When Kendra Egerbladh, AKA Swedish singer-songwriter Waterbaby, walks through her native Stockholm, she is overcome with heartache, stunned by the beauty of the city where she was born and raised. Each street transports her back to the past and suddenly, she’s 18 again and heartbroken, planning how to turn that pain into art. This misty-eyed nostalgia was the driving force behind her debut EP as Waterbaby, released this week (June 14).
The ‘Foam’ EP is burdened with feelings of intense longing yet there’s a quiet hope bubbling just below the surface. On ‘911’, each line speaks of possibility and, in a playful chorus, Egerbladh’s imitation of an emergency services’ siren becomes her catchiest hook. The record R&B, folk and alt-pop in a hazy sonic voyage through Egerbladh’s influences which range from Frank Ocean to Fleet Foxes.
In the lead up to releasing her own music, Egerbladh has garnered a following through collaborations with fellow Swedish artists, alt-popstar Seinabo Sey and folk singer Hannes, the latter of whom she released velvety folk R&B track ‘Stockholmsvy’ with, which has garnered more than 27 million streams on Spotify. Yet she has remained somewhat of an enigma, rarely giving interviews and quietly crafting her EP over a three year period. She speaks to NME on a Zoom call from her bedroom in Stockholm after recovering from an illness that forced her to cancel her first London show.
“Hope, to me, is a constant,” she says. “I would say I’m a hopeful person, but the EP was also about going back to whatever emotional space I’d been at during different times and shadowing that on the record.” A choir school education prepared the singer for a musical career where she followed in the footsteps of her mother who would sing in gospel choirs while Egerbladh was growing up.
Evoking the plunging emotions of SZA’s soulful alt-R&B and the hazy bedroom pop of Biig Piig, the new record basks in bittersweet yearning. “I’m a very nostalgic person,” Egerbladh says. “I revisit memories so much that it’s almost unhealthy.” Music then has become a fitting outlet for these feelings, twisting an obsession with the past into a future-facing genre-fluid sound. Lyrics like “I still miss you” and “Call me if you need someone” gain emotional weight as repeated refrains that drip with longing.
Splitting her time between making music in the studio with producer Marcus White [Seinabo Sey, Anna of the North, Tyrese] and her day job at a boutique in Stockholm, Egerbladh takes an uncompromising outlook on the future of her career. For the moment, she’s happy to just chill out and appreciate the achievement of releasing her first EP, but a Nordic tour awaits along with a rescheduled London show this September and a festival in the French Riviera alongside Porridge Radio, Bar Italia and more. “To go out and play it for people who have heard it enough to want to hear it live and sing with me is truly one of the things I’ve been dreaming about,” she says.
NME: Your debut EP, Foam, depicts a hopeful yet melancholy sense of yearning. What headspace were you in when you were making it?
“Literally every single headspace because it was created over a three year period. Some of the songs are me going back to being 18-years-old and heartbroken, but at the same time, I’m very hopeful. Hope, to me, is a constant. I’d say there’s a sad hope and a longing to feel that links all the songs on the record.”
R&B is experiencing a revival right now spearheaded by artists like FLO, No Guidnce and Sam Austins. Do you feel like a part of any genre based movements?
“I feel like I have R&B in my bone marrow. I connect with that genre, but when it comes to my music, I have a really hard time putting myself in any box. I know that other people are gonna put my music in a box anyway. People have such different perceptions. Someone literally said that I make Afrobeats the other day, so I’m just trying to let the whole genre thing go and let the music sound like whatever it sounds like. I truly just want the music to speak for itself and let it land however it lands with each and every listener. It’s gonna sound the same no matter what I or someone else calls it, but I definitely grew up with R&B so I connect with it.”
You’ve collaborated with fellow Swedish artists like Hannes and Seinabo Sey. How have these collaborations helped you find your own voice?
“What’s been really cool about the order that I release stuff and doing features is seeing the machinery behind it all, working with different people and seeing how differently people work. The creative side and also the rest of it. I have learned a lot basically and I feel like it was really good to have that insight before releasing my own stuff. Just easing into it.”
What’s the best advice you’ve been given and who gave it to you?
“Seinabo Sey said never expect that people have their shit together which I really needed to hear at that time, because I just assumed that no one would have their shit together less than I do, but it’s just not the case.”
Do you struggle with imposter syndrome?
“Yeah, especially because I didn’t excel academically so that’s always been there from school years. School wasn’t great. It was just something to get through. I had fun because I was having fun and I should’ve focused sometimes. The best part was the music and that was the part that I could do well. I did have teachers who helped me get through school and who saw me and thought I was struggling a bit. I’d end up feeling like a big mess sometimes.”
Stockholm is referred to as ‘beauty on water’ because it exists across several islands. Your name as an artist and the name of the EP are both inspired by water. Why do you feel drawn to water and what does it represent to you?
“I think I have a problem committing to just one thing, with genre or whatever. Water can literally be any shape or form. It can be a solid or a liquid or whatever. I’ve always loved water. I love being submerged in water. My name is Kendra which is a Welsh name that means waterbaby so that’s where the name came from.”
Do you think living in the city that you grew up in helps you creatively? Do you tap into all of these past memories when you’re writing music?
“I do. I’m a very nostalgic person and I revisit memories so much that it’s almost unhealthy. I tend to look at the past through shimmery glasses. Revisiting an old place will truly put me back in whatever moments have the strongest connection to that place. I was talking to my friend the other day and we were saying how Stockholm in the summer is the prettiest place I know. It’s so pretty it almost makes me sad sometimes. I’m obviously very nostalgic because I grew up here, but I like to think that even if you didn’t, there’s still some nostalgia and heartache in the city. It’s just so beautiful.”
Sweden is one of the largest exporters of pop music in the world with artists like Zara Larsson and COBRAH coming out of the country in recent years. How do you think the Swedish pop scene is evolving?
“I think, like with everything, the lines are very blurred right now. I think it’s going to continue to get more blurred and more mashed up. It’s interesting to see what’s happening and it’s also fun because it means that people don’t have to stick to their one thing as much. They can be a bit freer when it comes to creating stuff.”
You’ll be touring this autumn. What does it mean to you to connect with listeners in a live space?
“So much. It’s one of those things I’ve been dreaming about. To actually be able to go out and play for people who have heard it enough to want to come and hear it live and sing with me. That’s the dream.”
Waterbaby’s debut EP ‘Foam’ is out now
The post Waterbaby: the new Swedish star capturing hometown nostalgia appeared first on NME.
