“I’m obsessed with wool,” says Sigrid. “I come from a very cold country, so this heat is a lot to take.”
The Norwegian singer is speaking from the first weekend of Coachella, where she made her debut with a 50-minute Saturday set. It’s her first time in the desert and already, Sigrid, née Sigrid Solbakk Raabe, is in awe — of the outfits.
“It’s a lot of interesting stuff,” she says, donning a light T-shirt, wrap skirt and Chanel sneakers. Wool, unfortunately, would not have cut it in the nearly 90-degree weather.
Last year, the 21-year-old released “Don’t Kill My Vibe,” a four-song offering of pop anthems that received so much attention, it ultimately won her BBC’s Sound of 2018 Award. The EP’s title track also found a fan in Lorde, who included it on her “Homemade Dynamite” playlist on Spotify.
“She’s lovely,” says Sigrid of Lorde. “I really like her music and it was very cool that she added my song to her playlist ‘cause I had been listening to her music whilst making my piece.”
Now at work on her debut album, Sigrid says she’s seeking inspiration — even at Coachella. She calls her recording process “not spontaneous,” adding that she prefers working with voice memos. “When I’m at a show, I pick up my phone and I try to record harmonies, vocal hooks I come up with by listening to other artists, so that has happened here at Coachella, listening to other acts,” she says. “Whenever my friend says something cool and especially if my team says something, like a cool line in English, I’ll write it down and maybe I’ll rephrase or use in a different way or something. I’m quite obsessed with words. That’s the way I work.”
She grew up in a household that loved listening to Neil Young, but credits Coldplay’s “A Rush of Blood to the Head” with making her want to make pop music. So far, reception towards her has been promising: She’s garnered tens of millions of views on her YouTube alone, even without a full album out.
Style-wise, Sigrid insists that she likes to stay comfortable. “It’s all about feeling some slight connection to home,” she says. When asked for her thoughts on the fashions of her country, she replies, “Scandinavia can be quite fashionable. I’ve heard that Norway tends to be more glamorous — this is not fact, it’s just what I’ve heard. And then Danish, they’re quite colorful and the Swedes are very minimalistic. But that blend in how we affect each other and are inspired by each other, it’s very cool.”
Having caught the eye of a few fashion publications already, Sigrid adds that she’s enjoyed being able to “try on really extravagant clothes” and sees fashion as “a form of art.” But as form follows function, the budding singer will always opt to “feel comfortable in my own skin.”
Sigrid
Katie Jones / WWD
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