Tove Lo Trivia: 32 fun facts about the singer!

Tove Lo is a Swedish singer and songwriter.

Let’s find out some intriguing facts about her!

1. Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson was born 29 October 1987 in Stockholm, Sweden.

2. Her mother is a psychologist and her father is a businessperson.

3. She has one older brother.

4. Her lifelong nickname and adopted stage name, Tove Lo, was given to her at age three by her godmother because of her love for lynxes (singular: “lo” in Swedish).

5. Lo grew up in the affluent Djursholm district of Danderyd Municipality, just north of Stockholm.

6. She describes her childhood as being “very protected” and her family as “pretty posh”.

7. With her parents being academics, Lo earned good grades in school and grew fond of literature, writing poetry and short stories.

8. In an interview with the BBC, she explained, “Growing up so safe, I think I was looking for something else”.

9. Lo then developed a love for music and formed a girl band with her friends. With the band, she wrote her first song at age 10 or 11.

10. By age 15, Lo had written a compilation of lyrical content which “nobody ever saw” and had performed twice on stage, before enrolling at Rytmus Musikergymnasiet, a musical school in Stockholm.

11. During her time at Rytmus, Lo developed a friendship with Caroline Hjelt, who would later form the Swedish duo Icona Pop.

12. After two years, Lo graduated from the school and felt assured that her career would be in music despite her parents preferring otherwise.

13. An interview and profile of Tove Lo in W magazine in October 2016 referred to her as “openly bisexual,” citing that as one of several identifiers that “she once took for granted but are now very much part of her public persona.”

14. In an interview with Attitude magazine in January 2017, Lo referred to her own sexuality in non-binary terms: “Being open and owning my sexuality in both ways – with both men and women – I think that’s just never been a big deal”, she says, adding that she was very lucky growing up in a liberal country.

15. In March the same year she gave an interview with Out magazine stating that she had never been in a relationship with a woman.

16. Lo grew up idolising Courtney Love, inspired by grunge culture and the polarising lyrics of Love’s music and her band, Hole.

17. Lo also became fascinated with Love’s romantic relationship with Kurt Cobain, as well as the rawness and honesty of his music with band Nirvana.

19. While in high school, Lo developed a passion for pop music and songwriting, influenced mainly by the output of Swedish singers Robyn and Lykke Li.

20. She cites the simplicity and quirky lyrical content of French singer Charlotte Gainsbourg’s IRM (2009) as the main inspiration behind her career in music and said that it “opened a new world” for her sound-wise.

21. Her other musical influences include Amy Winehouse, The Weeknd, Jeff Buckley, Mikky Ekko and Silverchair.

22. Following the disbanding of Tremblebee, she pursued a career in songwriting and earned a publishing deal with Warner/Chappell Music in 2011.

23. Working with producers Alexander Kronlund, Max Martin, and Xenomania, she became a successful songwriter recording and independently releasing her own compositions.

24. In 2014, she was signed to Max Martin’s songwriting collective Wolf Cousins and was offered a recording deal. She signed to the AmericanIsland and Polydor Records in the UK.

25. Lo rose to fame with the release of her debut album Queen of the Clouds, which opened at number 14 on the U.S. Billboard 200 in October 2014. The album spawned the sleeper hit single, “Habits (Stay High)”, which peaked at number three on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100.

26. In addition to her solo work, Lo has cowritten a number of songs for other singers, including Hilary Duff’s “Sparks” and Ellie Goulding’s “Love Me like You Do”, a song that garnered her her first Grammy Award nomination for the 58th Grammy Awards.

27. She has collaborated with Coldplay, Flume, Alesso, Nick Jonas, Adam Lambert, Years & Years, Seven Lions, Broods, Lucas Nord, Urban Cone, and Wiz Khalifa.

28. Deemed “Sweden’s darkest pop export” by Rolling Stone, Tove Lo is known for her raw, grunge-influenced take on pop music.

29. Her characteristically honest, complex and autobiographical lyrical content has led to her being dubbed “the saddest girl in Sweden” by a number of media sources.

30. Lo says she created a media image for herself that is synonymous with her true identity.She has a prominent tattoo along her left upper arm of a girl harnessed to the back of a bumblebee, which is from the cover of the album Clear Hearts Grey Flowers by Jack Off Jill, the album design by Mark Ryden.A

31. Frequently barefoot during her live performances, Lo sports only two footwear items in her public appearances: Dr Martens and her signature platform Candie’s.

32. In 2014, Lo’s first clothing line, which she also modelled for, was released based on the lyrics of her EP, Truth Serum.