There are several Norwegian female singer-songwriters, I’ll name Dagny and Amanda Tenfjord here, who attract platitudes from the more mainstream music critics in the national music and general press like they were going out of fashion. On Dagny, “She has a star in waiting written all over her” is a favourite of mine. Not. Billboard had her in ‘10 Pop Stars to Watch In 2017’ while she has been nominated three times at the Spellemannprisen Awards (Norwegian Grammys) in different categories without coming home with the bacon.
In both cases the artists have been on the verge of making it big for quite a long time now. Is this Dagny’s moment?
If you don’t know of her, Dagny is Norvoll Sandvik, and she’s racked up no fewer than 450 million streams to date, as well as selling out international headline tours and playing many festival spots. Among her many achievements, Dagny also co-wrote Katy Perry’s recent single 'Never Really Over' – achieving an impressive 300 million streams on Spotify alone.
‘Somebody’ is the second track to be lifted from her forthcoming debut album which will be split into two parts, with the first six tracks on Side A available for streaming on May 22nd, and the full album to arrive in September this year.
I think it’s fair to say she is a purveyor of pop, pure and simple, with a singular sound, and this song was written with a goal of conveying the ultimate "in-love" experience. She says, "It's the all-consuming and exciting feeling when everything is still new. I’ve been lucky to experience it. I find that when I’m in love I feel everything ten times more than usual. With 'Somebody' for me it’s not just the lyrics but the whole vibe of the song that represents that: when I listen to it I get a lot of positive energy and I just wanna throw myself into something new and exciting."
Two main observations I would make. Firstly, Dagny always produces disco bangers and this is no exception. Secondly, she has a unique vocal. You know it’s her just as you would know that it was Sigrid, or Aurora, or Ingrid Helene Håvik. For those reasons alone this will be a big hit again for her, just as the first song released from the album, ‘Come Over’, was. All she has to do is to maintain the standard she has set because there are plenty of teenage girls, and a fair few lads, hanging on every word.
I’m not being cynical, that is how it works. She has the talent, the voice and the looks and that is all that matters. She isn’t trying to take over from Dylan. And Dagny has supporters in surprising places. At the By: Larm festival in Oslo I was talking to a local producer who specialises in complex indie rock bands but he didn’t want to talk about them or about any of the Norwegian artists that I name-checked with him. “Do you know Dagny?” he asked. “You should check her out, she’s fantastic.”
‘Somebody’ is out now via Universal / Ingrooves.