| Sway | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 4 May 2018 | |||
| Genre | Electropop [1] | |||
| Length | 26:48 | |||
| Label | RCA | |||
| Producer |
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| Tove Styrke chronology | ||||
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| Singles from Sway | ||||
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Sway is the third studio album by Swedish singer Tove Styrke. [2] It was released on 4 May 2018 by RCA Records. [3] It peaked at number 11 on the Swedish Albums Chart. [4]
The production of the album took more than 18 months. [5] In a 2018 interview with Evening Standard , Styrke said: "I really wanted to strip things down. It was the opposite of my previous project, where the main rule was that there are no rules. This one was about restraint, making sure that every part is good enough to be there. And when you make it that minimal, it asks more of the song. You're going to hear every word, every melody, and it all matters so much." [6]
On 28 April 2017, Styrke released "Say My Name"as the lead single from the album. The second single "Mistakes" followed on 15 September. [7] A cover of Lorde's "Liability" re-titled "Liability (Demo)" was unveiled as a promotional single on 15 December. [8] "Changed My Mind" was unveiled as the third single alongside the album announcement on 2 February 2018. [9] [10] Before the album's release, the single "On the Low" came out. [11] A music video for the single "Sway" premiered on 8 June 2018. [12] Another track called "Vibe" was released as a single on 19 October 2018, included in a digital re-edition of the album ahead of a tour through United Kingdom. [13]
To promote the album, Styrke embarked on the Sway Tour in the fall of 2018. [14]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| NME |  [15] |
| Pitchfork | 7.5/10 [16] |
| PopMatters |   [17] |
Margaret Farrell of Pitchfork gave the album a 7.5 out of 10, calling it "one of the most exuberant albums in recent memory." [16] Owen Myers of The Fader described it as "a short and very sweet triumph, with eight inventive pop songs that align Styrke closely with the genre's current forward-thinking vanguard." [18]
On 4 May 2018, Rolling Stone included it on the "10 New Albums to Stream Now" list. [19] On 22 May 2018, NME included it on the "Best Albums of 2018 So Far" list. [20]
| Publication | Accolade | Rank | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|
| MusicOMH | Top 50 Albums of 2018 | 48 | |
| Rolling Stone | 20 Best Pop Albums of 2018 | 12 |
All tracks produced by Elof Loelv, except where noted.
| No. | Title | Writer(s) | Producer(s) | Length |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sway" |
| 3:30 | |
| 2. | "Say My Name" |
| 3:25 | |
| 3. | "On the Low" |
| 3:46 | |
| 4. | "Mistakes" |
| 3:25 | |
| 5. | "Changed My Mind" |
| 3:05 | |
| 6. | "I Lied" |
| 3:13 | |
| 7. | "On a Level" |
|
| 3:31 |
| 8. | "Liability" (demo) | John Alexis | 2:53 | |
| Total length: | 26:48 | |||
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Sway" | 3:30 |
| 2. | "Say My Name" | 3:25 |
| 3. | "On the Low" | 3:46 |
| 4. | "Mistakes" | 3:25 |
| 5. | "Changed My Mind" | 3:05 |
| 6. | "I Lied" | 3:13 |
| 7. | "Vibe" | 2:54 |
| 8. | "On a Level" | 3:31 |
| 9. | "Liability" (demo) | 2:53 |
| Total length: | 29:42 | |
Notes
Credits adapted from the liner notes of the CD edition.
| Chart (2018) | Peak position |
|---|---|
| Swedish Albums (Sverigetopplistan) [4] | 11 |
Molly My Marianne Sandén, also known by her middle name My Marianne, is a Swedish pop singer and voice actress. As a teenager, she represented Sweden in the Junior Eurovision Song Contest in 2006 and participated in Melodifestivalen in 2009, 2012, and 2016. Her sisters Frida and Mimmi are also singers. In 2018, Sandén released her third studio album, Större. Her fourth studio album was released in early 2019, called Det bästa kanske inte hänt än.
Tove Anna Linnéa Östman Styrke is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She gained popularity as a contestant on Swedish Idol 2009, finishing in third place. After the show, she started a solo career in electropop. She released her debut album Tove Styrke in 2010. The New York Post included Styrke in its list of "10 Artists to Know in 2011". In 2015, she released her second album, Kiddo. Three years later, in 2018, she released her third album, Sway. Throughout the 2010s Styrke gained an increasing critical acclaim as an independent artist resulting in her single "Say My Name" being included in Rolling Stone's 100 best songs of the decade.
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"White Light Moment" is a song by Swedish singer Tove Styrke from her debut studio album, Tove Styrke (2010). Sony Music released it as the album's second single on 26 October 2010. Styrke wrote the song with its producers, Jan Kask and Peter Ågren. "White Light Moment" received general praise from music critics. The song attained commercial success in Sweden, where it peaked at number five on the Sverigetopplistan chart, becoming Styrke's best-performing single on the chart. It was certified gold by the Swedish Recording Industry Association (GLF) in 2010. "White Light Moment" was nominated for Song of the Year at the 2012 Grammis Awards.
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"Liability" is a song recorded by New Zealand singer-songwriter Lorde, from her second studio album Melodrama (2017). Lorde co-wrote and co-produced the track with Jack Antonoff. It was released on 10 March 2017, by Lava and Republic Records as the album's first promotional single. It is a pop piano ballad, which is accompanied with organs and guitar strums in the background. The track's lyrics detail the consequences and scrutiny Lorde's friends received from the media as a result of her new-found fame and the effect it had on her emotional health.
"Say My Name" is a song by Swedish singer Tove Styrke from her third studio album Sway (2018). It was released as the album's lead single on 28 April 2017 through Sony Music. The song was written by the singer, Elof Loelv and Tinashe "T Collar" Sibanda, with production by Loelv. "Say My Name" is a minimal electropop song with a prominent ukulele riff that Styrke convinced Loelv to integrate as a central part. She described the song as musically and lyrically different from the material of her previous studio album Kiddo (2015), and explained that working with Loelv helped her evolve her sound.
"Mistakes" is a song by Swedish singer Tove Styrke from her third studio album, Sway (2018). Styrke wrote the song with Elof Loelv, who handled the production. The inspiration behind the song originated from Styrke wanting to embrace being imperfect and making mistakes. It was released as the album's second single on 15 September 2017 through Sony Music. The electropop song features a vocoder-backed chorus and lyrics that describe the protagonist's willingness to take risks in a relationship. The instrumental incorporates sound effects and samples from various sources that correspond to the lyrics.
"Changed My Mind" is a song by Swedish singer Tove Styrke from her third studio album Sway (2018). The song was written by the singer, Elof Loelv, Michael Trewartha, Kyle Trewartha, Kathryn Ostenberg, and Linnea Södahl, with production by Loelv. It was released as the third single from the album on 2 February 2018, through Sony Music. The synth-pop and tropical house song includes dancehall influences and vocoder effects. Its lyrics detail an on-again, off-again relationship where the singer changes her mind about her partner.
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