album. I thought this story wasn't about me is a concept album set across a dusk-till-dawn afterparty, co-produced in its entirety by the Swedish Grammy Award-nominated artist. Tove is joined by a tight-knit Swedish clan composed of producer and co-writer Magnus Larsson, drummer and producer Joel Kiviaho and songwriter Linnéa Martinsson on an album that plays more like an indie movie soundtrack.

The seeds for the album were planted in early 2024 when, in the rare hours she would find around parenting her young daughter, Tove would head to the roof terrace of her apartment armed with a journal. Here, among vegetables she was growing herself, she'd doodle. 'I thought I was just making little poems,' she recalls. It was here that a vision for her new album I thought this story wasn't about me struck 'like electricity'.

'I got this image in my head of a person in an apartment,' she explains. 'It was night and I knew that she's alone in the apartment and in an apartment building you are surrounded by people. That felt so interesting to me. I had to explore that.' Inspired by visionary filmmaker David Lynch's philosophy on creativity, she would return to the vision, building it out like a puzzle, like a film in her head. 'You can be so lonely and you can have another person one metre away from you who's living their own life.' Styrke imagined it as similar to being at a party, where you're 'surrounded by people but you're completely alone in your own experience.' She adds: 'The feeling of isolation and being cut off from society and the longing for belonging – that is the core of this album.'

Beyond the new album, Tove has also started a political rock band with her partner Sanna Sikborn Erixon, singing in Swedish, called Året Var (translated as The Year Was). They released their debut EP in May, followed by a full length album in September, just before the Swedish elections. Tove reveals of Året Var:

'From my perspective, the world is falling apart and at the end of the day I got nothing but my brain, my heart and my creativity so I might as well use all those things to the best of my abilities. The band is a result of that. We make music from our own point of view about what we see in society today, especially in Sweden. There's a lot to cry and to laugh about, and we try to do both with this music.'

Critically acclaimed and internationally respected artist Tove Styrke has released four albums to date (most recently 2022's HARD), and has amassed over 1 billion streams across her catalog, including songs such as 'Say My Name,' 'Borderline,' and 'Show Me Love.' Her collaborations span artists like Clean Bandit, Ritual, ALMA, and Cosmo's Midnight. Most recently she expanded her creative world by appearing in a leading role in David Bowie's Lazarus musical in Stockholm in spring 2024. With a new album on the horizon, the stage is set for her to usher in an exciting new era of music.

Tracklist

Intro

Prayer

Song and dance man

Let's go camping

Look at me

Afterparty hymn

Space

Burial

04:39

Me/You (always and forever)

Big exit

Sunflower

Keep this safe

Ah ah ah ah (there it is again)

Sitting by the fire

Save me