A conversation with NEA
Her name might sound new, but NEA is by no means a newcomer to Pop. NEA is a prolific songwriter that has spent the last five years writing songs for artists such as Zara Larsson, Tove Styrke, Tinie Tempah or Axwell. Hers is the absolute banger “Lush Life” that already has over 838 million streams on Spotify. Last September she dropped her own debut single “Some Say”, a catchy pop song about passion inspired and influenced by Eiffel 65 but also by Ella Fitzgerald, that has led her to be in the spotlight.
Quarter Swedish-Finnish-Danish-Norwegian, NEA was born as Linnea Södahl in South Africa 32 years ago, but was raised in Sweden since her parents moved to Alingsås after years working under cover fighting the apartheid system in South Africa. In Berlin for a promo day, I could share some time with her at the office of SONY Music.
It's often said that songs belong to its creator only until they are released. After that they belong to everyone. I personally find that very true but I'm wondering whether artists agree on that. NEA has experienced massive success and recognition writing songs for other artists, so she seems to be the right person to ask about it.
Is it easy for you to “break up” with the songs once you give them to other artists?
Nea: “I've been a full time songwriter for five years and for that period of time that's been my dream. It's not that I've been aiming to become an artist. I've been so happy as a songwriter that I really felt I found my spot in life when I'm writing songs for others. So no, it hasn't been hard at all to be honest! It's been my vision and my goal during that time to find the right thing for the artists. And also when I work with an artist in the room, I try to become the best person pulling out feelings out of the artists and making them feel comfortable to throw their hearts out. That's been an amazing thing to be part of music from that angle. Even Some Say was a song for someone else!”
When you are writing a song, do you do it already with an artist in mind, or how does this process work for you?
Nea: “It's different! With Some Say we had no specific artist in mind but then Camilla Cabello was interested in the song. Sometimes I have an artist in mind and it may end up there or not. And sometimes I write with the artist in the room and that's what I love the most. When you write with the person, you know that the person feels connected to what you're writing about.”
Camilla sounds like a really big deal, nevertheless she obviously didn't end up having the song, what happened in the end?
Nea: “Camilla´s team had been saying for half a year that they wanted the song but they also said that they wouldn't commit to it. And I love Camilla, she's one of my heroes at the moment so if she would have recorded it and put it out, it would have been cool for me. But it took so long and because it had the melody of blue, we were starting to feel like it was the perfect timing to put out a remake of that song because we were also starting to hear rumors of other people having the same idea. So if we didn't do it, somebody else was gonna come first and take the idea. To be honest, when you send around a song in the industry it's not uncommon that somebody picks up on the idea and makes the same thing. So you have to be fast. And when I got the offer of putting it out myself with a label that I really trusted, I knew that we needed to do it. Huge artists like Camilla Cabello have so many songs that even if they say they like a song and they want to have it, that doesn´t not necessarily mean that they will put it out. So that's the story and I'm happy it turned out that way!”
Well, it seems to have been a great move!
Nea: “Even though I didn't have any plans of being an artist I must admit that in my head I thought that if anything should happen, it should be with this song that I loved so much. It felt very special from the start and I love my vocals on it which is not always the case when I record songs.”
But, you mentioned before that you were not aiming to be yourself an artist, and your career as a songwriter not only was being successful but also what you always dreamt about. So, what made you take this big step and release the song under your own NEA project?
Nea: “It was actually a bit of a coincidence and the stars aligning. I had a meeting with the label A&R that I've been working so well with its artists, to see on what projects we could work and then I just got the gut feeling that I should play Some Say, what I did. And then and there, right after hearing the song for the first time they offered me to sign as an artist. I had no plan of doing that switch and when I got the offer I doubted a little bit cause I'd already found my spot in the music industry, but then the butterflies and nervousness were just coming so intensely that after a couple of days I felt that I really needed to give it a try!”
“As a songwriter you write a lot of songs and then maybe they don't get released. So far in my career in music I've been a lot in the hands of other people. There were many things that needed to be aligned and now with my NEA project I actually can decide what to do. And that's what I love about being an artist that I can actually decide what songs I believe in and put them out.”
It's difficult to refer to NEA as newcomer because she's been part of the industry for the last five years and obviously she's behind the success of very important artists, but at the same it's the first song that she puts out and considering that, the numbers of “Some Say” since it was released back in September are simply spectacular. Almost 50 million streams on Spotify and 15 million views on YouTube, definitely not bad!
Nea: “To be honest I'm so blown away about how people have been receiving the song, it's really cool! Of course the melody that we've been using for the chorus makes it easy for people to just hear it and like that because most people have heard it before.”
The chorus that NEA mentions is of course “Blue” (Eiffel 65), which probably everyone immediately recognized. What is your relationship with that song?
Nea: “I loved it as a child! I've always been in love with the music from the 90s. I feel like even now if you put on Blue people will start dancing. It's just one of those songs that people still love. The melody is so good and when we did our own Some Say version we realize even more how strong the melody is. It's just so strong that it works on its own!”
NEA. Photo by Jasmin Storch
Using the melody of “Blue” seems like an obvious and smart choice, but the truth is that no one ever did it before since the song was released back in 1998. You do have a talent for creating amazing melodies! What in your opinion should be the ingredients of a song to be a hit?
Nea: “It must be easy enough to grasp it after one listening but it also needs to come from the heart to actually make others feel something. It has to be easy to grasp it but it also has to feel new and that you get some new feeling from it. So combining those two, it needs to be new but also kind of simple. The songs that I've written come from real emotions and feelings, and those are the songs that I love the most and that people react to the most.”
That means a lot of authenticity! You obviously put a lot from you in the songs, and precisely because of this I'm wondering whether you find it easy writing for others.
Nea: “I've been trying to incorporate my own real feelings even when I write for others, or when I write with the artist in the room I try to understand what that person is feeling at the moment. But I think when writing for me I tend to overthink it too much. And that's something I'm working on now to not to do because I think music should be fun, sad or whatever feeling but you shouldn't think too much. You should write what comes natural from your heart and not overthink. That's a little bit of a struggle now that I'm the artist!”
“Some Say” not only is a catchy pop song, but it also has a great music video that has been produced by the Spanish production company Pandora and it has been shot in Barcelona. And NEA also plays the Spanish guitar in the acoustic version of “Some Say”.
Do you have a special connection with Spain or those two things were just a coincidence?
Nea: “After high school I lived in Barcelona for one year. I've always loved that city and I learned to speak Spanish when I was there. I also lived in Cuba for half a year and I got a scholarship to play the Acoustic guitar, and this especially inspired my music. Because in Cuba everybody sings or dances and it sounds like a cliche but I feel like the music is actually in their blood. It was really cool and inspiring to get to see and to be part of that. But of course, the Scandinavian melodies like the traditional Swedish old school songs have been an inspiration too.”
Written after a conversation with a gay friend, in love with a someone already immersed in a heterosexual relationship, “Some Say” goes about the love that you can have but yet you can’t forget, and the video for the song was filmed using real couples. Another apparently obvious move that turned out to be brilliant. The best option usually is the simplest one, and yet it requires a lot of talent to achieve it. How did you come up with the idea of the video?
Nea: “When we were thinking about what kind of video we wanted to do, the main thing was to be authentic and to feel real. And the closest thing you could get to that was to actually use real couples. So in the video there are three real couples and it turned out really nice, exactly how I was hoping it would be. You can see that it's real and it feels authentic. Obviously the director Leo Adef is amazing, Barcelona is a beautiful place and the three couples are super beautiful.”
On YouTube there are short interviews with the couples from the video. Click on the following links to learn more about Blanca and Edu, Joan and Eoghan and Victor and Laura.
German DJ and producer Felix Jaehn has just recently released a remix of “Some Say”. How did this collaboration with felix actually happen?
Nea: “I had a session with Felix a couple of years ago and we got along very well. So we've been in contact since then. And when I put out Some Say he got to hear it because the people I did the song with are also really close friends with him, and he instantly fell in love with the song and wanted to do a version. And I obviously said yes! I love his stuff and he is a great artist and a great great person that I love to work with. I feel that his remix is a perfect combination with the original that is so stripped down and emotional. You can dance with a tear in your eye, so yeah I think he did a really good job!”
What about future plans, is there anything coming up?
Nea: “It's coming a single at the end of February and then another one at the end of March. And then the plan is to release an EP before summer. “
One last question before finishing, are you also planning to go on tour as NEA?
Nea: “When the whole idea of the artist thing started, it wasn't going to be a live thing. But now, since the song is going so well and we're getting more attention and a lot of people are asking me to play, I did my first show a week ago and I'm doing the next one in Norway at the end of February. My first show was very exciting and very nervous too and it feels better now because before I didn't even know how I was going to feel on the stage, but it was really fun! The main thing is not going to be the live thing although I will have a live set up and everything will depend on how it goes, but the main thing for me will always be the songs because they are the closest things to my heart. And it feels like just a super fun adventure that life gave me!”
Stay tuned for upcoming songs and shows by following NEA.
Cover photograph by Jasmin Storch
