Agnes

Alice Gee | 16/10/2025

Fresh from a period of reflection and self-discovery, Agnes is returning to the stage with a new album that strips everything back to its raw, essential core. After years away from the public eye, she’s exploring vulnerability, creative freedom, and the messy beauty of being human, a marked contrast to the maximalist layers of her previous work.

For Agnes, this is more than just music. It’s a celebration of joy, self-expression, and the people and inspirations that keep her grounded along the way.

Agnes

I’m in the process of getting the whole live setup together. My head’s really in that right now. It feels good. It’s been such a long time since I was out there, so it’s really beautiful to be putting everything together again.

Alice

Sometimes it’s nice when you take a bit of a break from something and spend time creating other things, then come back to it feeling refreshed, and invigorated and excited by it again.

Agnes

I released my last album during the pandemic, so I never went out touring with that. This tour is going to be like a celebration for the new and the previous album.

Alice 

Was it emotional that you couldn’t go out and perform because of covid?

Agnes 

I think it was both. Before I started working on Magic Still Exists, my last album, I’d had about four years away from the public. So it really felt like starting from square one again. In a way, that made it feel quite safe to release something. There wasn’t that pressure of, “Okay, now there’s a tour, and you have to go everywhere.” It was actually quite beautiful to release music like that. I was still able to perform, but in new ways. People were so creative during the pandemic, everyone was figuring out, “Okay, how do we do this now?” So I did get to perform, just differently. But I didn’t have the chance to actually meet the people listening to the music. So now, getting to do that for real feels pretty overwhelming in a good way.

Alice

It’s also nice that your fans already know you and the album so deeply. You’ll get to see the best of them, how they connect with your music, how they respond to the new songs, and how they adapt to that. It must be really beautiful to watch that transition.

Agnes 

It’s so interesting. When you’ve been in the studio writing the songs, you’re in one kind of energy. But then when you start preparing them for the live show, so many new things open up. Just yesterday we started working on Ego, the last single, and I was like, ah! You hear new things you hadn’t noticed before. That’s what’s so beautiful about playing live: you experience the songs in new ways, and they can take on new meanings you hadn’t thought about before.

Alice 

The new album feels very direct and stripped back, almost like a naked view of yourself, with every part of you on display. What inspired you to be so open and to present everything in such a bare, vulnerable way, without any hidden layers or mirrors?

Agnes

I think it was a natural effect of coming out of the last album. With that one, my goal was to create something that made me feel stronger and lighter, to see the light at the end of the tunnel, the glitter in the sky, to feel the wind in the air. I wanted to write something that reminded me that everything’s going to be okay, that everything is okay.

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But with this album, I wanted to explore something different, that everything isn’t always okay, and that’s okay too. I was more inspired by how complex we are, how we can feel and think so many conflicting emotions at once. There’s something really beautiful and raw in that.

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I also decided to start this album from the lyrics. With the last one, we spent a lot of time figuring out what kind of universe we wanted the music to live in, like what it should sound like, what I should say, how it should feel. We started with the melodies and then wrote the lyrics, and sometimes that came easily, but other times it felt like an impossible puzzle. So this time I thought, What happens if I start with the words? And it opened up so many new things for me.

Alice

It's interesting when you're fitting lyrics to melodies, you're so focused on gelling and working on that to make it raw and vulnerable.

Agnes

Yes, exactly. You get that feeling when you’re recording the vocals. I’m really sensitive to that, like if there’s a melody and the high note goes “ah,” but I can’t find a word that fits that sound, it becomes frustrating. So it was actually a huge relief to start from the lyrics this time and then build the melodies around them.

Alice

We live in a world where everything is so glossy, with the idea of what everyday looks like. We live in the era where everything is through a filter or lens. How do you learn to focus on being so honest in this album? How do you let go of perfection and embrace the vulnerability and the reality of life?

Agnes

It’s definitely something I’ve thought about a lot. I was actually really late to using social media, and I think that’s because I’m so sensitive to energy. There’s just so much going on all the time. So I’ve really made an effort to carefully choose who I follow and what I feed myself with.

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I’m also surrounded by so many free-spirited people, who are the complete opposite of that polished, filtered social media world. They ground me and remind me of the beauty  and the importance of not focusing too much on things like, Do I look perfect in that picture? It’s something I try to stay conscious of all the time.

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I actually get most inspired by things that aren’t perfect, when something’s unpolished, strange, or a bit weird. My main inspirations are older, eccentric women, people like Diane von Fürstenberg and Diana Vreeland, women who are so grounded in who they are and fully focused on expressing themselves. They remind me how important it is not to be too concerned with looking perfect or polished.

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That was something I also thought about after making Magic Still Exists, asking myself, Where do I want to go now? With that album, I was thinking so visually about its whole world and identity.

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Sometimes I felt a bit stuck, because the sillies are nice, but what happens here and here and here? That was something I was thinking about with this new album.

Alice

I love that. It's so interesting, what we have and consume, has an impact. Who I follow and what I see on social media will affect how I feel. Did you have any reservations or nerves about being so vulnerable, or was it invigorating and exciting to be yourself?

Agnes

I think my biggest concern is whether I’m being true. Have I really reached the essence of what I want to say, or am I taking the easy way out? I’m not nervous about putting myself out there; it’s more about asking, Have I gotten to the bones of this?

Alice

It’s so important that you want to do it justice and make sure you’ve not just touched the surface of it, that you’ve really gone deeper. You’ve worked with some amazing people for this album too. Some of Sweden’s best writers and producers. I love that there’s a sense of home in it as well.

When you work with others, you get to see their perspective and their take on things, and that can often inspire ideas or new ways of looking at something. How did working with these people give you a different perspective, and help create something new through that shared lens?

Agnes

What was so wonderful about this album was that I had already done the work of finding the people I wanted to collaborate with. On the last album, I figured out what my process really is, how I need to work to bring out the best in myself and in the people around me.

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For this album, I actually continued working with pretty much the same team, except for one new person, Franz. We wanted to bring him in because he comes from more of a house background, and it was so interesting to bring that energy into the mix. We’d start working on a song, and he’d come up with things we never would have thought of.

That’s something I really love about collaboration, whether it’s with Hannah Kish, my stylist; Lin, who I do all the choreography with; or Lisa, my creative director. These are people I know so well, and we can push each other. We know when to say, “No, you can do better than that,” but we also have each other’s backs and know when someone needs space.

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For me, that’s been the key, understanding what I need to do to bring out my best, and how having a clear vision helps everyone around me bring their own magic. Every day I’m inspired. I might have an idea “Let’s do it like this”, then someone else says, “What if we try it like that?” And it’s mind-blowing every time.

Alice

Having people and teammates by your side makes it a different experience. I love that. You've had inspiration from different things for this album. What was it about those inspirations that connected with what you wanted to express on the album, the things that made you feel seen, understood, and inspired?

Agnes

There were a few different things that inspired me. One of the main ones was asking myself, What happens if I start with the lyrics? That became the foundation. I knew I wanted to make something more raw and rough. With Magic Still Exists, we were very maximalist, layers upon layers, so this time I wanted to see how we could use fewer elements and give each one more space.

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During that process, I was listening a lot to Róisín Murphy. I think she’s a master at creating songs that are really hooky but still keep that rough, alive feeling you often get in the first demo. It’s easy to lose that when you polish a song too much, when you’re finishing it, that rawness can slip away. I was so inspired by how she manages to hold onto that energy.

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I was also really inspired by the artist Mark Rothko. I’d seen his work online for years, but then I went to Paris and visited a museum that was showing only his paintings. I was blown away, his art is so simple, but so strong and direct. You can really see someone getting to the essence of what they’re doing.

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I love comparing music to painting in that way. When you look at a painter’s body of work, you can actually see their evolution, you notice when they find their thing, their voice. It reminded me of the importance of simplifying, of stripping things back. Even though this album still has a lot going on, I kept that in mind throughout the whole process.

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Alice

I love the natural progression of your journey. You started making music so young, and suddenly you were catapulted into this industry, which isn’t always the kindest or easiest world to navigate.

What was that like for you at the time? Did you feel you could truly be yourself and express what you wanted to, or has it been more of a gradual process to reach the point where you can now say, “This is who I am, this is what I want to do”?

Agnes

The beautiful thing was that, when I started out, there was no social media, which I think was a good thing. It was still such a journey for me. I think that process of figuring out who I am as an artist really began before I made Magic Still Exists. I took about four years out of the public eye to ask myself all those big questions.

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From the very beginning, it was a struggle because I hadn’t given myself enough time to understand who I was, as an artist, a songwriter, a person. But even through that, I had these really strong moments of connection, when it felt like there was a pure line running straight from my heart outward. Those moments reminded me that this is where I’m supposed to be. The frustration came when I didn’t feel that connection but didn’t yet know how to fix it.

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Taking that time away helped me learn about myself and my creative process and also the basics of music production. That was really empowering. It meant I didn’t have to rely on others just to bring an idea to life; I could take more control over my own sound. It was a long journey, but looking back, those moments of truth and clarity were what pushed me to dig deeper and do the hard work.

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Alice

That time for self-discovery feels so important. Maybe it’s because I’ve just turned 30, but I’ve also been learning how to set boundaries, connect with myself, and stop morphing into what I think others expect me to be. There’s something really beautiful about coming into your own, even though our identities keep evolving. I love that you gave yourself space to do that.

How has this whole process of getting to know yourself, exploring your music and identity, been for your mental health? Has creating that space for yourself helped you find balance and clarity?

Agnes

It's important to understand who you are and how to enjoy the ride. If you’re not in a state of calmness or joy, it’s really hard to stay creative. It goes back to “Ego” and what that song is all about asking yourself, "What's running my life right now? Is it fear, or is it joy?”

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I think it’s so important to keep checking in and to ask, What’s driving me right now? For me, it’s also about being surrounded by people who inspire me, and, as we talked about earlier, actively choosing to engage with things that make me feel good, inspired, happy, and a bit like a kid again.