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Lykke Li
A studio portrait of Lykke Li
Background information
Birth name	Li Lykke Timotej Svensson Zachrisson
Born	(1986-03-18) 18 March 1986 (age 26) Ystad, Skåne, Sweden
Genres	Indie pop, indie rock, dream pop, electronic, folk pop, indie folk, folktronica, indietronica, wonky pop
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Years active	2007–present
Labels	LL, Atlantic
Website	www.lykkeli.com

Lykke Li (Swedish pronunciation: [ˈlʏˌkɛ ˈliː]; born Li Lykke Timotej Svensson Zachrisson; 18 March 1986 in Ystad), is a Swedish singer-songwriter. Her music often blends elements of pop, indie rock and electronic; various instruments can also be found in her songs, including violins, synthesizers, tambourines, trumpets, saxophones and cellos.^[1] Her debut album, Youth Novels, was released in 2008.

Early life[link]

Li Lykke Timotej Zachrisson was born in Ystad, Skåne; her mother is a photographer and her father, a musician, is a member of Dag Vag.^[2] The family moved to Stockholm when Zachrisson was a toddler and when she was six moved to a mountaintop in Portugal where they lived for five years. The family also spent time in Lisbon and Morocco, and winters in Nepal and India.^[2][3] She moved to the neighborhood of Bushwick, Brooklyn in New York for three months when she was 19.^[4][5][6] She returned when she was 21 to record her album.^[7]

Career[link]

Music career[link]

Performing at Paradiso, 2011

Lykke Li, modelling Levi's Curve ID Collection

Lykke had some success with the EP "Little Bit" in 2007. Stereogum named her an artist to watch in October 2007 and described her music as a mix of soul, electro and "powdered-sugar pop".^[8]

Lykke's debut album, Youth Novels, was released on LL Recordings in the Nordic region on 30 January 2008 and received a wider European release in June 2008. The album was produced by Björn Yttling of Peter Bjorn and John and Lasse Mårtén and was reportedly inspired by a previous relationship of three years.^{[citation needed]} It was released in the United States on 19 August 2008. The album was released in the UK and Ireland in June 2008, promoted by a performances of "Little Bit" on Later... with Jools Holland on 25 May 2008.

She appeared on Swedish musician Kleerup's self titled album, contributing vocals to the track "Until We Bleed". She also worked with Norwegian electronic duo Röyksopp on their 2009 album Junior, contributing vocals to "Miss It So Much" and "Were You Ever Wanted".

Lykke appeared on Last Call with Carson Daly on 18 February 2009. She covered "Knocked Up", originally recorded by Kings of Leon who had approached Lykke to cover a song of her choice, and "Gifted" in which she performs with Kanye West. Lykke performed at the 2009 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on 19 April, as well as the 2009 Lollapalooza festival on 8 August as part of the promotional tour for Youth Novels.

A remixed version of her song "I'm Good, I'm Gone" was featured in the 2009 horror film Sorority Row.

The song "Possibility" was written for the 2009 film The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Lykke had been asked to write a song to the film soundtrack but she was reluctant to commit to the project. It was after she had seen an early screening of the film that she decided she wanted to contribute to the soundtrack. The soundtrack was released on 16 October 2009.

The song "Get Some" was featured in the fifteenth episode of the first season of Hawaii Five-0 titled "Kai e'e" which aired January 23,2011. The song was also used in ABC Family's drama Pretty Little Liars in the eighteenth episode of the second season which was titled "A Kiss Before Lying" which aired January 30, 2012. It was also featured in The Vampire Diaries.

Lykke's song "Melodies and Desires" was featured in the 2010 Australian film Griff the Invisible and an edited version of "Get Some" was featured in the Catwoman trailer for the video game, Batman: Arkham City.

She collaborated with singer Kleerup on the song "Until We Bleed", which was featured on an episode of UK TV series Misfits.

Her second album Wounded Rhymes was released in 2011. The album was featured on several lists of 2011's best albums, including Q, Mojo, The Observer, The New York Times, The Huffington Post and Rolling Stone.^[9]

On 30 April 2011, she performed on Later... with Jools Holland in the UK, playing "Get Some", "Sadness Is a Blessing" and "I Follow Rivers". Lykke played at the 2011 Latitude Festival, held between 14 and 18 July 2011 at Henham Park in Suffolk, England. She appeared with her band on US late night talk show The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in August 2011 and on The Late Show with David Letterman in November 2011.

The Magician remix version of "I Follow Rivers" is featured in Jacques Audiard's 2012 film De rouille et d'os in competition at the Cannes festival.

Model career[link]

In September 2010, she was announced as the official face of the Levi's Curve ID Collection, alongside Pixie Geldof and Miss Nine.^[10] In January 2012, she signed up to the books of the Viva Model Management agency.^[11]

Discography[link]

Albums[link]

Singles[link]

B-sides

• "I Don't Mind (Jump on It)" included on the Swedish and UK two-track single of "I'm Good, I'm Gone"
• "After Laughter" split single with El Perro del Mar for Record Store Day 18 April 2009
• "Until We Bleed" – Kleerup featuring Lykke Li included on the Swedish two-track single of "Tonight"
• "Paris Blue" included on the "Get Some" single

Guest appearances

• 2008: "Until We Bleed" – Kleerup featuring Lykke Li (Kleerup)
• 2009: "Gifted" – N.A.S.A. featuring Kanye West, Santogold and Lykke Li (The Spirit of Apollo)
• 2009: "Little Bit" – Drake and Lykke Li (So Far Gone)
• 2009: "Miss It So Much" – Röyksopp featuring Lykke Li (Junior)
• 2008: "Knocked Up" (Lykke Li vs. Rodeo Remix) – Kings of Leon ("Use Somebody")
• 2008: "Starchasers" (as a sample of "Little Bit") – Charles Hamilton (It's Charles Hamilton)
• 2009: "Were You Ever Wanted" – Röyksopp featuring Lykke Li (Junior) [Japanese bonus track]
• 2009: "Leaving You Behind" – Amanda Blank featuring Lykke Li (I Love You)
• 2011: "Let Me Go" - Logic featuring Lykke Li (Young Sinatra)
• 2011: "A New Name To Go By" - Deportees (Island & Shores)
• 2012: "Black Tin Box" - Miike Snow (Downtown Records)

Covers

• "After Laughter Comes Tears" – originally recorded by Wendy Rene
• "Can I Kick It?" – originally recorded by A Tribe Called Quest (regular live cover/performed with Q-Tip at MTVu Awards)
• "Cape Cod Kwassa Kwassa" – originally recorded by Vampire Weekend (regular live cover)
• "Hustlin'" – originally recorded by Rick Ross
• "Knocked Up" – originally recorded by and featuring Kings of Leon
• "A Milli" – originally recorded by Lil Wayne
• "Velvet" – originally recorded by The Big Pink
• "Will You Still Love Me Tomorrow?" – originally recorded by The Shirelles

Music videos

Awards and nominations[link]

Remixes[link]

Her song "I'm Good, I'm Gone" was remixed by Fred Falke and featured in Hed Kandi's Lounge 2009^[15] "I'm Good, I'm Gone" was also covered by British group Friendly Fires in 2009.^[16] Her song "Little Bit" was remixed by Drake, as well as a bootleg remix by AutoErotique. Her song "Little Bit" was sampled and remixed by Charles Hamilton. Her song "Love until We Bleed" was remixed by QuESt. Her song "Dance, Dance, Dance" was remixed by Buraka Som Sistema and Dada life.^[17] Her song "I'm Good, I'm Gone" was also remixed by 3OH!3 as a collaboration.^[18][19] Most recently however her song "I Follow Rivers" was remixed by rapper Tyler, The Creator. A remix of her track "I Follow Rivers" by The Magician has been a huge club success in Europe, taking the track to number 1 in Romania and number 7 in Greece.

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official website
• Lykke Li at Allmusic
• Lykke Li at the Internet Movie Database
• Lykke Li on RCRD LBL
• Lykke Li at Lollapalooza 2011