Sweden is too small for Eric Saade

Age: 20

Location: Stockholm

Family: Girlfriend Molly Sandén

Currently: Playing at Gröna Lund on Thursday August 25 and will release a new album this Fall

Eric Saade’s Favorites:

What is your favorite city in Sweden?

- Birkastan. It’s a quiet area although there is many restaurants and beer gardens anywhere. Especially around Rörstrandsgatan. It has a nice atmosphere.

What is your favorite restaurant?

- Raw. They have Sweden’s best sushi.

What are your favorite night clubs?

- I can’t tell. It wouldn’t be so fun for me to go there then. But I like the dance floor. All my friends are professional dancers, so we shall always have one dance floor wherever we go.

Which place do you prefer to attend a concert?

- Oops. I have probably attended most of concerts at the Globe. But I think the artist is more important than place. The best concert I’ve ever seen in my life was with Lady Gaga. It was the craziest thing I’ve ever seen, but also one 100% pop act.

On Thursday, Eric Saade will be back at Gröna Lund. Since last year’s hit concert, he has come third in Eurovision and sold platinum. The fact that his music faces by unanimous critics don’t bother him.

- It means as much as a mosquito in the air, he says.

Eric Saade remembered last year’s concert at Gröna Lund with joy in his voice.

- There were a lot people and it was really funny. There was a hell of pressure in front of stage but this year it will be even better, he says, when all Stockholm is calling for Thursday’s gig.

Right now he finds himself at the gym, an important place for an artist who dances on his shows as much as he sings.

- I burn a lot of energy on stage because I want to give the audience more than just a pop concert. I love to play live and we spend a lot of energy into dances, lights and other things, he says.

- It costs a lot but it is really important to me.

Inspired by Robyn

All summer, he is on tour with the show “Made of Pop,” based on songs from the album “Saade Vol. 1″ which was released in June. But fans won’t need to wait too much for new songs. Already in November, namely the sequel, “Saade Vol. 2″.

- Last album went platinum in four weeks. It’s quite magical – especially in a small country like Sweden. At the same time, we had a lot of material over which there was no room so when Robyn released three albums in one year, I thought I could do the same. It would be a shame to waste such good songs.

But unlike in Robyn’s case, the critics haven’t been as lyrical as the fans. One reviewer even called Saade previous record for “the opposite of life.”

- It means as much as a mosquito in the air. I care more about the 15 000 people that go to my gigs and that my records sell platinum than what the reviewers write. It’s OK for an artist becomes automatically sawn. It’s only Swedish envy.

You are incredibly popular right now – you may even stand on your best as a performer – it was what you had in mind?

- No, I do not think I have reached my best yet. I have only reached a tiny little bit. The next step is to turn abroad as well. I’m going to reach so far beyond Sweden’s borders as you never imagined.

Eric forced to put European career ambitions on hold

Following his triumphant third place at this year’s Eurovision, it seems as if the Swedish appetite for all things Saade is insatiable. Eric Saade talked to Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet about his music, plans and life after Eurovision.

With his latest album, Saade Vol. 1 currently riding high at the top of the charts, the young artist can apparently do no wrong. He has performed on the popular Allsång på Skansen TV show, something he doesn’t really think suited his image :” It’s a typical Swedish programme that really doesn’t suit me as an artist”, he tells Aftonbladet. Following his result at Eurovision, Saade exclaimed that he

intended to take Europe by storm, however during the summer, he has had to rethink his ambitious plans, as he quite simply hasn’t had enough time. “I haven’t got the time to prioritize a serious international career right now. Having said that, I’ve signed a record deal that covers 22 countries, brought out my single Hearts In The Air in Norway, so I guess you could say things are moving. But of course, it will take time to establish myself as an act in other countries; it took me five years to make it in Sweden.”

His album has almost shifted enough units to qualify for a platinum disc, and he is currently touring the country to promote his album further, as well as appearing on numerous TV shows to keep himself in the limelight. Saade is also very aware of just how valuable the exposure is that he has gained from appearing in such programmes as Allsång på Skansen : “It’s down to shows such as this that my newest single Hearts In The Air has become such a huge hit” he enthuses.

This past year has been a milestone in many ways, not least because of his breakthrough with Manboy in 2010, and he finally began to find his feet as an artist: “I’ve been allowed to do my own thing 100%. My first album didn’t really reflect the true me. Since then, I’ve had the time to evolve and write all of the tracks on my newest album, find myself and not least have the opportunity to try my hand at a completely different musical genre. It’s all about a more clubby vibe now, with electronica influences”, he says. When it comes to album sales, he looks to another Swedish pop export, Robyn. “It was Robyn who inspired me to release my album in two parts. Saade Vol. 2 is due for release in november. I think that’s the future”, he summarises, “If you’re going to release music, then you should release a lot of it at the same time. That approach really appeals to me”, he rounds off with, ending his interview on a high note and giving his fans much to look forward to in the coming months.

Screams for a very popular Eric Saade

Every era has a teen idol, and now it’s Eric Saade who is on the wallpapers. His Popular has really made him popular, particularly in the range from toddlers up to fifteen so-so. At least it seemed so from the front of the central square scene on this beautiful evening.

The reception was at least very loudly, screams came by to order every time he took the tone. Or did something else about anything, incidentally. And Saade himself thrived naturally as fish in water. This is really what the artist wants to do, which could be seen how clearly any time. That does not mean that the show was sensational in any way, but there is no denying that the commitment and the ambition is there.

For goal awareness is actually obvious, and now he wants to strike while the iron is hot. Already this fall will release third album Saade Vol. 2, so the fever is likely to continue in other words. The only question is how long the fun lasts. Young fans have known that they have a tendency to be unfaithful with their idols.

Next, and regarding only musical aspects, it can’t be denied that Saade is equipped with catchy tunes, even if we hardly talk in terms Cheiron heyday. It certainly was not hard to see that the kids were excited by the things that breakthrough hit manboy and Hearts in the Air, but production was just as on the discs, generally unnecessary monotony.

But all this does not matter to Saade himself. He faces the situation with confidence, and is convinced of his own excellence. We’ll just live up to their hype as well. Something that may prove difficult. On the other hand, it aimed at the tree tops may reach halfway. Which are likely to be necessary. To reach at least halfway, that is. For that situation is now the singer, by all means some promising qualities, but the hunger and desire to be on stage at the same time surpasses the capacity of the skills he is in possession of fairly well.

But that situation is now reigns, of course, Saade is the younger people’s idol, and having reached that position is of course an achievement only. I have, however, difficult to be impressed. In my eyes he is no more than a homespun boyband vocalist who is never around to trump their foreign colleagues. Although he was only twenty, but compare him with anyone in the Backstreet Boys or Take That in the same age, and class distinction is the (over) clear as anywhere in terms of singing, performing The move and artistry as a whole.