Swedish-born Natali Felicia is a breath of fresh air. She has released two of the year’s most astonishing songs, both of which recaptured pop music’s timeless narrative. First up was “Used To Be” in March, a jaw-dropping mixture of melancholy, relatability and catchiness. It was followed up this summer with the epic grandeur of “Easy Ride” whose accompanying video somehow managed to be as stratospheric visually as it was musically.
Felicia’s music creates a world that’s entirely her own and is soundtracked by a vast, sweeping tunefulness that debunks the myth that pop is a dirty word. She describes her songs as pop, but with a caveat: “It’s not happy pop, it’s a dark world but there’s still some hope there. You can see the light in the tunnel but it’s quite dark and dreamy.”
Her family gave her a guitar and she started playing cover versions, mainly Johnny Cash songs. She then began to write her own songs and played them live, which was a turning point. “I went to open mics and performed them and I got a really beautiful response, which really motivated me to continue. Slowly and steadily I started to find my own way.”
Mikael Häggström (Ane Brun) added drums and Johaness Berglund (The Knife) joined on mixing duties. Whilst Felicia doesn’t produce the music, she verbalises what she’s looking for from her collaborators: “I don’t know the producer part, but I can explain how I want the sound picture and what elements I want.” The songwriting process is fluid, but who writes what isn’t set in stone, she explains: “I sit with my guitar and come up with a few phrases and a melody and we work with that or it can come from Andreas or we can start something from scratch, it’s always different.”
The Fat Angel Sings 