Anna Linnea Södahl (born 17 September 1987), also known as simply Nea, is a Swedish singer and songwriter.
Early life and education
Södahl was born in South Africa to Swedish parents. Her parents were residing in South Africa as missionaries for the
Church of Sweden
The Church of Sweden ( sv, Svenska kyrkan) is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.6 million members at year end 2021, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sw ...
, but also performed undercover missions supporting efforts to combat
apartheid
Apartheid (, especially South African English: , ; , "aparthood") was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. Apartheid was ...
.
When Södahl was three years old, the family returned to Sweden, where she was raised in
Alingsås
Alingsås () is a locality and the seat of Alingsås Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 24,482 inhabitants in 2010.
Geography
Geographically the city is situated by the outlet of the small rivulet Säveån into lake Mjörn ...
. Södahl returned to South Africa as a teenager, working as a volunteer for three months at an orphanage and writing music with the non-profit organization Star For Life.
Södahl studied songwriting and producing at
Musikmakarna in
Örnsköldsvik
Örnsköldsvik (, ) is a locality and the seat of Örnsköldsvik Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden, with 32,953 inhabitants in 2017.
Its natural harbour and archipelago is in the Gulf of Bothnia and the northern boundaries of the Hig ...
, graduating in 2015.
Music career
As a songwriter Nea has been using her real name, Linnea Södahl, and has written songs for
Zara Larsson
Zara Maria Larsson (, ; born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish pop singer. In 2008, at the age of 10, she won the second season of the talent show '' Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got Talent'' format. Since then she has received recogni ...
,
Tove Styrke
Tove Anna Linnéa Östman Styrke (; born 19 November 1992) 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. Sh ...
,
Tinie Tempah
Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie Tempah, is a British rapper. He has been signed to Parlophone Records since 2009, a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his own entertainment compa ...
,
Felix Jaehn
Felix Kurt Jähn (born 28 August 1994), known professionally as Felix Jaehn (), is a German DJ and music producer specializing in tropical house. He achieved international success with his remix of Omi's song "Cheerleader", which topped the cha ...
,
Twice
Twice (; Japanese: トゥワイス, Hepburn: ''To~uwaisu''; commonly stylized as TWICE) is a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group is composed of nine members: Nayeon, Jeongyeon, Momo, Sana, Jihyo, Mina, Dahyun, Chaey ...
and
Axwell
Axel Christofer Hedfors (; born 18 December 1977), better known by his stage name Axwell, is a Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and owner of Axtone Records. He is a member of Swedish House Mafia along with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angell ...
, among others.
Her songs have received a total of almost two billion streams worldwide on
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 ...
. One of her most famous songs,
Lush Life, which became an international hit and the most played song in Sweden during the summer of 2015, has sold ten times platinum in Sweden and platinum in the UK and US.
As for Swedish artists, Södahl has, in addition to Zara Larsson, Axwell and Tove Styrke, also written songs for Linnea Henriksson, Sabina Ddumba, Skott, Kasbo and Shy Martin.
On 22 December 2019, Nea was placed number one as a singer and number three as a songwriter on
Svensktoppen
''Svensktoppen'' () is a weekly record chart airing at Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982-1985. The last years before the January 2003 cha ...
with the songs "
Some Say" (which interpolates
Eiffel 65
Eiffel 65 is an Italian music group that was formed in 1997 in the studios of the Turin record company Bliss Corporation, consisting of Jeffrey Jey, Maurizio Lobina and Gabry Ponte. They gained global popularity with their singles " Blue (Da Ba ...
's "
Blue (Da Ba Dee)
"Blue (Da Ba Dee)" is a song by Italian music group Eiffel 65. It was first released in October 1998 in Italy by Skooby Records and became internationally successful the following year. It is the lead single of their 1999 debut album, ''Europop' ...
") and "Fira jul med mig" (performed by
Linnea Henriksson
Ellen 'Linnea' Petrea Henriksson (born 9 November 1986) is a Swedish singer and songwriter who participated in '' Idol 2010'' in which she placed fourth. , she is also the lead singer of the jazz band Prylf. In 2012 Henriksson released her first ...
). Other Swedish artists she has written for are
Sabina Ddumba
Sabina Ddumba (born 23 February 1994) is a Swedish singer. Her music has soul, gospel, and R&B influences. Ddumba was a backing vocalist on Katy Perry's song " Walking on Air" in 2013 and has collaborated with artists such as the hip hop band Lo ...
, Skott, Kasbo and
SHY Martin
Sara Hjellström (born 5 November 1993), known professionally as Shy Martin (stylized as shy martin) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. As a songwriter her compositions have been streamed over 3 billion times on Spotify alone, while her songs a ...
.
On September 6, 2019, Södahl released her first own song as an artist under the artist name Nea. The debut single "
Some Say" was released through Milkshake Label (Sony Music Sweden) and became a major international hit and the 13th most played song on European radio in 2020. In Sweden, the song was on
Svensktoppen
''Svensktoppen'' () is a weekly record chart airing at Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982-1985. The last years before the January 2003 cha ...
for 57 weeks. On January 10, 2020, a remix of "Some Say" made by German DJ
Felix Jaehn
Felix Kurt Jähn (born 28 August 1994), known professionally as Felix Jaehn (), is a German DJ and music producer specializing in tropical house. He achieved international success with his remix of Omi's song "Cheerleader", which topped the cha ...
was released.
On June 12, 2020, Nea released her debut EP "Some Say EP" which in addition to "Some Say" also included the singles "Dedicated", "TG4M" and "Drunk Enough To".
Nea performed at the Spanish music festival
Los40 Music Award in 2020 and received to nominations, where she won in the category "Best international dance".
Discography
Extended plays
Singles
As lead artist
As featured artist
Notes
Awards
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sodahl, Linnea
21st-century Swedish women singers
1986 births
Living people
Swedish expatriates in South Africa
English-language singers from Sweden
People from Alingsås