List of songs written by Tove Lo

A woman with sunglasses and holding a microphone wearing a white top and a silver skirt.
Tove Lo performing at the 2015 Melt! Festival in Gräfenhainichen, Germany

Swedish singer and songwriter Tove Lo has written over 70 songs for her five studio albums and one extended play, as well as for other artists. Between 2006 and 2009,[1] Lo was a member of math rock band Tremblebee, and wrote the lyrics for their songs.[2][3] In 2011, she signed a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music,[4] and later joined songwriting teams Xenomania and Wolf Cousins.[5][6] In 2014, Lo wrote and provided vocals for "Heroes (We Could Be)" by Swedish musician Alesso, which peaked inside the top ten in Sweden and the United Kingdom.[7][8] Lo co-wrote "Love Me Like You Do", recorded by English singer Ellie Goulding, which was released as the second single from the soundtrack to the film Fifty Shades of Grey (2015).[9] The track topped the UK Singles Chart and peaked at number three on the Billboard Hot 100.[10][11] Additionally, Lo received nominations, alongside the others co-writers of the song, for the Golden Globes, Grammys and Critics' Choice Awards.[12][13][14] 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 stated: "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".[15]

In addition to her work for other artists, Lo has co-written the songs from her own record releases. While writing for other singers, she started to record the songs she deemed too personal to give away; the first one was "Love Ballad", which was initially offered to an artist who wanted to change the lyrics.[16] The track became her first collaboration with co-writers Jakob Jerlström and Ludvig Söderberg, better known as The Struts, and was later released as Lo's debut single in October 2012.[15][17] "Habits", also co-written with The Struts, was released as the singer's second single in March 2013.[18] It was written during 2012's Hurricane Sandy in New York,[19][20] and was inspired by Lo's attempts to forget a former boyfriend through substance abuse and other hedonistic practices.[21][22] Its popularity among music blogs gained the artist a recording contract with Universal Music Group.[15]

In March 2014, Lo released her first EP Truth Serum, a concept record that details her "most intense" failed relationship.[21] It contains six tracks co-written by the singer alongside The Struts and Alx Reuterskiöld, among others.[23] In September of that year, the artist released her debut studio album, Queen of the Clouds, a concept album divided into three sections that describes the pattern of her relationships: The Sex, The Love and The Pain.[24] The majority of the tracks were co-written by Lo alongside The Struts.[25] "Habits" was re-released as "Habits (Stay High)" as both the second single from Truth Serum and the lead single from Queen of the Clouds,[26][27] and became a commercial success, peaking at number three on the Billboard Hot 100.[28] It was also awarded the Song of the Year accolade at the 2015 Grammis Awards in Sweden.[29]

In October 2016, Lo released her second studio album, Lady Wood, which talks about "different kinds of rushes in life" and is divided into two chapters, "Fairy Dust" and "Fire Fade".[30] It featured ten songs co-written by the artist alongside The Struts, Ilya Salmanzadeh and Oscar Holter, among others.[31] In November 2017, the singer released her third studio album, Blue Lips, which is a sequel to Lady Wood and is also split into two chapters: "Light Beams" and "Pitch Black".[32] For the record, she worked mostly with The Struts and Ali Payami.[33] Lo has also written and recorded tracks for the soundtracks of three films. She solely wrote and produced "Scream My Name" for the soundtrack to the 2014 film The Hunger Games: Mockingjay – Part 1.[34] She wrote "Scars" alongside The Struts, which became the lead single of the soundtrack to the 2016 film The Divergent Series: Allegiant.[35][36] Lo also co-wrote "Lies in the Dark", which is part of the soundtrack to Fifty Shades Darker (2017).[37][38]

  1. ^ Brodsky, Rachel (19 October 2016). "New Habits". Stereogum. Retrieved 24 December 2016.
  2. ^ Löf, Anders. "The hype surrounding Tove Lo". STIM. Retrieved 11 February 2017.
  3. ^ Feeney, Nolan (27 October 2016). "Tove Lo's Lady Wood: How She Became Pop's Wildest, Darkest, Freakiest New Force". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 24 December 2016. After attending music school, she sang in a 'hard to listen to' math-rock band called Tremblebee.
  4. ^ Cragg, Michael (11 October 2012). "New music: Tove Lo – Love Ballad". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 February 2016.
  5. ^ Davidson-Vidavski, Doron (21 May 2013). "Tove Lo". The Line of Best Fit. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  6. ^ Murray, Nick (15 October 2014). "How Tove Lo Became Sweden's Darkest Pop Export". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  7. ^ "Alesso feat. Tove Lo – Heroes (We Could Be) (song)". Swedish Charts. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  8. ^ "Official Singles Chart Top 100: 28 December 2014 – 03 January 2015". UK Singles Chart. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  9. ^ "Love Me Like You Do". Warner/Chappell Music. Retrieved 1 February 2017.
  10. ^ Moss, Liv (8 February 2015). "Ellie Goulding scores fastest-selling single of the year with Love Me Like You Do". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  11. ^ Trust, Gary (18 February 2015). "Bruno Mars Scores Longest Hot 100 Reign, Taylor Swift Hits Top 10". Billboard. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  12. ^ "Winners & Nominees: Love Me Like You Do". Golden Globe Awards. Hollywood Foreign Press Association. Archived from the original on 18 January 2017. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  13. ^ "Grammy Nominations 2016: See the Full List of Nominees". Billboard. 7 December 2015. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  14. ^ Gray, Tim (14 December 2015). "Critics' Choice Award Nominations: Complete List". Variety. Retrieved 31 January 2017.
  15. ^ a b c Held, Joey (7 April 2015). "Tove Lo on Coming Back from Surgery and the Stupidity of Censorship". Paste. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  16. ^ White, Caithlyn (26 March 2014). "Tove Lo: Swedish pop's Janis Joplin". Noisey. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  17. ^ Sanchez, Karizza (16 August 2015). "Tove Lo Talks Working With Legendary Producer/Songwriter Max Martin and Keeping Her Music Honest". Complex. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
  18. ^ "Premiär: Tove Lo – 'Habits'". PSL (in Swedish). 15 March 2013. Archived from the original on 23 September 2015.
  19. ^ LeDonne, Rob. "Meet Tove Lo, Sweden's Next Great Pop Export". Bullett Media. Archived from the original on 24 October 2015.
  20. ^ Finney, Ross (1 October 2014). "Tove who? Five things you should know about Swedish star Tove Lo". Time Out. Retrieved 6 May 2015.
  21. ^ a b Savage, Mark (11 April 2014). "Tove Lo: A Swedish pop star in waiting". BBC News. Archived from the original on 21 October 2015.
  22. ^ "Entertainment UK – Tove Lo". AP Archive. Archived from the original on 9 November 2015.
  23. ^ Truth Serum (liner notes). Tove Lo. Sweden: Universal Music Group. 2014. 060253776053.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  24. ^ Inocencio, Marc (24 September 2014). "Tove Lo Explains 3 Segments of 'Queen of the Clouds' Album". American Top 40. Archived from the original on 2 April 2015.
  25. ^ Queen of the Clouds (liner notes). Tove Lo. United States: Universal Music Group. 2014. B0021921-02.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  26. ^ Panisch, Alex (19 June 2014). "Tove Lo Is the World's Most Brutally Honest Pop Star". Out. Archived from the original on 23 July 2015.
  27. ^ Graves, Shahlin (21 August 2014). "Tove Lo – 'Habits (Stay High)' Live on Conan". Coup de Main Magazine. Retrieved 7 November 2015.
  28. ^ "The Hot 100 – November 15, 2014". Billboard. Retrieved 12 January 2016.
  29. ^ Andersson, Carl-Mickael (25 February 2015). "Tove Lo wins Artist of the Year at Swedish Grammisgala". Demotix. Archived from the original on 22 January 2016. Retrieved 16 December 2015.
  30. ^ Spanos, Brittany (14 October 2016). "Tove Lo on Going to Extremes: 'I'm Never as Happy as When I Lose Control'". Rolling Stone. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  31. ^ Lady Wood (liner notes). Tove Lo. Sweden: Island Records. 2016.{{cite AV media notes}}: CS1 maint: others in cite AV media (notes) (link)
  32. ^ Feeney, Nolan (17 November 2017). "Tove Lo on her new album and pushing the limits of censorship: 'When are they going to stop me?'". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 10 December 2017.
  33. ^ Cite error: The named reference blue lips was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  34. ^ "Tove Lo – Scream My Name (song)". Swedish Charts. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  35. ^ Sage, Young (16 March 2016). "The 'Allegiant' End-Credits Song Will Be Your New Favorite Tove Lo Track". Bustle. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  36. ^ "Scars". Warner/Chappell Music. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  37. ^ "Lies in the Dark". Warner/Chappel Music. Retrieved 5 February 2017.
  38. ^ Goodman, Jessica (12 January 2017). "See the star-studded tracklist for Fifty Shades Darker soundtrack". Entertainment Weekly. Retrieved 5 February 2017.