|
|
Only 15 year old from an island outside Stockholm Amanda Mair didn't have any official record as an artist when Labrador discovered her by pure luck in 2010. She had no Bandcamp or Myspace page, hadn't made any live shows or sent any demos to labels or press.
She did however record a few songs with friend of Labrador who - blissed out - later presented the songs for the enthusiastic label.
A musician since the age of four
Amanda started singing when she was four years old and she has since also played a bit of bass, guitar and drums. She was actually the drummer of a band in sixth grade that played covers by hard rock band Hellacopters. But it was when she started backing her singing by playing piano she suddenly felt at home.
- My voice and the piano are so strongly linked together it’s hard to separate them, Amanda says.
Debut single at 16
In the summer of 2011 Amanda Mair released her debut single “House” on Labrador which received critical praise internationally and immediately brought attention from TV, radio and major media in Sweden.
”The 16 (yes, 16)-year-old Mair sounds more like Kate Bush than Kate Bush does on her gorgeous, grown-up debut track" Washington Post
Late summer 2011 Amanda started recording her debut album together with producer Philip Ekström from the band The Mary Onettes. Another single, “Doubt”, was released on October 18. It was ‘Song of the day’ three days in a row on Popjustice who later announced the sixth best single of 2011.
Voted ‘Big breakthrough of 2012’
In the end of 2011 a big survey was conducted in Swedish Music Industry (people from TV, press, radio, record labels, publishers) to find the “Big breakthrough of 2012”. Amanda Mair won, and won big. Following this she rapidly became Sweden’s most talked about new artist.
Amanda’s debut album was released in February 2012 in Sweden (and Sweden only) and was by far the most successful debut in the official sales charts at the time, peaking at #16.
The single “Sense” was released internationally in April 2012 and the album will follow in June. Here’s what the UK press wrote about the single:
"This year's perfect pop song" SUNDAY TIMES
"Seventeen-year-old Swede flaunts her airy melodic chops on this catchy, nimble number" TIME OUT
“She’s Sweden’s next breakthrough artist after Lykke Li and Robyn” GUARDIAN
"Sure, before you know it you've completely warped your last.fm profile but you don't mind because you're now hooked on that chorus, making everything else in your life seem like faint background static" NME
|
|
|
