Kaj Erik Persson Hassle (born 26 August 1988) is a Swedish pop singer and songwriter. His career started in 2008 with his first single, " Hurtful", which eventually reached No. 11 in Sweden and peaked at No. 2 in

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. His most successful single to date, "No Words", reached the Top 10 of the Global and U.S. Spotify Viral Chart and achieved Gold certification in both Sweden and Denmark. Hassle, who signed to

Island Records Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...

in 2009, has released four albums, most recently ''Innocence Lost'' in January 2017. Aside from solo work, he has cowritten a number of songs for other singers, including

Shakira Shakira Isabel Mebarak Ripoll ( , ; born 2 February 1977), professionally known by the mononym Shakira, is a Colombian singer and songwriter. Born and raised in Barranquilla, she has been referred to as the " Queen of Latin Music" and is ...

and

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, actress, and businesswoman. Born in Saint Michael and raised in Bridgetown, Barbados, Rihanna auditioned for American record producer Evan Rogers who invited her to the ...

's "

Can't Remember to Forget You "Can't Remember to Forget You" is a song recorded by Colombian singer-songwriter Shakira from her fourth English and overall tenth studio album, ''Shakira'', featuring Barbadian singer Rihanna. Shakira began planning to make new music in 2011; w ...

". He won a Danish

Gaffa ''Gaffa'' (stylized as ''GAFFA'') is a free Nordic music magazine with local editions in Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. ''Gaffa'' is Denmark's largest and oldest music magazine. It has been published since 1983 and has 320,000 print readers and ...

award and two Swedish awards, a

Grammis The Grammis are music awards presented annually to musicians and songwriters in Sweden. The oldest Swedish music awards, they were instituted as a local equivalent of the Grammy Awards given in the United States. The awards ceremony is generall ...

and a

P3 Guld P3, P-3, P.3, or P03 may refer to: Entertainment * ''Persona 3'', a 2006 video game * '' Postal III'', a 2011 video game * ''Third'' (Portishead album), 2008 music album * P3 Club, a fictional nightclub in the television series '' Charmed'' * ''P ...

. Saluted as "the new, young

Robbie Williams Robert Peter Williams (born 13 February 1974) is an English singer and songwriter. He found fame as a member of the pop group Take That from 1990 to 1995, and achieved commercial success after launching a solo career in 1996. His debut stud ...

" upon his international debut, Hassle has been described as "a voice steeped in simmering sultry soul, a funked-up sense of international swagger, and unbridled lyrical honesty."

Early life

Hassle was born in

Salem Municipality Salem Municipality (''Salems kommun'') is a municipality in Stockholm County in east central Sweden. The name traces its origins from ''Slæm'' in the 13th century, but was changed to Salem in the 17th century, inspired by the Biblical name of Jeru ...

, Stockholm. He was raised in the village of Bie near

Katrineholm Katrineholm (pronunciation: or ) is a locality and the seat of Katrineholm Municipality, Södermanland County, Sweden with 24,271 inhabitants in 2018. It is located in the inland of Södermanland and is the third largest urban area in the county ...

, where local musicians gathered in his parents' village theater. He grew up listening to Swedish punk and

American soul ''American Soul'' is an American musical drama television series, created by Jonathan Prince and Devon Greggory, that premiered on February 5, 2019, on BET. The series tells the story of Don Cornelius and the creation of his legendary music and ...

and realised his love of music early after listening to

Wilson Pickett Wilson Pickett (March 18, 1941 – January 19, 2006) was an American singer and songwriter. A major figure in the development of soul music, Pickett recorded over 50 songs which made the US R&B charts, many of which crossed over to the ''Bill ...

. He was introduced to

British New Wave The British New Wave is a style of films released in Great Britain between 1959 and 1963. The label is a translation of '' Nouvelle Vague'', the French term first applied to the films of François Truffaut, and Jean-Luc Godard among others. Styli ...

at Rytmus, the musical secondary school in Stockholm attended by

Robyn Robin Miriam Carlsson (born 12 June 1979), known as Robyn (), is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. She arrived on the music scene with her 1995 debut album, ''Robyn Is Here'', which produced two Billboard Hot 100, ''Bil ...

and

Tove Lo Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson (born 29 October 1987), known professionally as Tove Lo (), is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She has been called "Sweden's darkest pop export" by ''Rolling Stone.'' She is known for her raw, grunge-influenced take o ...

(whom he would later support on her North American tour), where he met his manager at the age of 17. He signed a deal with the Swedish music company

TEN Music Group TEN Music Group is a Swedish independent record label headquartered in Stockholm, Sweden. The label was founded by Ola Håkansson in 2003. History The company was founded by Swedish singer, composer and producer, Ola Håkansson in 2003, in Stoc ...

in 2007, becoming their first signed artist. The label would later be credited with reviving

Swedish pop music Swedish popular music, or shortly Swedish pop music, refers to music that has swept the Swedish mainstream at any given point in recent times. After World War II, Swedish pop music was heavily influenced by American jazz, and then by rock-and-roll ...

. He was one of the finalists in the talent contest Metro Music Challenge in 2008. He wrote music and self-produced videos, spreading them online via X5 Music, YouTube and Myspace.

Music career

2008–2010: First releases and recognition

Hassle released his first single, " Hurtful", in September 2008. It would become a

sleeper hit In the entertainment industry, a sleeper hit is a film, television series, music release, video game, or some other entertainment product that was initially unsuccessful on release but became a success later on. A sleeper hit may have little promo ...

over the years, eventually reaching No. 11 in his native Sweden and peaking at No. 2 in

. In March 2009, when he did not have an album out yet, Hassle signed for

in London for worldwide rights excluding North America and Sweden, where the Swedish label

Roxy Recordings King Island Roxystars Recordings AB, more known as Roxy Recordings, or Roxy is an independent record label based in Kungsholmen, Stockholm, Sweden where their office is the former site of Cheiron Studios and its successor The Location. It was bo ...

had already signed Hassle for two albums. ''The Guardian'' picked up the story, calling him "the Stockholm wunderkind," comparing him to

Frankmusik Vincent James Turner (born 9 October 1985), better known by his stage name Frankmusik ( ) (and between 2011 and 2012, by the name Vincent Did It), is an English synth-pop musician. Early life Vincent was born on 9 October 1985 in the Thornton H ...

, Keane and

Ross Copperman Ross Copperman (born October 1, 1982) is a Grammy-nominated American singer-songwriter and producer with 29 number one radio hits. After his experience as an artist in the UK, Copperman discovered his talent for writing and producing country mus ...

, and wondering if he was "the new, young

." In August, he published his album ''

Hassle Hassle is a location at Örebro Municipality in Örebro County, Sweden. It was the site of the discovery of the Hassle treasure. Hassle Treasure The Hassle treasure (Hassleskatten) was found at Hassle in the parish of Glanshammar during 193 ...

'', which debuted at No. 2 and stayed in the Swedish charts for 10 weeks. He immediately released his second single, " Don't Bring Flowers", which peaked at No. 25 in Sweden. Together with

Ellie Goulding Elena Jane Goulding ( ; born 30 December 1986) is an English singer and songwriter. Her career began when she met record producers Starsmith and Frankmusik, and she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite, who became her manager and Artists and ...

, Hassle released an acoustic version of

's " Be Mine!". In late 2009 he embarked on touring outside of Sweden and released "Hurtful" in the UK on 2 February 2010. It debuted at No. 59 and fell off the charts the following week. He reworked and re-released his debut album as '' Pieces'' in the UK. It failed to chart in the UK Albums Chart. The album's lack of success was later described as "the greatest pop injustice of the last several years." ''

Popjustice Popjustice is a music website founded in 2000 by UK freelance music journalist Peter Robinson, who has worked for ''NME'', ''The Guardian'', ''Attitude'' and many others. It is composed of the work of editor Robinson, features editor Michael Cra ...

'' placed it at No. 11 of its top albums of 2009. On 19 January 2010, Hassle appeared at the Danish X Factor finals and the

gala, where he was awarded the prize for "Newcomer of the Year 2009". He won the Newcomer Prize at the Swedish Grammis in the same year. Finally, he won the 2010 Danish

Prize for the International Newcomer of the Year. He toured with

Mika Mika is a given name, a nickname and a surname. Notable people and fictional characters with the name include: People known just as Mika * Mika (singer) (born 1983), Lebanese-born British singer-songwriter Michael Penniman, Jr. * Mika (footbal ...

Broods Broods is a New Zealand musical duo from Nelson, composed of Georgia Josiena Nott on lead vocals, with older brother and multi-instrumentalist Caleb Allan Joseph Nott on production and backing vocals. They released the single "Bridges", which w ...

, and

MØ Karen Marie Aagaard Ørsted Andersen (; born 13 August 1988), known professionally as MØ (), is a Danish singer and songwriter. She signed a recording contract with Sony Music Entertainment in 2012, releasing her debut extended play, ''Bikini ...

. In May 2010, "Hurtful" was picked as Single of the Week in

iTunes Store The iTunes Store is a digital media store operated by Apple Inc. It opened on April 28, 2003, as a result of Steve Jobs' push to open a digital marketplace for music. As of April 2020, iTunes offered 60 million songs, 2.2 million apps, 25,00 ...

. In August, Hassle released an

extended play An extended play record, usually referred to as an EP, is a musical recording that contains more tracks than a single but fewer than an album or LP record.

(EP) entitled ''The Hassle Sessions: Volume One'', consisting of cover songs. His English version of the single "

Alors on danse "Alors on danse" (, French for "And so we dance") is a song by Belgian rapper Stromae. It was released in September 2009 in Belgium and in February 2010 in the rest of Europe. The song reached number one in Belgium, Albania, Austria, Bulgaria, th ...

" by

Stromae Paul van Haver (; born 12 March 1985), better known by his stage name Stromae (), is a Belgian singer, rapper, songwriter and producer. He is mostly known for his music blending hip hop and electronic music. Stromae came to wide public attenti ...

was made available through

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a proprietary Swedish audio streaming and media services provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. It is one of the largest music streaming service providers, with over 456 million monthly active us ...

2011–2014: Songwriting success

The mini-album '' Mariefred Sessions'' was the result of a collaboration between Erik Hassle and

Joakim Berg Herbert Joakim "Jocke" Berg (born 16 March 1970 in Eskilstuna, Sweden) is a Swedish singer, songwriter and musician, best known as the lead singer of Swedish Rock/Pop band Kent. Berg rarely gives interviews, saying in one: less is more. Berg ...

and

Martin Sköld Martin Sköld (born 2 October 1970 in Sparreholm, Södermanland) is a Swedish musician who played bass and keyboards in the Swedish alternative rock band Kent. Alongside lead singer Joakim Berg he was responsible for writing the band's music. S ...

from the Swedish band

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

. ''Mariefred Sessions'' was released in Sweden on 23 March 2011. Hassle moved to Los Angeles in 2013. Hassle was a co-writer for

's single "

" featuring

. It released worldwide in January 2014 and reached top ten charts in various countries such as Spain, France, Germany, and Switzerland. The single also debuted in the U.S. at number 15 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. It was the first official track written by Hassle and sung by another artist. Hassle released his next EP, entitled ''Somebody's Party'', via

and

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

on 4 March 2014 after a two-year hiatus. The EP was a collection of 6 tracks heavily influenced by R&B. Hassle released "Talk About It," featuring Chicago based rapper

Vic Mensa Vic (; es, Vic or Pancracio Celdrán (2004). Diccionario de topónimos españoles y sus gentilicios (5ª edición). Madrid: Espasa Calpe. p. 843. ISBN 978-84-670-3054-9. «Vic o Vich (viquense, vigitano, vigatán, ausense, ausetano, ausonense) ...

, as his comeback single. Other featured artists on the EP included

Tinashe Tinashe Jorgensen Kachingwe ( ; born February 6, 1993), known mononymously as Tinashe, is an American singer, dancer, and actress. Born in Lexington, Kentucky, Tinashe moved to Pasadena as a child to pursue a career in entertainment. Her notab ...

in the song "Innocence Lost." The EP was inspired by the hardships of being in a relationship and Erik's own personal heartbreak.

2015–2016: "No Words" and collaborations

While visiting his home country, Sweden, Hassle began working on "No Words." In an interview with Billboard Magazine, Hassle shared that he wrote the song while experiencing a heartbreak. The single was released in April 2015 and received additional publicity when it headed off

Taylor Swift Taylor Alison Swift (born December 13, 1989) is an American singer-songwriter. Her discography spans multiple genres, and her vivid songwriting—often inspired by her personal life—has received critical praise and wide media coverage. Bor ...

's list of "Songs that would Make your Life more Awesome". "No Words" went viral, reaching the Top 10 of the Global and U.S. Spotify Viral Chart and achieving Gold certification in both Sweden and Denmark. It was described as "an uptempo, disco-tinged confection of sighing strings and funk guitar" and hailed as "a return to Hassle's unabashed melodic melancholia." In October, Erik Hassle peaked at number 14 on ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

s Next Big Sound. Hassle co-wrote and provided vocals for the single "Emergency" by fellow label mates and Swedish pop-duo

Icona Pop Icona Pop ( ) is a Swedish electropop duo which formed in 2009, with electro house and indie pop music influences. Its two members, Caroline Hjelt (born 8 November 1987) and Aino Jawo (born 7 July 1986), grew up in Stockholm and create what the ...

. The single was officially released in May 2015, reached the number one spot in the U.S. Dance Club Songs, and was featured in

FIFA 16 ''FIFA 16'' is a football simulation video game developed by EA Canada and published by Electronic Arts under the EA Sports label. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Android and iOS. The gam ...

. He toured across North America supporting Twin Shadow. Over the years, Hassle collaborated with many artists, including

Groundislava Jasper Patterson, better known by his stage name Groundislava, is an electronic musician and music producer based in Los Angeles, California. He is one of the founding members of the LA-based music collective Wedidit. Career Patterson, whose fat ...

on his single "Flatline", Broderick Batts on "¯\_(ツ)_/¯",

Kungs Valentin Brunel (; born 17 December 1996), better known by his stage name Kungs (), is a French DJ, record producer and musician. A native of Toulon, he released his first album ''Layers'' in 2016 after success with " This Girl", a collaboration ...

on Omi's "Midnight Serenade",

Gorgon City Gorgon City are an English electronic music production duo consisting of two North London producers Kye "Foamo" Gibbon and Matt "RackNRuin" Robson-Scott. Their 2013 debut single "Real" peaked at number 44 on the UK Singles Chart. They are also we ...

on "FTPA",

Bondax Bondax is an electronic music duo consisting of English musicians Adam Kaye (born 1 April 1994) and George Townsend (born 17 September 1993). The group gained prominence primarily as a result of BBC Radio, initially through BBC Introducing Lanca ...

on "Love Me Blind", and Snakehips on "

Cruel Cruelty is the pleasure in inflicting suffering or inaction towards another's suffering when a clear remedy is readily available. Sadism can also be related to this form of action or concept. Cruel ways of inflicting suffering may involve vi ...

2017: ''Innocence Lost''

Hassle released the album "Innocence Lost" via

and

on 27 January 2017. The 12-track album includes the single "Missing You" produced by

John Hill John Hill may refer to: Business * John Henry Hill (1791–1882), American businessman, educator and missionary * John Hill (planter) (1824–1910), Scottish-born American industrialist and planter * John Hill (businessman) (1847–1926), Austral ...

. The LP was executively produced by Daniel Ledinsky and features the guest vocals of

and

, producers

Eshraque "iSHi" Mughal Eshraque Mughal, better known by his stage name iSHi, is a Swedish music producer and songwriter. Life and career In 2001 iSHi produced the music for The Lick TV show on MTV UK together with One Dread. He started working and spending more in the U ...

and

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, with additional production from SOHN, Oskar "Sikow" Engstroem, Billboard,

and

Al Shux Alexander Shuckburgh, who is also known as Al Shux, is a British record producer and songwriter from London, England. Shux has worked with musical artists Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg, Nas, Kendrick Lamar, Plan B, Tinie Tempah and Lana Del R ...

. Hassle's singing has been compared to

Michael Jackson Michael Joseph Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, and philanthropist. Dubbed the "King of Pop", he is regarded as one of the most significant cultural figures of the 20th century. Over a ...

Prince A prince is a male ruler (ranked below a king, grand prince, and grand duke) or a male member of a monarch's or former monarch's family. ''Prince'' is also a title of nobility (often highest), often hereditary, in some European states. Th ...

, and

Frank Ocean Christopher Francis "Frank" Ocean (born Christopher Edwin Breaux; October 28, 1987), is an American singer, songwriter, and rapper. His works are noted by music critics for featuring avant-garde styles and introspective, elliptical lyrics. Ocean ...

. He has been described as "a huskier-voiced

Justin Timberlake Justin Randall Timberlake (born January 31, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actor. He is one of the world's best-selling music artists, with sales of over 88 million records. Timberlake is the recipient of numerous awards and ac ...

singing over

The Knocks The Knocks is an American electronic music duo consisting of Ben "B-Roc" Ruttner and James "JPatt" Patterson. They have released 3 full length albums Big Beat Records, Neon Gold">Big Beat Records (American record label)">Big Beat Records, Neon ...

’ choicest beats."

Personal life

Hassle's mother is a singer and his father is a studio owner. He has three brothers and two sisters.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Singles

Notable guest appearances

Songwriting credits

Music videos

Awards

* 2010 Danish GAFFA-priset – International Newcomer of the Year * 2009 Swedish

– Newcomer of the Year * 2009 Swedish

– Newcomer of the Year

Notes

References

External links

Official website
The official website
Erik Hassle fan Street Team
Erik Hassle fan Street Team {{DEFAULTSORT:Hassle, Erik 1988 births Living people English-language singers from Sweden 21st-century Swedish singers