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about
Hailing from Blekinge on Sweden’s south-east coast, Hildur Höglind’s first releases as an artist were folk-led tracks marked by clever acoustic guitar work, a legacy of her long history with the instrument and her adolescence playing live shows around Sweden. But over the last few years she’s leaned more into the pop side of her stylistic range, crafting a sleek, dark sound that comes to the fore on her single “Mayday”.
“Mayday” is a pop song written on the edge, one that’s melodic and charming but also loaded with tension and nerve. Hildur’s vocal shows a mastery of restraint – she tells the story of the song, but with not a word more than she has too, painting an emotional picture but leaving the details for listeners themselves to draw in. All this is wrapped up into a bubbling pop song, one that’s sugary enough to draw you in, but with enough ice to match the vocals’ mood.
Hildur says “I almost always write with a guitar when I write alone, so the songs are usually built in that very scaled-back setting. “Mayday” I wrote with [producer] Joakim Buddee though, so for that one, we knew from the beginning approximately what direction we wanted it to go. I had some lyrics to build off of and he had a synth melody. Happy pop is great, but I think we need sad and melancholic pop as well. It gives depth, I think”.
Several of the song’s little touches showcases details of Hildur’s personality, including the fragment of French spoken-word she slips into the bridge. “I love incorporating little quirks in songs”, she says, “and this one is my all-time favourites. The word ‘Mayday’ as a distress signal comes from the French word m’aider which means help me. With time, it became mayday instead. I have always found languages interesting, and I wanted to bring that history of Mayday into the song somehow. The French part in the track is meant to resemble a distress call from someone at sea, which ties together with the being-in-too-deep theme of the song. The very first few seconds of the intro spells out SOS in Morse code. So there are a few things that we played around with when we made it”.
lyrics
The way you hold my hand
Do you, do you understand
What it does to a heartbeat
Being touched like you touch me
The way you’re leaning in
Just to feel my skin against your skin
Can your feel how my heart beats,
Out of pace when you touch me
ooohhhhh, can you comprehend just what I’m saying?
ooooohhh, I can tell you’re lonely, only playing
Oh mayday, oh mayday
Tell me what do you see when you look at me
Oh Mayday, oh Mayday
Standing in while you’re waiting for something real
Mayday
It’s that thing you do
Do you, do you see it too?
Like you mess with my body
Cuz you get with nobody
Always feeling me up
But never, never laying it down
When we talk you get tongue tied,
An emotional landslide
ooooohhh, I can tell you’re lonely, only playing
Oh mayday, oh mayday
Tell me what do you see when you look at me
Oh Mayday, oh Mayday
Standing in while you’re waiting for something real
Mayday
Je coule, je répète, je coule
Je ne sais pas où je suis
Il y a de l'eau partout
Aidez moi
Viens m’aider, viens m'aider
Oh mayday, oh mayday
Tell me what do you see when you look at me
Oh Mayday, oh Mayday
Standing in while you’re waiting for something real
Mayday
credits
released March 6, 2020
Written by Hildur Höglind and Joakim Buddee
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