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| Album: Great big change. Song by song comments. She Freaks Me Out Stockholm, Sweden winter-07 "This is one of a couple ones we wrote during a writing camp at Mats Hedstroms place. He has the studio at home and had a riff lying around in his studio that we wanted to build something around. On a Friday I took off to enjoy the weekend to be back in the studio by Sunday. At least that was the plan. I penned this song in his kitchen on a cold Monday morning after experiencing an awful weekend." Summertime "Got the idea for this song sitting around watching TV after a day in the studio, wintertime in Stockholm. I remember writing most of the music that evening. I wrote most lyrics on the road being on tour in Norway. Before the tour I was looking through all my stuff and I thought I'd forgotten my microphone in Dino's studio in Austin, TX. I paniced and texted him wondering if I had left it there before I went back home to Sweden? Luckily I didn't forget it, but his respond to it all was something like; -You'd lose your head if it wasn’t stuck on. So that's where the second verse comes from." I Brought an Angel "GIRLS!!! If you're taken let us know right away" Heaven Isn't Far Away "A lovely music piece by Mjörnheim. Once again, I wrote the lyrics in Stockholm. It's honestly about someone who's actually going to pass away but don't know how to tell her loved ones. A pretty sad story but at the same time a great love story." Everytime "How can a three chord pop song take 5 years to write? But I think that answer my question why I never became a Jazz player. So it’s cool. Got the idea, verse and some lyrics after the Sony tour in -03 but didn't finish it with the help of some friends until -06 ...I believe? Hedström and I agreed on keeping it simple and he is responsible for the key change between the verse and chorus. The first thing that came to my mind when I sang the new chorus was "Everytime na na na.. I knew instantly that it was going to be the title and I think the rest turned out great! This is a new Mix made by Håkan Mjörnheim and me in Jan-08. One of my favorite songs to perform Live" Ashes Don't Burn "It can be really hard... I mean it's always hard to move on from someone you just lost in one way or another. But hopefully these few words of advice will help whoever wants to be cheered up out there" I'd Be There Anyway "There's an empty house just 15 minutes away from where I grew up where my grandfather's brother and his family used to live before they moved out. My grandfather still got the key and I often go there to just play and sing out loud or like in this particular case rehearse for a show. In between two of the songs I found myself starting to play parts from what turned out to be the intro and verse section for "i'd be there anyway" liked it from the first moment. It took me another couple of weeks before the melody started to grow in my head, and I would say that the song really took shape during a two week vacation with my friend Schlafer in Vir, Croatia -07 on his father's Spanish guitar. After the trip I had some time in the studio with Mjörnheim in Stockholm before I traveled to America and we knocked up a chorus pretty quick and recorded the song in a day or two." Have it Your Way "I was inspired by the great movie Sideways back in -04/05. And to be honest very much from my own life at that time as well. I love the part in the movie where Giamatti's character finds out that his ex girlfriend is going to get married and he decides to call her up after a couple glasses of wine. That's where I got the lines: And if you think I'm gonna drink 'n' dial you're damn right. So unplug your phone in time." I Found You "What I really enjoy with Mjörnheim sometimes is that he can just send me music pieces over the net that blows me away! It was summer -07 and I was in L.A at the time he sent me the music for this song. I wrote the lyrics in two weeks and sent back to him. We recorded and finished it in Stockholm Jan-08. This was the last song to be recorded for the album" Great Big Change "Mark Spiro has been one of my favourite artists and songwriters from when I first heard about him many years ago. I heard this song the first time in Austin, TX -06 and was very touched by it. I asked him if I could give it a try and record it when I went back to Sweden. He was very positive and happy that I wanted to do it and sent me some different backgrounds in different keys for me to try out. His recordings where really great but I felt that just an acoustic version with no drums and not too many instruments added was more what I was looking for. During the recording session in Gothenburg I remember being a bit nervous before laying down my guitar tracks and vocals. It was hard to not think about what Spiro would think of my version of the song. But when I finally sent him the song he was very thrilled about the result I made with my own guys. After Great Big Change we've written another song together over the net which I hope for everyone to hear in the future as well." This Is It "I met Phil Thornalley the first time by a coincident in Jörgen Elofsson's old studio in Stockholm during the writing session for the "Its All About Me" album. I knew a lot of Phil's work from the past with Nathalie Imbruglia and Bryan Adams, and I couldn't stop thinking to myself how cool it was to finally be in the same room with him. A song called I'll cry later on my first album was penned by Thornalley and Elofsson during that time. But it was not until -05 we made contact again and started working with some songs in his studio in London. "This Is It" was a track he sent me just one or two years ago. I recorded my vocals in Stockholm with Mjörnheim. Thornalley made this new mix in London Jan -08." Valentines Day "After the tour and hype around the first album in Sweden I spent one of my best New Year's in Munich, Germany with friend Schlafer. I stayed for a couple of days at his place and I remember one night that I started to sing the entire chorus to myself. From that moment I knew I was onto something big:) As soon as I came back to Stockholm I called up Hedstrom who I still hadn't met. We used an older verse idea I had and it worked perfect. The first song me and Hedstrom ever wrote the very first day we met was this one." The World Is Calling Some people touch my heart real deep But you’re the reason why it beats "That certain "you" I'm singing about does happen to be my grandmother. I really think that as a song writer, this is my best shot trying to let the world know how much she and my grandfather means and have meant to me from the day I was born. Despite her own every day struggles, her positive perspective about life and her joy just being around my grandfather and the rest of my family makes me so happy and inspired. Not only to go after what have I want to achieve in this life. But it also gives me hope and the will to pass on her positive energy to others as much as I can during my time here on this little ping pong ball called; Earth. The music for this song came to me first when I was living in Austin, TX a couple of month and in the early stage I had plans to write about something completely different witch didn't turn out that good. I decided to drop the idea for a while and went back home to Sweden. Back in Austin, TX a couple of month later the lyrics started to come to me and I wrote most of it one night sitting up while the others were sleeping. I finished up the last lines on the plane back home again and as soon as me and my family were all gathered around the kitchen table I read it out loud. Everyone of us started to cry as I was reading it so it was a memorably moment. Me and my band recorded the basics with acoustic guitars, bass, drums & vocals in Gothenburg @ Roadside Studios and sent it to Mjörnheim in Stockholm for him to lay down the electric guitars, strings & keyboards. This song is definitely one of my favorites & my grandmother now has a framed version of the lyrics hanging on the wall in her bed room translated into Swedish." I'd Walk Thru Fire "One thing that has been and will always be the most important thing for me when I'm recording songs is that a good song should still work playing on just one acoustic guitar or a piano as well as being backed up by a big 50 people orchestra. This song I think is definitely one of those tracks. I love performing this song whether it's just me in a small room or if a band is playing along with me at some bigger venues."
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