For Fans Of: MØ, Lorde, Halsey
Hailing from the small, rural village of Dalarna, Sweden, Pauline Skött was brought with folk music as the mainstream. She played the fiddle as was the cultural norm in her society, and rejoiced in the close-knit alliance that folk and her traditional community represented. However, at 14 years old, she was introduced to video and computer games, and discovered alternative digital music through the likes of Final Fantasy, The Legend of Zelda and Gears of War. Captivated by the limitless atmospheric and dynamic levels such music can reach, she downloaded a tracker program so she could begin producing her own “blip music”, putting herself in a world where she was writing the soundtracks for these adventure games. Two years after this, she made her first trip into her nearest centre and stumbled across Muse. This was a pinnacle moment for Skött as she felt a whole new level of inspiration she’d never experienced before.
Since then, pop and rock have shaped her sound, yet she still references folk storytelling techniques in her songwriting. This clearly struck a chord as she was hand picked to study songwriting at Musikmakarna (Songwriters Academy of Sweden), where she was propelled straight into the industry through regular classes with record label publishers and A&Rs. This eventually lead to Skött being signed to Sony as well as working for them as a songwriter when she graduated. Whilst working on her forthcoming debut album, the artist has also now created her own record label, Dollar Menu, in a bid to release her own music without having to compromise on her creative vision. She is an artist with no boundaries: “It’s okay to show your teeth a little sometimes.”
Further back though, in June 2016, she took the first step and released her debut single ‘Porcelain’. The atmospheric track was met with positive reviews, and even received praise from New Zealand alt pop star Lorde, who tweeted her “lady, porcelain is the shit”. This reaction came as a huge shock to the her as she was an independent artist at the time and had no social media presence at all, only making her accounts the day before its release. In the following years, Skött embarked on a tour of live shows across Europe and the US, opening select shows Phantogram and MØ. During this time she released her debut EP Stay Off My Mind which featured 4 songs, one more recently remixed by herself and P3GI-13 which was released on 9th March 2018.
Released on Dollar Menu in partnership with Cosmos Music, Skött’s newest release ‘Midas’ has premiered in Billboard magazine this year. She describes the track as hypnotic and romantic, but simple. The track is said to follow up to ‘Bloodhound’ which is equally as infectious, another moody but strikingly addictive piece.
Her uniqueness is conspicuous; in an interview she talks about her body art. Skött talks about her body as an empty canvas, explaining that although she would never commit to having one, she is crazy about tattoo art and often draws designs and symbols on her body. One including a “H” symbol on her hand which represents her family crest. She told Interview Magazine, “back in the day, you used your crest to mark your tools and your carriages and stuff that belonged to the farm, and we still have the crest.”
We believe Skött’s unique upbringing and her relationships with those around her and with music are what have enabled her to create her own unique image, sound, and also story in such a diverse industry. We have savoured the sounds she has provided until now, the one big question is: what’s next?
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Twitter – @skottpeace