Andrรฉ and Nicole make up the Swedish husband-and-wife indie pop duo Paradise Power. In 2025, the duo embarked on a creative project to release one original song each month, with every track inspired by the distinct essence of that month. Paradise Powerโs sound weaves together a diverse range of influences, including bossa nova, guitar pop, disco, prog rock, and folk, all unified by their signature melodic charm. Their storyโblending partnership, creativity, and a year-long musical experimentโoffers a compelling narrative for an engaging piece. Check out the exclusive interview:
1. Your roots can often shape your journey. Can you share a story or moment from your early life that had a significant impact on your path into music?
Nicole: Getting my first Janis Joplin CD for Christmas from my parents, who thought โit was timeโ, at the age of 12. Together with watching the musical Hair, itโs one of the things that has had a big impact on my musical path. My mother had a cover band when I grew up, and they rehearsed in our garage. I remember being so proud of having a rockโnโroll mum. She also sang to my siblings and me every night before bedtime, and itโs still the most beautiful thing anyone can do I think โ sing you a lullaby.
2. Did your musical journey begin with formal training, or was it more of a personal exploration? How has that shaped your unique approach to your craft?
Nicole: I have formal flute training, but taught myself guitar.
I learned to play the wooden flute in school when Iย was seven years old, and my teacher Agneta was just a happy and inspiring teacher who let my friends and me have fun with the music (and somehow also managed to teach us how to play).
When I was around 8-9 years old, my best friend and I joined the local communal music school and tried a bunch of different instruments one afternoon. We both knew we would pick the saxophone cause it was the coolest instrument, but I couldnโt even make a sound when I tried it. The silver flute, however, yielded a clear tone instantly, so it chose me.
My teacher Arne, who taught me to play the silver flute, was a sweet old man who understood that I couldnโt be forced to join the orchestra, but loved to play duets with me. He made me love the instrument and find my own way into what I wanted to play.ย So all in all, I had some very inspiring music teachers when growing up.
Andrรฉ: Iโm completely self-taught. I actually got some guitar lessons in school from this old Danish teacher when I already knew the basics, and it immediately took out the fun of it. For me, music is mainly about exploration and improvisation, and not to be told what to play. So Nicole and I come from very different musical backgrounds, but somehow we make it work!
3. Who were some of the most influential figures in your early musical life, and how did they inspire your sound? Also, whatโs the story behind choosing the name โPARADISE POWERโ?
Nicole: My mum, Janis Joplin, and Swedish artists like Bjรถrn Afzelius and Nationalteatern had a big influence on me growing up. But also Swedish dance band Arvingarna, and world music (my dad travelled a lot and often brought home CD:s with music). I have always been drawn to music that is in some way influenced by folk music, like Mike Oldfield and such.
Andrรฉ: Swedish pop sensations Gyllene Tider, Roxette, as well as power metal bands like Iron Maiden and Helloween were my music of choice during the 80s. Super melodic music, in other words. The genre was less important; I was satisfied as long as the song had a great hook. Something I carried with me in my own music-making for sure.
I believe we channelled the band name during a nonsensical, stream-of-consciousness session, probably involving a lot of wine. We wanted something that sounded like a name you would give a trotting horse (harness racing is super-popular in Sweden). Something that would sound good as well.
4. What do you believe sets your music apart? How would you describe your sound to someone discovering you for the first time, and what emotions or experiences do you hope to evoke in your listeners?
Andrรฉ: What has so far set us apart is the release schedule (one song per month). We have probably not been very good at communicating our overall musical style to the average debut listener, haha. But people who have listened to our solo projects Stars in Coma and Anna Nicole will feel right at home, I think. Itโs heartfelt indie pop with a lot of genre-hopping. I hope the listener hears that weโre having fun when weโre writing music.
5. For most artists, originality is first preceded by a phase of learning and, often, emulating others. What was this like for you? How would you describe your own development as an artist and music maker, and the transition towards your own style, which is known as INDIE?
Nicole: I started writing my own music quite late, and I think my style developed from all the years of listening to different types of music, combined with playing live with Stars in Coma for a long time. And now, with this joint project, I believe it gets a unique sound from combining our two different sensibilities.
Andrรฉ: Blending our styles can be quite a challenge sometimes, but a fun one when it works out. We have some influences that we both love, like Joni Mitchell or Ed Harcourt. Then I would say Nicole is more into modern folk pop acts like Mumford & Sons and David Ramirez, while I come from a more traditional indie pop background. When I make music for my solo project, I tend to use a lot of weird chord progressions and plucky synth sounds, but Iโve tried to tone down that somewhat for Paradise Power.
8. Can you walk us through your creative process? From the first spark of an idea to the finished track, whatโs the most essential part of your process, and how do collaboration or external influences shape your work?
Nicole: There are really two kinds of processes. Sometimes,ย weโve just come up with ideas when weโre just playing together โ me on flute and Andrรฉ on piano or acoustic guitar. But often, Andrรฉ has a basic idea, and I start to add stuff on top of that. On some of the songs, Andrรฉ creates the majority of the song, both lyrics and musically, but I can change (almost) anything I want. So, itโs Andrรฉ whoโs doing the lionโs share of the production. As I wrote before, he should get more credit for the work he puts into the project.ย He is such a wonderful songwriter and musician, and he manages to impress me every day, even after this long time being together.ย Heโs also the one who makes sure the songs end up on the streaming platforms, social media and so on. (Now that I think about it, I wonder if I can even take credit for the project, haha)
Andrรฉ: Nicole is super-important for this project. She has such great taste and knows instinctively what works. And sheโs grown to become a great songwriter over the years, especially when we just improvise stuff together. Overall, sheโs just become more confident in her own skills over the years the more weโve worked together. Thatโs something Iโve tried to drag out of her from the moment we met, cause I know thereโs great talent in there. And it always thrills me when Iโve come up with a new melody, and she tries it out vocally for the first time. It wouldnโt be as exciting if I just sang it. She just has a great way of altering or adjusting her voice depending on what the song needs.
9. Whatโs been the most challenging hurdle in either your personal life or music career, and how has it shaped you as an artist?
Andrรฉ: This is something I often come back to, but I sometimes question why I have to keep releasing music in an oversaturated market. If Iโm being honest, I would rather not feed the music business algorithm, but at the same time, you wanna be heard. I guess the solution in the end is to reach complete ego death so that you can just make music privately and be fine with it :) But Iโm quite happy at just ignoring that internal contradiction these days.
10. On the flip side, what moment or achievement in your career so far has made you feel the proudest, and why? And letโs talk about your latest release and future plans.
Andrรฉ: Iโm very proud of the fact that weโve managed to record and produce one song per month for all of 2025. I donโt know what we were thinking when we decided to do this, but it has been fun and incredibly stressful at times. Iโm also especially proud of some of the songs weโve managed to put out. Indie pop bangers such as โBirthday Morningโ and โAugust Hazeโ turned out very well in my opinion. The last song (for December) is scheduled to be out on Dec 17 and will obviously have a holiday theme, but itโs not an outright Christmas song.
As for 2026, the plan is just to find time to write together and maybe see an album take shape. We have no concrete plans, but it would be fun to do a concept album. We also have a lot of old songs dating back ten years that weโre trying to decide what to do with.
Nicole: Yeah, Iโm just like really proud that we did it! And Iโm looking forward to seeing where this collaboration will take us next year. And we will actually play our second live show at Grand in Malmรถ, Sweden, on January 9, where we will summarize/celebrate this past year!
11. With social media having a heavy impact on our lives and the music business in general, how do you handle criticism, haters, and/or naysayers in general? Is it something you pay attention to, or simply ignore?
Andrรฉ: Weโre still too small to have any haters I think, haha. Overall, weโre trying to have as minimal a social media presence as possible. We have just posted the monthly song on Instagram and Substack and thatโs it. If people like it, hopefully theyโll stick around. It might not be the best career choice, but weโre both a bit sick of being available online all the time.
Generally, I prefer to avoid the mainstream as much as possible. The problem is that everyone is โforcedโ to participate in the mainstream market by posting on Instagram or TikTok. Like you have to compete with friends, strangers, artists, creators, political commentators, etc., at the same time, and I donโt think thatโs very healthy. The indie scene is completely dead these days and has been absorbed by this corporate machine that has turned it into a hollow,ย audio-visual skeleton of a genre. But hopefully all this will result in an interesting counter-reaction at some point. I think weโre already beginning to see that to some extent.
12. Creative work in a studio or home environment, or interaction with a live audience? Which of these two options excites you most, and why?
Nicole: Absolutely playing live. But itโs also so much work. And Iโm beginning to love making music more and more. Itโs fun when you get into the zone, and when melody and lyrics are coming together. But I do get angry when we are recording and I donโt get it exactly right. Andrรฉ has incredible patience, and I donโt understand how he puts up with my Donald Duck temperโฆ
Andrรฉ: Absolutely creative work in the studio. Itโs just my natural habitat (and that involves working with different tempers, hehe). Iโve always had conflicting feelings toward the whole live scene. On the one hand, itโs great to share your music directly, but on the other hand, isnโt it a bit absurd to play in front of people? But Iโve increasingly started to accept that conflict and just go with the flow. Itโs just great to be able to continue doing music at some level after all these years.
STAY IN TOUCH:
INSTAGRAM | SPOTIFY | WEBSITE | YOUTUBE
