Video: Tove Styrke - Number One

Tove Styrke's Kiddo is my favourite pop album of the year. Strident, self-confident and shockingly catchy, it is by far the best album ever released by a former runner-up on Swedish Idol.

The best track, Even If I'm Loud It Doesn't Mean I'm Talking To You, was a single last year. Tove described it as "a shocking pink fuck you to all the people who think their penis bands are automatically more talented than one twenty-something girl on stage. Those who think it itches a little uncomfortable with mainstream pop and must speak about it."

That perspective - of a woman finding her voice against the weight of expectation - is threaded through the album. Tove says its "perfectly natural to sing about problems, any kind of problems — not just drinking or love and stuff."

Number One is the album's fourth single, and one that addresses how she's taken control of her music since the rushed, self-titled debut that came out immediately after her stint on Swedish Idol.

"Hot glam seems far away from where I am," she sings. "I can neither understand it nor demand it / Your tears don't shake my world like Britney Spears / She's fierce."

The chorus ends with the observation "no-one ever wants to give me one, but everybody loves a number one." In lesser hands it could sound self-pitying. Here, though, Tove sounds freed by the lack of pressure and the carefree attitude spreads to the video, which you can see below.

Tove Styrke - Number One

Tweet