Anna Frida Amanda Hyvönen (born 30 December 1977) is a Swedish singer-songwriter.
Personal life
Hyvönen grew up in
Robertsfors, located outside
Umeå
Umeå ( , , , locally ; ; ; ; ) is a city in northeast Sweden. It is the seat of Umeå Municipality and the capital of Västerbotten County.
Situated on the Ume River, Umeå is the largest Urban areas in Sweden, locality in Norrland and the t ...
in the north of Sweden (which is also the hometown of her cousin
Josephine Forsman's band ''
Sahara Hotnights
Sahara Hotnights are a Swedish rock band from Robertsfors. Since its inception, the band has been composed of lead singer Maria Andersson, drummer Josephine Forsman and sisters Jennie (lead guitar) and Johanna (bass) Asplund. Their style inco ...
''). Her
Finnish grandfather was from
Rovaniemi
Rovaniemi ( , ; ; ; ) is a city in Finland and the regional capital of Lapland (Finland), Lapland. It is located near the Arctic Circle in the northern interior of the country. The population of Rovaniemi is approximately , while the Rovaniemi su ...
. She moved to Stockholm in 1995. Between 2010 and 2012, she resided in Paris. Today, she shares her time between Stockholm and her house in
Västerbotten.
Career
Hyvönen's first record, ''
Until Death Comes'',
was recorded at
Atlantis Studios in Stockholm and co-produced with
Jari Haapalainen of
The Bear Quartet. The record was released in the EU in 2005 on
The Concretes record label
Licking Fingers, in the United States in 2006 on
Secretly Canadian
Secretly Canadian is an American independent record label based in Bloomington, Indiana, part of the Secretly Group. The Secretly Group includes record labels Dead Oceans and Jagjaguwar as well as a music publisher known as Secretly Publis ...
and in Australia in 2007 on
Chapter Music. Hyvönen received the 2005 ''Stockholmspriset'' ("The Stockholm Prize") by the Swedish publication ''Nöjesguiden'' for her debut album.
In the fall of 2005, Hyvönen wrote music for dance performance Pudel,
[ by choreographer Dorte Olesen. She also performed the music live on stage at Dansens Hus in Stockholm. The music was recorded in 2006 and released in January 2007.
In spring 2006, she toured the United Kingdom with José González, and in summer 2006 she toured the US with fellow Swedish artist Jens Lekman.
Hyvönen's next album, "Silence is Wild", was released on 29 October 2008 in Scandinavia and 4 November 2008 in North America and Australia. Once again, Jari Haapalainen co-produced with Hyvönen. The album was critically acclaimed, and resulted in Hyvönen winning "Kulturpriset" ("The Culture Prize") in 2009, given by Swedish newspaper Dagens Nyheter.
The same year, she was the first Swedish pop artist invited to play a show at the ]Royal Dramatic Theatre
The Royal Dramatic Theatre (, colloquially ''Dramaten'') is Sweden's national stage for "spoken drama", founded in 1788. Around one thousand shows are put on annually on the theatre's five running stages.
The theatre has been at its present lo ...
in Stockholm, and she completed a collaboration with photographer Elin Berge, "Drottninglandet". The project consisted of a book of photos by Berge, with an accompanying CD of instrumental music composed and performed by Hyvönen. The book followed women from Thailand, living in the north of Sweden.
In 2012 Hyvönen - for the third time together with Haapalainen - recorded the Album "To the Soul" in Benny Andersson
Göran Bror Benny Andersson (; born 16 December 1946) is a Swedish musician, composer and producer best known as a member of the pop group ABBA and co-composer of the musicals ''Chess (musical), Chess'', ''Kristina från Duvemåla'', and ''Mamm ...
's new studio Riksmixningsverket at Skeppsholmen in Stockholm. The engineer was Linn Fijal.
Hyvönen recorded and released music for a second photo book with Elin Berge, "Kungariket" in 2015, this time turning their eye towards Swedish men in Thailand.
In 2016, Frida wrote her first album in Swedish, "Kvinnor och Barn", which was acclaimed by critics and won two Grammis Awards in the categories "Lyricist" and "Composer". The album was co-produced with Tobias Fröberg.
In 2017, she composed and arranged music for a theatre play, "ILYA", by director Lars Rudolfsson, at the Stockholm City Theatre
Stockholm City Theatre () is a live performance theatre located in Stockholm, Sweden. The theatre is situated near the Sergel fountain and the Stockholm City roundabout.
Location
It is located in one of Stockholm's most popular public buildi ...
.
The same year, she revisited the Royal Dramatic Theatre together with First Aid Kit
A first aid kit or medical kit is a collection of supplies and equipment used to give First aid, immediate medical treatment, primarily to treat injuries and other mild or moderate medical conditions. There is a wide variation in the contents o ...
, Annika Norlin, Loney, Dear, among others, to perform a tribute to Leonard Cohen
Leonard Norman Cohen (September 21, 1934November 7, 2016) was a Canadian songwriter, singer, poet, and novelist. Themes commonly explored throughout his work include faith and mortality, isolation and depression, betrayal and redemption, soc ...
. The show was broadcast on Swedish Television.
Hyvönen's most recent album, "Dream of Independence", was released in 2021 by RMV Grammofon. It was recorded at Riksmixningsverket with engineer Linn Fijal.
Musical syle
Hyvönen's music is piano and vocal driven, with a main focus on the melody and lyrics, which are often reminiscent of short stories. She covers subjects like funerals, breastfeeding, fertility, modernity, art, war, eating disorders, travels, abusive relationships, the economics of love, becoming a parent, the creative process. Live, she performs solo with grand piano, or more often, as a trio, with two other musicians. Among the musicians that have played in Frida's band are Linnea Olsson, Tammy Karlsson, Sarah Frey, Daniel Bingert, Amanda Lindgren, Marlene Johansson-Erlandsson, Jari Haapalainen, Anna Bergvall and Anna Lund.
Cover songs
In autumn 2007, Hyvönen recorded a cover of the R.E.M.
R.E.M. was an American alternative rock band formed in Athens, Georgia, in 1980 by drummer Bill Berry, guitarist Peter Buck, bassist Mike Mills, and lead vocalist Michael Stipe, who were students at the University of Georgia. One of the fir ...
song "Everybody Hurts
"Everybody Hurts" is a song by American rock band R.E.M. from their eighth studio album, '' Automatic for the People'' (1992), and released as a single in April 1993 by Warner Bros. Records. It was written by the band and produced by them with ...
", released in digital form by Stereogum
''Stereogum'' is a daily Internet publication that focuses on music news, reviews, interviews, and commentary. The site was created in January 2002 by Scott Lapatine.
''Stereogum'' was one of the first MP3 blogs and has received several awar ...
. She also covered the song "Sista dan tillsammans" together with Mattias Alkberg on ''Dubbel Trubbel'', a tribute to Olle Adolphson
Olle Adolphson (2 May 1934, in Stockholm – 10 March 2004, in Stockholm) was a Sweden, Swedish writer, singer and songwriter. He released a range of books (''Aubade'', ''Foliá''), LPs (''En stol på Tegnér'', etc.) and CDs (''Älskar inte ja ...
. Her cover of Judee Sill's " Jesus Was a Cross Maker" was released in September 2009 by label American Dust as part of ''Crayon Angel: A Tribute to the Music of Judee Sill''. In November 2010, she interpreted the poem "Neeijjj" on the compilation ''Sonja Åkesson tolkad av...''.
Discography
Albums
Singles
*2005: "I Drive My Friend", Licking Fingers/Playground.
*2008: "Traveling Companion" ( Marit Bergman featuring Frida Hyvönen),Sugartoy Recordings.
*2012: "Terribly Dark"
;Part of compilations
*2005: "Sista dan tillsammans" (in compilation ''Dubbeltrubbel''), EMI.
*2009: "Jesus was a crossmaker" (in compilation ''Crayon Angel: A Tribute to the Music of Judee Sill''), American Dust.
*2010: "Neeijjj", (in compilation ''Sonja Åkesson tolkad av...''), Playground Music.
References
External links
Homepage
Facebook Fan Page
Frida Hyvönen on Secretly Canadian
{{DEFAULTSORT:Hyvonen, Frida
1977 births
Living people
People from Robertsfors Municipality
Swedish people of Finnish descent
Swedish women songwriters
21st-century Swedish singer-songwriters
21st-century Swedish women singers
Secretly Canadian artists
Musikförläggarnas pris winners
Musicians from Västerbotten County