The Swedish musician Cornelia Jakobs chats to Vogue Scandinavia about the release of her new single “Rise”.
And if you were one of 161 million people to tune into this year’s competition, you’ll be well acquainted with the new name set to join the list: Swedish singer Cornelia Jakobs. Then, fitted out in the same sparkling curtain of silver fringing (a H&M piece borrowed from her mother’s wardrobe), Jakobs’ rendition at Eurovision was one of the most mesmerising and goosebump-inducing moments of this year’s competition – with recordings on YouTube and social media now inundated with views.
Since that Eurovision moment, Jakobs’ journey has been a relentless, upward trajectory – touring nationally, headlining overseas shows, and taking home two Rockbjörnen awards – all leading up to the milestone release of her follow-up track, suitably named “Rise”. “Rise” describes the moment when you sense the first glimpse of light after a long time being lost in the dark,” Jakobs says. The new track offers up the same vocal prowess and emotive appeal as “Hold Me Closer”, so it only makes sense to hear that Jakobs worked with the same writing team: her best friend of 16 years, Isa Molin, and musician David Zandén.
“Since Isa knows me so well, it feels really natural to write about life and raw emotions,” she says. Isa and David had been working a lot together over the past years, and then the three of us wrote “Hold Me Closer” and “Rise” in our first sessions together. After that we’ve been writing many more songs which I can’t wait to finish and release.”
There is a likeness, often noted by fans online, between Jakobs and Marie Fredriksson of Swedish pop duo Roxette – mostly owing to the arresting vocal capacity they share, but helped by their similar cropped blonde hairstyles. Jakobs dyed hers from her natural dark shade at the start of the year “out of boredom”.
“I was tired of the dark and I felt kind of lighter in my mind, so I felt like blonde suited this period better.” Themes of light and dark also arise in the lyrics of “Rise” (“suddenly it seems so easy, I’m slowly getting closer to the light”) and permeate Jakobs’ musical influence too: “I feel like Scandinavian music often has more darkness to it, which I can relate to with my writing.”
But it seems there’s nothing but light ahead for Jakobs, as she basks in the well-earned recognition and fan attention for her talent. Among the recent sold-out dates of her tour was a show in London, “A highlight of that show was when about 60 people in the front row held up butterflies they’d made out of paper in different colours, at the same time as I sang “I wanna know about butterflies”, she shares, referencing the lyrics of her song “Daylight”. “I have the best fans, and they love to surprise me with stuff like that!”
Six months on from the career-changing Eurovision moment, Jakobs says her schedule is a lot more packed and there are more people at shows, but she is still yet to properly process it all.