Favourite Celebrities: May 2011

Friday, May 27, 2011

Interview with Eric Saade by human2stay

1. Eric, you still have got no gigs, no big shows outside of Sweden. But there already are hundreds of thousands people all over Europe who know and love you... So, in fact, your name occurred and became known long time before you've done anything real on this market in Europe. Isn't it a paradox?

Yeah! Of course it is... But I did one appearance in the Eurovision last year when I read the Swedish votes. I think many people saw me there, and they searched me up on youtube and stuff, and they found my music... And I think that's how we won. And I'm very glad of that, and I wanna spread my music all over Europe of course. My goal is to make people see me this time in Eurovision as a singer instead. And I wanna build something big in Europe, in all over world.
I mean if I get the breakthrough in Europe – that's a good start. Because when and if you get the breakthrough in Europe, they will hear about that. And then you can go to America, and make a record deal, and hopefully write new songs for the American market. I want to do that. But it's in the future. Right now I wanna go for Europe. Europe is my home, so that's what I wanna do.

2. Is there really a trend in Europe, that pop music becomes more electronic, or is it just a fashion for a couple of seasons?

I think it will go more electronic, absolutely. And I love electro-pop. Electro-pop is my thing actually. My upcoming album is almost only electro-clubbing-pop. And that's what I do, and I love that style.
But I don't know if it has been changed in Europe as you say. I just think it's important that you do your own thing. You never change it, you're doing your own thing, and you go with that. And I'm gonna go with electro-clubbing-pop, because that's what I wanna do.
But of course, I love piano acoustic versions of songs. So when I like the song very much, I'm always gonna do the acoustic version. I want my fans to hear my voice for real when they just sit down and relax. And I also want my fans to dance with me. I gonna do both things. Not many artists do that. But I'd love, I'm gonna continue doing it. Working in the studio, when I just feel such a feeling – okay, this is a great melody for the piano, so I say: let's use the piano instead of the electronic pop.

3. Some people say: "Eric Saade has been totally produced", meaning that when your management says "Eric, do it", you just do. But your handshake is not that soft at all, you don't seem like a person who can be manipulated easily. So does the management rule, or not?

I've been... What do you say, I've been walking a long way! I've not did the programs like X-Factor, or Idol, do you know... Everyone is from those programs today, but I didn't. So I did walking the old way, old school way. So, if say honest, if people are saying on my product "It's produced" – I would say that's disgusting.
All decisions are made by me. I'm a control freak. I always decide myself. I write my music videos, I write my songs (not Popular, because I was on tour while that in Sweden), I wrote my performance in the Melodifestivalen, with the glass – that was my idea. I use a good choreographer... I mean, my manager is more like a daddy to me. He follows me, he cares on my business... And I'm his boss!

4. When reading Eurovision fan forums, you can see a lot of angry towards different nations. People don't even remember that the music is a matter of taste, they just use it as a gun... Sad, isn't it?

For me it's all about the music. I mean if you love music – you love music, you can't change this. But for persons who doesn't love music, it just needs to be angry and talking about a lot of shit... I don't care about that. I'm not putting my energy on that. Because I'm a music lover, and I bet you are too. So people just should be honest, and just listen to the music. Because that's what's it about.

5. Are all those steps that you've taken on your way to the Contest a master plan of you, or just a chain of accidents?

It was a plan. I mean, I got signed for my first record label when I was about 15 (I'm 20 today). So I've been signed for a record label five years. And when we first talked about my career, we talked that we gonna go slow, but we gonna go far. So when I got the chance to perform in the Swedish Melodifestivalen last year, I didn't wanna win. So I came in third place, I made a Swedish tour, I got my breakthrough in Sweden. And it was a successful year for me.
And then I said to my management that this time we gonna win. This time we gonna do it, because now we can build something. And I have a lot of videos behind me, and when people search, they would find a lot of things... We have got a better way to have a breakthrough in Europe this year than last year.
And that's the plan. And we won it in Sweden. And I'm here because I'm gonna win Eurovision.

Full version of this interview is here http://www.zvuki.ru/R/P/25187/ (It's in Russian)