Swedish electronic-pop artist Frida Sundemo is currently working on her next LP after releasing her EP ‘Lit Up By Neon’ back in May, as well as recently filming her acting debut in the upcoming movie ‘Kill Your Friends’ starring Nicholas Hoult. CelebMix were lucky enough to ask Frida some questions about her latest work whilst she visited the UK last week, here exclusively to CelebMix is our interview with her.
Firstly, how are you enjoying the UK? Is it different to your hometown in Sweden?
I absolutely love London, especially the east end with all its vintage shops and unique cafes. One thing I really appreciate about London and that makes it a bit different from Stockholm is the great mix of all kinds of people. I find that inspiring and I wish it was more like that in Sweden. The mix includes both a lot of cultures and different personalities. There’s overall an open attitude to people.
Also, I think people in London are more spontaneous when it comes to meeting others and doing things after work on the weekdays. I guess most Swedes are bit more comfortable and like to spend a lot of time at home. (Me included).
So, how did it feel when you were asked to appear in the highly anticipated upcoming movie ‘Kill Your Friends’?
I was stunned as I never would have believed that I was going to be in a movie. I was truly excited from the start even though I didn’t have a clue about how I would deliver acting-wise. Still, I knew that I was pretty much just going to act as myself on set which made me feel a bit confident about it. I skyped with Owen, the director, a few times before going to London for the shooting and that made me calm too.
One of the things that made me thrilled about being in the movie was to get to see how everything works on a movie set. I was truly impressed by everyone in the team – all were very friendly and professional and the crew felt like one big family.
Was it difficult to go from being in the studio or performing on stage to being on a movie set?
A lot of things were actually pretty similar. When I’m on stage I’m entering a fictional world in some kind of way. It’s all real but it’s like I can decide how I want the reality to be. It’s all about being super focused and trying as hard as you can to be in the moment. When that happens on stage or in the studio you know that you’re doing your best performances or that you’re writing the best music. I tried to getting into that state of mind when shooting the movie scenes too. The other actors were absolute pros on doing that. They went from being themselves talking about what they did last weekend to getting into character in one second. That actually helped me a bit too, just taking in their acting.
For those of our readers who don’t know, could you summarise what the film is about and tell them a little about your part?
It’s a pretty raw satire about the music business in London and the story takes place in 1997. Nicolas Hoult plays the main character, Steven Stelfox, who is a young, striving A&R on a record label who is willing to do pretty much anything (including murder) to climb the career ladder. I’m playing Marcy, the singer of the Swedish indie band ‘The Lazies’ and there’s a competition between Stelfox and Parker-Hall (another A&R played by Tom Riley) who gets to sign my band to their label. I am pretty much the only good guy in the movie, haha. It’s super witty and a must-see for everyone who enjoys British dark humor.
Have you had a chance to read the original ‘Kill Your Friends’ novel by John Niven?
Yeah, I actually bought and read it while shooting the film, which was pretty interesting. One strange thing happened to me when I bought it. I went into a book store, found it and went straight to the checkout where an old, peculiar cashier helped me. He said some odd things about injecting chocolate into his veins when feeling tired. Then he carefully put the book into a plastic bag, handed it over to me while saying: “Enjoy… the film!”. That was cool.
Your music has been very highly praised and has been featured on popular TV shows such as Scream Queens and Grey’s Anatomy, could you describe your music for us in 3 words?
Cinematic, melodic and intimate.
Are there any particular artists who inspire you or influence your music?
You write a lot of your own music, is it easy to find the right lyrics or is there a process you have to go through when you come up with an idea to make sure the lyrics fit?
I’m influenced by a lot of different artists and bands. Some important ones are Hans Zimmer, Tom Waits, Björk, Para One, Loney Dear, Stimming, Radiohead and Boys Noise.
The music gets to me much easier than the lyrics when writing. It’s always a process with both parts but I know it pretty fast when I found the right melodies, chords or words.
Finally, which do you prefer: writing and recording new music, performing or being on screen?
Haha, tricky one. Well, I must say writing and performing music. I could never pick one over the other! When I really get into that right creative mood it’s amazing both when on stage or when in a dark music studio somewhere in a basement.
You can see Frida in ‘Kill Your Friends’ which is set to be released in UK cinemas on November 6th 2015 and be sure to look out for her new music too, she is definitely one to watch! Be sure to check out Frida’s latest youtube video for her single ‘You’.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vlB0lJPTaAs]