Tove Lo's Way Around a Pop Hook Proves Habit Forming

Sweden has a number of things going for it musically. For one thing that's where ABBA came from and you need only ask my mother for a story of how great their danceable pop is. Metal band Europe is either liked or loathed for bringing "The Final Countdown" into existence. No one's mistaking their sound for Judas Priest but something about them was undeniably steeped in delicious USDA Grade-A certified cheese and who outside of the lactose intolerant wouldn't benefit from extra cheese in the diet. When the '90s rolled around in came Ace of Base, an act that easily earned guilty pleasure status thanks to "All That She Wants" and "The Sign". Nothing Ken Jennings mind-expanding about either song. The ace in the hole for both was a tendency towards candy sweet hooks that made the lyrics a blissful afterthought. Place either song in spitting distance of your not so friendly neighborhood curmudgeon and I swear he or she will don an apron and start baking cookies like those your grandma staked her own reputation on. "Barbie Girl" brought Aqua's name into the mix in 1997. You can take or leave them and I'm siding with leave not because I think it's the biggest creative manure pile ever released but because it's a bit too goofy to warrant clapping your hands like a trained seal when you hear the first few bars. Tove Lo is a Swedish starlet on the hoped for rise who's now stepping into the cultural arena with "Habits (Stay High)". She's got my attention all right. How did she maintain it? She manages by pulling her pipes to what sparse arrangements she's given to work with. The starving in Africa are met with greater generosity than Tove is at the mixing board. Rather than shirk away from the spotlight's intense heat she makes the most of her turn at the mike. I hand it to her for knowing the difference between desperate and cloyingly needy. "Habits (Stay High) gives the account of a lonely Swedish girl who needs to stay high constantly to beat back the loneliness that's part and parcel to not having her special someone close at hand. Twinkies lovers listen up 'cause your favorite snack craving gets a fist bump. I regret to inform you that they come out on the wrong end of binge purge session which lands right in Tove's bathtub. Gross, gross, triple gross. As a guy who knows how they inject the nutrition starved creme filling into those suckers I'm truly appalled. From touch, to smell, to taste, Twinkies were not meant to hurled either physically or internally. Show some respect, Tove Lo!! There's something to be said for Tove Lo's implication that money tastes lonely particularly at the bottom of a bottle. The instruments getting top billing are two in number, drum processing machine, and keyboards, also whipped into the Cuisinart. Like I said heightened breathing room allowing Tove to hammer home how lonely she is. My takeaway from her spirit saturated loneliness is she hasn't come to the end of her rope yet. Is it a Swedish charm thing? The Swedish Chef from The Muppet Show was hen-pecked more times than I can count but you still felt compassion for the man because he could never complete a dish without the entree making his life miserable. Here we have Tove, damsel bleeding out vulnerability, somehow not getting us to throw up our hands in disgust at the pity party she's practically bought balloons and pastry for. Sensitivity not pushed to the brink saves her behind. Lately there hasn't been quite as much tender pathos stemming from an "Ooh-ooh" as the one she brings to the forefront. Tossing the potential appeal to "Habits (Stay High)" in my gourd a bit I believe she's nailed the moment where liquor has stripped her defense enough to up her likability and therefore our hope that she's not this down in the dumps too much longer. Tove Lo is travelling through a harrowing wind tunnel. We wish her the best in seeing her way to the other side before the weight of her despair dismantles her battle readiness for good. She picks up daddies at the playground for gosh sakes. Channeling one's inner strumpet doesn't tend to end well. I know the lure of play pretend where the fun ain't got no end. The video is your tour guide through Tove Lo's embattled horror house. Had she practically squealed the words out we may not have been encouraged to care on quite a measurable level. At the musical movable feast there's always room for a creatively divergent appetizer. Tove Lo gets an A in Knife Handling 101 even if the blade is teetering dangerously close to her already battered heart. This girl's habits are definitely ones you want to make your own.