Tove Lo

Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson (; born 29 October 1987), known professionally as Tove Lo ( ; ), is a Swedish singer-songwriter. She is known for her raw, grunge-influenced take on pop music. Referring to her autobiographical lyrics, Out called Lo "the saddest girl in Sweden", while Rolling Stone called her "Sweden's darkest pop export".

Raised in the Djursholm district of Danderyd, Lo is an alumna of the music school Rytmus Musikergymnasiet. She formed the rock band Tremblebee in 2006. After it disbanded, Lo pursued a career in songwriting and earned a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music in 2011. Working with producers Alexander Kronlund, Max Martin, and Xenomania, she became a successful songwriter, while also recording and releasing her own compositions independently.

In 2013, Lo was signed to Universal Music, Island and Polydor. The following year, Lo rose to prominence with her debut album, Queen of the Clouds, which opened at number 14 on the US Billboard 200 chart in October 2014. It spawned the sleeper hit single "Habits (Stay High)", which peaked at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100, as well as "Talking Body". Her second album, Lady Wood, was released in October 2016 and debuted at number 11 on the Billboard 200. Its lead single, "Cool Girl", became an international hit. Her follow-up records, Blue Lips (2017) and Sunshine Kitty (2019), also performed well, the latter spawning the song "Glad He's Gone", which was nominated for a Grammy Award for Best Music Video. In 2022, she released the album Dirt Femme with singles like "How Long" and "No One Dies from Love". The former was part of the soundtrack for the second season of the American teen drama series Euphoria.

In addition to her solo work, Lo has co-written songs for other artists, including Lorde's "Homemade Dynamite" (2017) and Ellie Goulding's "Love Me Like You Do" (2015), a song that garnered her Grammy Award and Golden Globe nominations. She has collaborated with many artists, including Alesso, Broods, Charli XCX, Coldplay, Flume, Nelly Furtado, Martin Garrix, Nick Jonas, Wiz Khalifa, Kylie Minogue, Seven Lions and Urban Cone.

Early life Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson was born on 29 October 1987 in Helsingborg, Scania County. She has one older brother and is the daughter of iZettle co-founder Magnus Nilsson and psychologist Gunilla Nilsson Edholm. Her lifelong nickname and adopted stage name, Tove Lo, was given to her at age three by her godmother because of her love for lynxes (singular: "lo" in Swedish). Having lived in Lund until the age of six, Lo's family would move to the affluent Djursholm district of Danderyd, a suburb to Stockholm. She describes her childhood as being "very protected" and her family as "pretty posh". In an interview with the BBC, she explained, "Growing up so safe, I think I was looking for something else". During her teens she suffered from bulimia, for which her mother sought to help her through a therapist. She wrote her first song with them at age 10 or 11. By age 15, Lo had written "all these lyrics that nobody ever saw" and had performed twice on stage, before enrolling at Rytmus Musikergymnasiet, a Stockholm music school. After two years, she graduated from the school and felt assured that her career would be in music despite her parents preferring she do something else.

Career

2006–2013: Career beginnings and songwriting

In 2006, Lo began writing songs with Christian Bjerring, a guitarist from Rytmus. During her time with the band, Lo developed a passion for performing on stage, and was introduced to Swedish production duo The Struts. After Tremblebee broke up, Lo's musical focus turned toward pop. She decided to work on her own tracks, spending six months in her shed studio producing a demo, Lo later lived with the duo Icona Pop, in a suburb near Stockholm. In 2011, Lo decided to pursue a career in songwriting and earned a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music. This new career path led her to travel to Los Angeles, and work with Swedish producer Max Martin.

Lo then decided to manage an "indie career on the side", recording her more personal compositions and releasing them independently. The latter gained her a substantial online following. She also collaborated on the single "Strangers" by Seven Lions and Myon & Shane 54 for The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones film soundtrack (2013), and Seven Lions' extended play (EP), Worlds Apart (2014). She also co-wrote Victoria Justice's "Gold",

2014–2015: Truth Serum and Queen of the Clouds

Thanks to the strength of her online following, and the popularity of "Habits", Universal Music offered Lo a recording deal, She would eventually be signed to Island and Polydor Records. Lo then shifted her focus to an international singing career, earning critical acclaim for her first live shows in London and during South by Southwest in the United States. The EP was also a critical success, and led to several news media sources referring to Lo as "a pop star in waiting". The next singles were "Habits (Stay High)" and its remixed version by production duo Hippie Sabotage, re-titled as "Stay High". It marked Lo's international breakthrough into mainstream success, The singer was later named VH1's You Oughta Know and iHeart Radio's On the Verge artist. It debuted at number 14 on the US Billboard 200, selling 19,000 copies in its first week, and received a Platinum certification by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) in 2016. The album peaked at number 17 in the United Kingdom Serving as the album's lead single, It was Lo's commercial breakthrough there, peaking at number three on the US Billboard Hot 100. The album's second single "Talking Body" peaked at number 12 on the US Billboard Hot 100, number 16 in Sweden,

Lo was also featured on Swedish DJ Alesso's single "Heroes (We Could Be)" from his debut album, Forever. It was a commercial success, peaking at number five in Sweden, In late 2014, the singer was signed to Max Martin's songwriting collective Wolf Cousins. The 2014 album releases of Cher Lloyd's Sorry I'm Late, "Love Me Like You Do" topped the UK Singles Chart and peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100. It also earned Lo nominations for the Golden Globes, Grammys and Critics' Choice Awards. She also co-wrote and was featured on "Rumors", on Adam Lambert's third studio album The Original High. On 24 September 2015, a repackaged version of Queen of the Clouds was released as the "Blueprint Edition". It featured all the tracks from the original release, as well as "Heroes (We Could Be)" and tracks from Truth Serum. Four days later, she started her first headlining concert tour, the Queen of the Clouds Tour, featuring fellow Swedish singer Erik Hassle as the opening act. Also that year, she won STIM's Platinum Guitar prize, which is awarded to accomplished Swedish songwriters. Lo was featured on Coldplay's single "Fun", from their seventh album A Head Full of Dreams released in December 2015.

2016–2018: Collaborations, Lady Wood and Blue Lips

On 19 February 2016, Lo released "Scars", the lead single of the soundtrack to the film The Divergent Series: Allegiant. The next month, she was featured on the remix version of the single "Desire" by English band Years & Years, which charted in Belgium and Sweden. In the same month, she appeared as a featured artist on Nick Jonas's "Close", the lead single from his third studio album Last Year Was Complicated. The track peaked at number 14 on the US Billboard Hot 100 and received a Platinum certification by the RIAA. It also reached the top 20 in Canada and New Zealand.

Lo was also featured on Australian musician Flume's single "Say It", released on 20 April 2016. The track was successful in Oceania, entering the top five in Australia and New Zealand. The artist co-wrote Ellie Goulding's "Still Falling For You", the lead single from the soundtrack to the film Bridget Jones's Baby (2016).

On 28 October 2016, the singer released her second studio album, Lady Wood. It topped the album chart in Sweden and peaked at number 11 on the US Billboard 200. Its lead single, "Cool Girl", entered the top 30 in Australia and was certified Platinum. In New Zealand and Sweden it also made the top 30 where it was certified Gold. Five days before the album's release, Lo announced a European and North American solo tour, the Lady Wood Tour. It would take the singer to twenty-one cities across two continents, beginning on 6 January 2017. To promote the record, she released two short films directed by Tim Erem featuring tracks from the album. The first, Fairy Dust, was uploaded to YouTube on 31 October 2016 but was removed for a few hours because of the site's policies on sexual content. The singer addressed the situation via Twitter, stating that she was not even naked on the clip. The next clip, Fire Fade, was released on 25 August 2017. In late 2016, Lo was an opening act for Maroon 5's The Maroon V Tour across the United States and promoted her album Lady Wood.

Lo co-wrote and performed the song "Lies in the Dark", from the soundtrack to the film Fifty Shades Darker, released on 10 February 2017. Six days later, it was announced that she would be opening for Coldplay on their A Head Full of Dreams Tour across Europe, the United States, and Canada from June to October 2017. Lo co-wrote "Homemade Dynamite", from New Zealand artist Lorde's second studio album, Melodrama. It was released on 16 September 2017 as the record's third single. On 17 November 2017, Lo released her third studio album, Blue Lips, which she referred to as the sequel to Lady Wood. Compared to Lo's earlier releases, the record was less successful, peaking at number 138 on the US Billboard 200 and at number 15 in Sweden. The first single, "Disco Tits", was released in September 2017. She was later featured on "Out of My Head", the lead single from English singer Charli XCX's fourth mixtape Pop 2, released in December of that year.

On 7 June 2018, Lo released a remix of "Bitches" featuring XCX, Alma, Icona Pop and Elliphant as the second single from Blue Lips.

Lo was featured on the track "Get Up and Fight", by Muse on the Simulation Theory album, which was on 9 November 2018.

2019–2021: Sunshine Kitty

On 31 May 2019, Lo announced through a press release that her fourth studio album would be titled Sunshine Kitty. The record's lead single, "Glad He's Gone", was released that same day alongside its lyric video. On 1 August, Lo announced that the album would be released on 20 September 2019. The second single, "Bad as the Boys" featuring Finnish musician Alma, was released the following day. Lo released the third single on 28 August 2019, "Jacques", a collaboration between her and British DJ Jax Jones. She then released "Really Don't Like U", featuring Australian musician and songwriter Kylie Minogue, on 6 September 2019. Five days earlier, Lo appeared in Alma's song "Worst Behaviour".

On 15 January 2020, she released the single "Bikini Porn", which included the song "Passion And Pain Taste The Same When I'm Weak". In March 2020, Lo released an English cover of Veronica Maggio's song "Jag kommer" in partnership with Spotify for their It's Hits playlist. The song reached the top 40 in Sweden, Norway, and New Zealand. In May 2020 she released the Paw Prints Edition of Sunshine Kitty, a reissued version featuring 8 new songs including "Bikini Porn", her cover of "Jag kommer", and new single "sadder badder cooler". In July 2020 she released a contest where six fans could join her on her Animal Crossing: New Horizons island for a special DJ set by creating an outfit for their villager, with the best getting invited to the performance. On 5 February 2021, Martin Garrix released the track "Pressure", which features Lo.

Lo made her feature film acting debut in the 2021 Swedish-language film adaptation of Vilhelm Moberg's The Emigrants.

2022–present: Dirt Femme and Estrus On 11 February 2022, Lo released the single "How Long" in promotion of the soundtrack to the second season of American teen drama Euphoria. On 3 May 2022 she launched her own label, Pretty Swede Records, with Mtheory. The same day, Lo released the single "No One Dies From Love" through Pretty Swede Records, marking her debut as an independent artist after being signed to Island Records since 2014. On 21 June 2022 she announced that her fifth studio album Dirt Femme would be released on 14 October 2022. The album contains both "How Long" and "No One Dies from Love" as well as the single "True Romance". The track "Cute & Cruel" features the Swedish band First Aid Kit. Another single from this album, "2 Die 4", was released on 29 July 2022, which samples the melody of the 1969 hit Popcorn.

On 5 August 2022, Pussy Riot released their debut mixtape Matriarchy Now, executively produced by Lo. On 14 October 2022, she officially released Dirt Femme through Pretty Swede Records with overarching themes of body positivity, femininity, and addressing the "fears of losing herself". On 31 May 2023, Lo released the single "I Like U", which was followed on 21 July 2023 by an EP of remixes; the Emergency_Loop & Melanie C remix was released as a promotional single. To mark the 6 year anniversary of the release of her 2017 song Disco Tits, a remix by frequent collaborator Karma Fields was released on 7 September 2023.

In 2025, Lo confirmed she was working on her sixth studio album. In May 2026, Estrus was confirmed for release on 18 September 2026. Its lead single "I'm Your Girl Right?" is scheduled for release on 13 May 2026.

Artistry

Musical style Listen filename = Tove Lo Talking Body.ogg title = "Talking Body" description = from Queen of the Clouds illustrates Lo's soprano vocal range. electropop, dance-pop, and indie pop, comparing her musical style to that of singers Kesha, Lorde, Robyn, and Katy Perry. Her musical style is often described as dark, Rolling Stone deemed her "Sweden's darkest pop export". Peter Robinson wrote, "As a vocalist she hints at euphoria and melancholy in equal measure".

Songwriting Described as "the world's most brutally honest pop star" by Alex Panisch of Out, and are based mostly on mistakes, love, sex and failed relationships being characteristically direct, candid and complex. According to Tim Jonze of The Guardian, the singer tends to home in on "the more deranged side of love". The singer's third studio record, Blue Lips, is a sequel to Lady Wood and is split into two chapters: "Light Beams" and "Pitch Black". Lo's lyrics often contain profanity Discussing the process of writing for other artists, the singer told Paste that she avoids drawing from her own experiences so that the songs do not become personal. She also said: "My main goal is to say something how they would say it, even if I might say it in a different way that makes more sense to me". The Weeknd, and Silverchair. In an interview with Attitude in January 2017, Lo referred to her own bisexuality: "Being open and owning my sexuality in both ways-with both men and women - I think that's just never been a big deal", adding that she was very lucky growing up in a liberal country. In March the same year, she gave an interview with Out magazine, stating she had never been in a relationship with a woman. She referred to herself as pansexual in December 2022 in Paper Magazine.

Lo says she created a media image for herself that is synonymous with her true identity. She has a prominent tattoo along her left upper arm of a girl harnessed to the back of a bumblebee. It is from the cover of Jack Off Jill's album Clear Hearts Grey Flowers; the album cover was designed by Mark Ryden. Lo's look is often compared to that of her style icon Janis Joplin. In 2014, Lo's first clothing line, which she also modelled, is based on the lyrics of her EP, Truth Serum. The singer has often said in interviews that she is unapologetically proud of her body; she occasionally engages in exhibitionism at her shows, such as exposing her breasts while singing "Talking Body". "I started just by showing a little bit of boob or just being sassy, and everyone got so excited and then one night I just did it", she told MTV News at Bonnaroo. Lo is often asked about being a negative role model for women, given the many sexual and drug references in her lyrics. The artist has commented she finds it normal to talk about sex since she grew up in a country where that is considered "normal and not shameful", and many of her fans like the way she expresses herself. Lo also believes she receives these kinds of comments due to gender double standards, adding that: "I felt like I was getting asked all these questions because I'm a girl. ... It would be insulting to ask a guy that. Which it is to a girl as well." Lo identifies as a feminist in that she supports women's rights and gender equality, but also said that she is not a radical feminist.

On 26 July 2020, Lo announced on her Instagram story that she had married her New Zealand boyfriend, Charlie Twaddle.

Discography

Queen of the Clouds (2014) Lady Wood (2016) Blue Lips (2017) Sunshine Kitty (2019) Dirt Femme (2022) Estrus (2026)

Filmography Film Year Film Role Notes 2016 Fairy Dust Herself Short film 2017 Fire Fade Herself Short film 2018 Blue Lips Herself Short film 2021 The Emigrants Ulrika

Television

Awards and nominations After her commercial breakthrough, Lo has received many award nominations. She has earned six Grammis awards in her native Sweden, including Artist of the Year and Song of the Year for "Habits (Stay High)". As a songwriter of "Love Me like You Do" by Ellie Goulding, Lo received nominations for the Golden Globes, Grammys and Critics' Choice Awards. Most Played Australian Work 2026

Most Performed Dance/Electronic Work

2015 Herself New Artist of the Year

2015

Song of the Year

2022 "Pressure" (with Martin Garrix) Best Cinematography

"Grapefruit" Best Performer

"Borderline" Best Narrative

2015 "Habits (Stay High)" Top Streaming Song (Audio)

2022 "No One Dies from Love" International Music Video

Video of the Year

Best Director Best VFX Best Art Direction

2023 "Borderline" Best Music Video

2015 Herself New Artist

2016 "Love Me like You Do" Best Song

Narrative

Production Design

2015

Best International Album

2025 "Cave" (with Dom Dolla) DnB (Drum and Bass) Song of the Year

2015 Queen of the Clouds Sweden Album Of The Year

Herself Best Foreign Solo Act

Sunshine Kitty Best Foreign Album

2025 Heat Outstanding Music Artist

2015 "Timebomb" Best Swedish Music Video

2022 Herself International Excellence in Music

2016

Best Original Song

2016 Best Original Song

Herself Artist of the Year

"Habits (Stay High)" Song of the Year Queen of the Clouds Pop of the Year

Herself Artist of the Year

Lady Wood Pop of the Year

Herself Artist of the Year

Album of the Year Pop of the Year

Herself Lyricist of the Year

Album of the Year

Album of the Year

Artist of the Year Lyricist of the Year

2016 "Love Me like You Do" Best Song Written for Visual Media 2020 "Glad He's Gone" Best Music Video

2016 "Love Me like You Do" Best Song/Recording Created for a Film

2016 "Love Me like You Do" Best Original Song Best Featured Vocalist Performance

2016 "Love Me like You Do" Best Original Song 2016

Best New Artist

2014

2015 2016 2017 2022 Best Nordic Act

2017 Prix Spécial International Féminin

2015

2023

2014 Breakthrough of the Year

Composer of the Year

Lyricist of the Year International Success Breakthrough of the Year

Best Song Most Played Song of the Year

Composer of the Year

Lyricist of the Year 2023 "No One Dies from Love" Best Song

2019 "Glad He's Gone"

2020 "Are U Gonna Tell Her?"

Best Direction

2015 "Heroes (We Could Be)" Co-Sign Woodie

Herself Best International Female

"Cool Girl" Best Track

Newcomer of the Year

Artist of the Year

"Stay High" Song of the Year 2017

2020

Dirt Femme Album of the Year "No One Dies from Love" Song of the Year

2014 "Habits" Best Song from a New Artist

Herself Best Female

Queen of the Clouds Best Album "Talking Body" Best Alternapop 2016 "Moments" Best Video

Lady Wood Best Album

"True Disaster" Best Electropop Song

Global Superstar of 2016 Social Hero of the Year

Herself Best Female

Blue Lips

Sunshine Kitty

Best Female

Artist of the Year

Dirt Femme Album of the Year "No One Dies from Love" Song of the Year "2 Die 4" Banger of the Year

2023

Female Artist of the Year

2025 "Heat" (with SG Lewis) Best Music Video

2015

Breakthrough of the Year

2015 Platinagitarren

2014 Best Sweden Breakthrough

2015 Choice Music: Breakout Artist

Choice Music Single: Male

Choice Music – Love Song

Video of the Year

Best Narration Best Sci-Fi Best Art Direction International

Blue Lips Best Special Video Project

Best Pop Video – International Best Visual Effects

Best Pop Video – International

Best Choreography in a Video

Best Pop Video - International

Best Production Design in a Video 2023 "Borderline" Best Pop Video - International

2015 Herself 50 Artists to Watch Tours Headlining Queen of the Clouds Tour (2015) Lady Wood Tour (2017) Sunshine Kitty Tour (2019–2020) Dirt Femme Tour (2022–2023) Estrus Tour (2026)

Supporting Katy Perry – Prismatic World Tour (2014) Maroon 5 – Maroon V Tour (2016) Coldplay – A Head Full of Dreams Tour (2017) Dua Lipa – Future Nostalgia Tour (2022)