Agnes Carlsson

Agnes

Agnes performing in Kalmar, Sweden during her summer tour 2009.
Background information
Birth name Agnes Emilia Carlsson
Also known as Agnes (stage name)
Born March 6, 1988 (1988-03-06) (age 22)
Origin Vänersborg, Sweden
Genres Pop, Dance, R&B
Occupations Singer
Instruments Vocals
Years active 2005–present
Labels Columbia/Sony BMG (2005–2007)
Roxy (2008–present)
AATW (UK)
Geffen/Universal (US)
Warner (DE, AU)
Associated acts Måns Zelmerlöw
Björn Skifs
Website Official Website
Official U.S website

Agnes Emilia Carlsson, also known mononymously as Agnes (born on March 6, 1988, in Vänersborg, Sweden), is an Swedish recording artist. She rose to fame as the winner of Idol 2005, the second season of the Swedish Idol series. She was then signed to Sony Music, where she released her self titled debut album Agnes and follow-up Stronger which both topped the Swedish Top 60 Albums Chart.[1] In early 2008 it was announced that Carlsson had parted ways with her record label, and was now signed to small independent label Roxy Recordings. Released on October 28, 2008, her third album, Dance Love Pop, reached number five in Sweden, seventy in Austria, thirty-eight in France, forty-five in Switzerland and 112 in the United Kingdom.[1] Its first two singles, "On and On" and "Release Me" became international hits, reaching the top-ten in charts worldwide. "Release Me" topped the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs and peaked at three in the UK, selling over 900,000 copies worldwide.

Agnes has cited legendary soul-singer Stevie Wonder as her inspiration[2] and has often mentioned Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson as her inspiration in music.

Contents

Life and music career

Early life

Carlsson was born in Vänersborg, Sweden on March 6, 1988 as the youngest of four siblings. Her father was an environmental engineer, her mother a nurse and social worker.[3] Agnes started taking violin lessons and joined a choir at a young age, even though “I hated singing in the choir because my voice didn’t fit; you have to listen to the others and not stick out too much”. It wasn’t until she was 16 that she had one-on-one singing lessons, she sang solo in front of a live audience for the first time whilst still at school. She also sang in the Vänersborg choir named 'Voice', citing legendary American singer-songwriter Stevie Wonder as her inspiration.[2]

2005-2007: The heritage of "Idol" and commercial success

In the spring of 2005, 17-year-old Agnes auditioned for the second season of popular Swedish singing competition Idol in Gothenburg, singing "Varje Gång Jag Ser Dig" by Lisa Nilsson. The four judges were all hugely impressed by the strong power of her voice and she successfully passed through to the theatre rounds of the contest. Her vocals continued to impress, and she made it to the semi-finals. To the dismay of the judges however, Agnes did not get a place in the final eleven contestants through public voting, and when she again failed to grab a place through the special 'wildcard' round, they decided to pass her through to the finals as the judges' choice contestant.

Despite the lack of early public support, Agnes went on to wow both the judges and the public during every week of the finals, and as a result made it into the grand finale without ever falling into the bottom two or three contestants. She performed a wide range of genres throughout the competition; What a Feeling by Irene Cara, Wonderwall by Oasis, Sk8ter boy by Avril Lavigne and many more. With 57% of the one million public votes cast during the final, she defeated Sebastian Karlsson and was crowned as the second Swedish Idol, and the first female to win the competition.[4]

Immediately after winning Idol, Agnes signed a recording contract with Sony BMG and her debut single, "Right Here Right Now (My Heart Belongs to You)" was released. A week later, the song debuted at number one on the Swedish singles chart, a position it held for six weeks. The song was quickly certified double platinum for the sale of over 40,000 copies in Sweden. Just one week later, on December 19, 2005, her highly anticipated debut album Agnes was released to positive critical reviews that praised the power of Agnes's voice, who was still only eighteen years old. The album immediately debuted at number one, and was certified platinum in its first week after selling almost 40,000 copies.

Agnes during a performance at her national "Agnes Live Tour" in 2006

In March 2006, whilst touring in support of her debut album, she released her second single, "Stranded". Although it received positive critical reviews, the single did not gain commercial success and stalled in the singles chart at number twenty-seven. Despite this however, her first album continued to enjoy high sales success, selling over 90,000 copies in Sweden by the time it officially left the Top 60 Albums chart.[5]

On August 22, 2006, only eight months after her Idol win, Agnes's third single "Kick Back Relax" premiered on the TV-show "Sommarkrysset". The song, which would serve as the lead single from her much anticipated second album, was released on September 7 and narrowly missed the top spot on the Swedish singles chart, peaking at number two. Her second album, Stronger was released on October 11, less than a year after the release of her debut. Like its predecessor, Stronger debuted at number one on the albums chart[6], and went on to sell over 50,000 copies, certifying it platinum.[5] One of the album's tracks, "Love Is All Around" has since been covered by numerous singers on three continents, the most notable being by Australian Idol alumni Ricki Lee Coulter, which peaked at number five in Australia[7] and became one of that country's biggest hits in 2007.

On November 15, 2006, Agnes released "Champion", the second single from her second album, which peaked at number nineteen. In early 2007, she embarked on her second national tour in just over a year. In December, she and her fellow Idol contestant Måns Zelmerlöw joined together for a huge Christmas campaign for clothing store MQ. In order to promote the company, they dueted on a cover of the Mariah Carey song "All I Want for Christmas Is You", which peaked at number three on the Swedish singles chart and was certified gold for the sale of 10,000 copies.[5]

2008-2009: Dance Love Pop, departure from Sony BMG and international launch

In early 2008, it was announced that Carlsson had parted ways with her record label Sony BMG, with creative differences cited as the reason behind the split. She was quickly signed to independent label Roxy Recordings, and on August 11, "On and On", the fifth single of Carlsson's career was released as a digital download.[8] Geared towards the dance and club genre, the single was a clear change of artistic direction for Carlsson's music, which had previously consisted of pop and RnB. The first public performance of the single was on August 16 during the Swedish TV-show "Sommarkrysset".[9] The single spent four consecutive weeks at its peak of number 8, hit the top spot on the club chart and gained a gold certification. The style of the single would be reflected on Agnes's third album Dance Love Pop, which she had written together with Swedish producer and song-writer Anders Hansson. The album was released on October 28, 2009 and debuted on the Swedish albums chart at number 5 with sales of 100,000 copies. On November 24, "Release Me" was released as the second single from the album. "Release Me" did not manage to match the success of "On and On" in Sweden, though it peaked at nine on the official chart and later in 2010 it was certified gold.

Agnes performing "Love Love Love" in the Swedish Melodifestivalen 2009

In October 2008 it was rumored that Agnes would compete in Melodifestivalen 2009, the competition that would decide Sweden's entrant to the Eurovision song contest.[10] Agnes later confirmed this in an interview in the Swedish newspaper Göteborgsposten, and it was further confirmed on December 2, 2008, by SVT.[11] The song "Love Love Love", written by Anders Hansson, was chosen as her official entry song. Hansson had previously worked as the executive producer on Carlsson's third studio album Dance Love Pop, co-writing almost all of the record's tracks, including hit singles "On and On" and "Release Me". Originally, it was said that Carlsson was to perform "Love Love Love" as a duet with fellow Swedish singer and former A-teens-member Marie Serneholt, but when it was later decided that Serneholt would be competing on her own, Agnes took on "Love Love Love" as a solo performance.[12] On February 28, 2009, Carlsson advanced to the final round of Melodifestivalen 2009 and eventually achieved 8th place with 40 points.[13] On February 28, she officially released "Love Love Love" in Sweden, where it peaked at number 4. A deluxe two-disc version of her third studio album titled Dance Love Pop: The Love Love Love Edition, featuring single "Love Love Love" and the remixes and music videos of "On and On" and "Release Me" was released on April 1. Following its release, Dance Love Pop returned to the Swedish albums chart and peaked at number 12.

During the spring of 2009 when Agnes was busy with her promotion for Melodifestivalen, her single "Release Me" had gained a lot of attention abroad. It was later announced that the song would receive an international launch during the forthcoming year. The move marked the first time that Carlsson's music would be distributed outside Sweden. The single made its first international appearance in Denmark,[14] where it peaked at number six selling over 25,000 copies, but most of all, "Release Me" gained massive remarks in the UK and Carlsson was signed to the small independent record company 3Beat, where the song received its official UK release on May 31, 2009, proving to be a big hit, being picked up by most music channels, also with Carlsson performing the song and a few others at G-A-Y, the UK's biggest gay nightclub venue and also a live performance on GMTV, one of the UK's biggest breakfast shows. Release Me hit the top of Radio 1's A-list playlist, and eventually debuted at number three in the UK Singles Chart, and continued to ride high in the top ten for many weeks.[15] After eight weeks it managed to get a Silver certification with over 300,000 copies sold. In Ireland the song debuted at thirty-eight and later peaked at ten. "Release Me" continued to conquer Europe during the summer and autumn, being released in most European countries and became a huge success in, among others, France, Belgium, Italy and Germany. Agnes made her first appearance outside of Europe in late July after being signed by Warner Music in Australia and with "Release Me" as the first single, entering the Australian Chart at eleven in its first week of release.[16]

Agnes' second international single was "On and On", first released in the Netherlands on February 10, 2009 and later Poland, where the single peaked at 14 and 10. Later that year, "On and On" started to climb the charts in the francophone areas of Europe though it had not yet been released. This was only due to download sales from the album released earlier in 2009. It debuted at 27 in the Belgian-Wallonia Singles Chart[17] and after its release it peaked at seventeen. In the Belgian-Flandern Singles Chart it peaked at eight, making it the second top-ten hit in Belgium for Agnes. A new version has been recorded for the French release, called "On Se Donne", but even before the release of the single it peaked at fourteen in the French Download Chart[18] and thirthy-seven in the Swiss Singles Chart.[19] "On and On" was released as the second single in Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Hungary in May 2010, and as the third single in the UK in June.

In the UK the second single was "I Need You Now" which has been re sung and re produced to a remixed form of the original song for the single release. "I Need You Now" was officially released in the UK on the 16th November, 2009 and peaked at forty in the UK Singles Chart. "I Need You Now" was also released in Sweden on November 23, as an iTunes exclusive single and immediately entered the Swedish iTunes Chart at two. Later the same week it was released to other internet stores and although no promotion had been made and with very little airplay it entered the Swedish Singles Chart at ten and later peaked at eight, making it Carlsson's seventh top-ten hit in Sweden.[20] The song was also released in a few other countries such as Italy, The Netherlands, Norway and Australia but failed to enter any charts.

2010-present: The U.S launch of Release Me

In February 2010 it was confirmed that Agnes's third French single would be Sometimes I Forget. It will serve as the follow up to the massive success of "Release Me" and "On and On", which combined has sold over 160,000 copies in France.[21] The song will be released in Sweden as well, as Agnes' fifth single from "Dance Love Pop".

In July 2009 the major American record company Geffen Records had announced that they had signed Agnes[22] and would release "Release Me" in the U.S. on August 18, 2009.[23] She also received a signing bonus of 1 million dollars ($1,000,000).[24] This made Carlsson the first and to date only Swedish Idol contestant to be launched in America. Before landing on Interscope/Geffen's table, three of America's biggest record companies fought over Carlsson and her hit potential. In early 2010 a team consisting of 35 people that, in 2009, was assigned to make Lady Gaga the next star, started to plan Carlsson's U.S. launch.[25]

Agnes made her first appearance in the U.S. on August 27, 2009 at a release party for her single "Release Me". Among the guests where the CEO of Interscope Records, Ron Fair, and he made a comment about their new signing "She has it all. She is an amazing singer, looks good, is fearless and humble. She is a mix of Alanis Morissette, Gwen Stefani and Christina Aguilera"[24] The launch of Agnes in the U.S and Canada continued during the spring 2010 and in the summer of 2010 "Release Me" was added to mainstream radio.

On June 19, 2010 Agnes and Björn Skifs performed at the Wedding of Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, and Daniel Westling[26] The song When You Tell the World You're Mine is the official wedding song, written especially for this occasion. The lyrics was written by Jörgen Elofsson, who has worked with Agnes before, and the music was written by Jörgen Elofsson & John Lundvik as the official wedding song. As a tribute to Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland engaged Elofsson to compose a song that express what we feel when we fall in love with someone.[27] The song entered the Sweden Top 60 Singles at fourteen and peaked at one the week after, it did also manage to peak at nineteen in Finland. The song was released Worldwide in June, but will also be released as a CD Single and as Agnes' third single in Germany on August 25th.[28]

Musical Style and influences

Agnes started out in Swedish Idol, and when it came to choose the songs for the competition she had a particular taste of genres. The first song she ever sang on Swedish television was "Varje gång jag ser dig" (Each time I see you), a soul ballad with a strong love lyrics. Throughout the competition she continued to impress with her vocals in songs like Flashdance... What a Feeling, I'm So Excited, Young Hearts Run Free and Can't Take My Eyes off You. Already in this early stage of her carrier she cited legendary soul-singer Stewie Wonder as her inspiration.[2] Both her self-titled debut album and her second album consisted strongly on Rn B, soul and pop songs, continuing the path she began during her time in "Idol".

But after leaving Sony Music and signing on to Roxy, she geared towards the dance and club genre, she was introduced to the songwriter and producer Anders Hansson. Agnes recalls when his name first came up for the album “They said maybe you should just meet first and see if you like each other, as opposed to just working together.” They got on – so well that Hansson ended up producing an album that helped Agnes realise her vision, Dance Love and Pop together in one album[3] “A lot of things changed for me when I started to work with this album. I really liked it, because I knew that I wanted to do something totally different to the two others. I wanted to do uptempo, disco-orientated songs and I really wanted to work with Anders because he felt the same way."[3] When released the first single "On and On" from her third album, it immediately showed a clear change of artistic direction for her music. This was clearly observed by the critics who all homaged her new musical style. Other remarks are "The album fits the dance floor at any club. A mood trigger with bubbling enjoyment."[29] and "Agnes Carlsson once and for all gets rid of the "Idol"-dust."[30]

Agnes has often cited strong female soul singers like Beyoncé, Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson as her inspiration in music. In an interview she said that whenever she was home alone she would play Whitney Houston and Beyoncé's songs “at the highest volume” and sing along. “Whitney’s voice is so emotional, and if there’s one thing I learnt from listening to her, it’s that it’s important to put emotion in.”[3]

Discography

Studio albums

Tours

Awards and nominations

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 "Swedish Charts > Agnes". swedishcharts.com Hung Medien. http://www.swedishcharts.com/showinterpret.asp?interpret=Agnes. Retrieved 09-10-2009. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Agnes biography". agnes-carlsson.nu. http://www.agnes-carlsson.nu/agnes/biografi/biografi.html. Retrieved 2010-01-02. 
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 3.3 "Agnes English biography". agnescarlsson.se. http://agnescarlsson.se/biography/. Retrieved 2010-01-17. 
  4. ↑ (Swedish)Söderström, Martin (2005-12-02). "Nu är Agnes Idol – på riktigt". Aftonbladet. http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/article334470.ab. Retrieved 2010-07-11. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 "Sverigetopplistan". sverigetopplistan.se. http://www.sverigetopplistan.se. Retrieved 2010-03-31. 
  6. ↑ ""Stronger" in swedish charts". wedishcharts.com. http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Agnes&titel=Stronger&cat=a. Retrieved 2010-03-31. 
  7. ↑ ""Love is all around" in Australian charts (Ricki Lee Coulter)". australian-charts.com. http://australian-charts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Ricki%2DLee&titel=Love+Is+All+Around&cat=s. Retrieved 2010-03-31. 
  8. ↑ http://www.agnescarlsson.se/
  9. ↑ (Swedish)Karin Skogh (2008-08-16). "Agnes gjorde comeback i sommarkrysset". Expressen. http://www.expressen.se/noje/1.1267616/agnes-gjorde-comback-i-sommarkrysset. Retrieved 2009-05-16. 
  10. ↑ Viniker, Barry (2008-11-26). "Second wildcard revealed tonight". ESCToday. http://www.esctoday.com/news/read/12567. Retrieved 2008-11-26. 
  11. ↑ (Swedish)Carl Andersson (2008-12-02). "De är med i Melodifestivalen - igen". Expressen. http://www.expressen.se/noje/musik/1.1389177/de-ar-med-i-melodifestivalen-igen. Retrieved 2008-12-02. 
  12. ↑ (Swedish)Susanne Nylén, Niklas Strömberg (2008-12-02). "Lili och Susie till Melodifestivalen". Aftonbladet. http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/melodifestivalen2009/article3898218.ab. Retrieved 2009-05-16. 
  13. ↑ (Swedish)SVT.se (2009). "Votingresults Melodifestivalen". SVT. http://svt.se/content/1/c8/01/44/24/54/Slutresultat%20FOLKET%20MElo%202009%20FINAL.pdf. Retrieved 2009-05-16. 
  14. ↑ Cphrec.dk (2009). "Copenhagen Records - Agnes". http://cphrec.dk/da/Video_ReleaseME. Retrieved 2010-03-31. 
  15. ↑ (Swedish)Martin Ekelund (2009-05-29). "Agnes etta i England". Aftonbladet. http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/musik/article5253095.ab. Retrieved 2010-03-31. 
  16. ↑ ""Release Me" in Australian ARIA charts". ariacharts.com. http://www.ariacharts.com.au/pages/charts_display_dance.asp?chart=1D20. Retrieved 2009-11-11. 
  17. ↑ ""On and On" in Beligium-Wallonian charts". ultratop.be. http://www.ultratop.be/fr/showitem.asp?interpret=Agnes&titel=On+And+On&cat=s. Retrieved 2009-12-31. 
  18. ↑ "On and On in French charts". lescharts.com. http://lescharts.com/weekchart.asp?cat=si. Retrieved 02-11-2009. 
  19. ↑ ""On and On" in Swiss charts". hitparade.ch. http://hitparade.ch/showitem.asp?interpret=Agnes&titel=On+And+On&cat=s. Retrieved 2009-11-11. 
  20. ↑ ""I Need You Now" in Swedish charts". swedishcharts.com. http://swedishcharts.com/showitem.asp?interpret=Agnes&titel=I+Need+You+Now&cat=s. Retrieved 05-12-2009. 
  21. ↑ (French)"Agnes : Ecoutez son nouveau tube, ’Sometimes I Forget’". evous.fr. http://www.evous.fr/musique/Agnes-Sometimes-I-Forget-clip,9203.html. Retrieved 26-02-2010. 
  22. ↑ "Interscope Records - Agnes". interscope.com. http://www.interscope.com/agnes. Retrieved 2009-11-11. 
  23. ↑ ""Release Me" release-details". interscope.com. http://interscope.com/artist/releases/detail.aspx?pid=2281&aid=1142. Retrieved 2009-11-11. 
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 (Swedish)Magnus Sundholm (2009-08-29). [http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/musik/article5710863.ab "Agnes värvades av världens största bolag"]. Aftonbladet. http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/musik/article5710863.ab. Retrieved 2009-08-30. 
  25. ↑ (Swedish)Joacim Persson (2009-12-20). "Agnes fick Hollywood att gråta". Aftonbladet. http://www.aftonbladet.se/nojesbladet/musik/article6320247.ab. Retrieved 2009-12-20. 
  26. ↑ "KYSSEN | Bröllopet | Aftonbladet". Aftonbladet.se. http://www.aftonbladet.se/brollopet/article7333349.ab. Retrieved 2010-06-19. 
  27. ↑ "Den officiella bröllopslåten "When you tell the world you're mine" släpps!". roxy recordings. http://www.roxyrecordings.se/. Retrieved 2010-06-20. 
  28. ↑ "Amazon.de - When You Tell the World You're Mine - CD Single". Amazon.de. http://www.amazon.de/When-You-Tell-World-Re/dp/B003TJSAIS/ref=sr_1_25?ie=UTF8&s=music&qid=1280790584&sr=1-25. Retrieved 2010-08-06. 
  29. ↑ Sandra Wall (2008-10-29). "Dance Love Pop". Norrköpings Tidningar. http://www.nt.se/noje/artikel.aspx?articleid=4402301. Retrieved 2008-11-05. 
  30. ↑ Lisa Appelqvist (2008-10-29). "Agnes: Dance Love Pop". Kristianstadsbladet. http://www.kristianstadsbladet.se/noje/skivrecensioner/article1005982.ece. Retrieved 2008-11-05. 

External links

Preceded by
Daniel Lindström		 Winner of Swedish Idol
2005		 Succeeded by
Markus Fagervall
Preceded by
Neverstore		 Winner of MTV Europe Music Awards for best Swedish Act
2009		 Succeeded by
incumbent
Agnes
Discography · Awards
Studio albums
Agnes (2005) · Stronger (2006) · Dance Love Pop (2008)
Other albums
My Own Idol (2005)
Singles
"Right Here Right Now" · "Stranded" · "Kick Back Relax" · "Champion" · "All I Want for Christmas Is You" · "On and On" · "Release Me" · "Love Love Love" · "I Need You Now" · "Sometimes I Forget" · "When You Tell the World You're Mine"
Other songs
"Love is all Around" · "How Do You Know"
Labels
"Roxy Recordings" · "Geffen Records" · Universal Music · Warner Music · Sony Music
Related articles
Idol 2005
Category Category:Agnes Carlsson
Idol (Sweden)
Seasons
1 · 2 · 3 · 4 · 5 · 6 · 7
Hosts
Peter Jihde
Former Hosts
Carolina Gynning · Carina Berg · Sanna Bråding · Mogge Sseruwagi · Tobbe Blom · Johan Wiman · David Hellenius · Peter Magnusson
Judges
Andreas Carlsson · Anders Bagge · Laila Bagge Wahlgren
Former Judges
Daniel Breitholtz · Peter Swartling · Kishti Tomita · Claes af Geijerstam
Winners
Daniel Lindström · Agnes Carlsson · Markus Fagervall · Marie Picasso · Kevin Borg · Erik Grönwall · Jay Smith
Winner's Singles
"Coming True" · "Right Here, Right Now" · "Everything Changes" · "This Moment"  · "With Every Bit of Me"  · "Higher" · "Dreaming People"
Runners-up
Darin Zanyar · Sebastian Karlsson · Erik Segerstedt · Amanda Jenssen · Alice Svensson · Calle Kristiansson · Minnah Karlsson
Notable alumni
Ola Svensson · Måns Zelmerlöw · Danny Saucedo · Sibel Redzep · E.M.D · Johan Palm · Anna Bergendahl · Rebound! (Rabih Jaber and Eddie Razaz}
Related articles
Idol series · Ericsson Globe · Scandinavium · Malmö Arena · TV4