Lykke Li on new material and how “we’re at the after-party of the world”

Lykke Li has shared the nature-featuring ‘TЯAƎH ЯUOY OT YAWHӘIH’ – as well as telling NME about new music which she described as “dealing with the sense that we’re at the after-party of the world.”

• READ MORE: Soundtrack Of My Life – Lykke Li

The Swedish art-pop icon released ‘TЯAƎH ЯUOY OT YAWHӘIH’ today (Thursday October 24) on streaming platforms – a reimagined version of her track ‘Highway to Your Heart’ from 2022 album ‘EYEYE’.

However, this fresh interpretation features NATURE as a credited artist. Back in April 2024, NATURE officially launched as an artist on streaming platforms as part of Sounds Right, a project co-created by Brian Eno’s climate change and music foundation Earth/Percent.

The initiative was designed as a way for artists who collaborate with the sounds of our surrounding world to acknowledge the contribution nature has in creativity, and for NATURE to receive a percentage of the royalty for her contribution, which goes back into her own conservation. The scheme has already distributed funds to conservation projects in the Tropical Andes, Colombia.

“It was very natural, it makes a lot of sense,” Li told NME of the opportunity to join the project. “It’s Mother Nature. It’s like basically giving back to the mother – the creator of everything.”

NATURE – as an artist – has already had more than 65million streams on digital platforms and collaborated with artists including David Bowie, Ellie Goulding, AURORA, Tom Walker, V from BTS and London Grammar.

Li explained that she wanted to find a way of crediting the sounds of crickets, birdsong and rain she used in the creation of ‘TЯAƎH ЯUOY OT YAWHӘIH’. The songwriter also reflected that nature has had a huge influence on her work – from psychedelic mushrooms to “spending all my royalties on the plants in my garden”.

“At home I have a huge window –  just glass into my backyard,” she said. “Just like gorgeous plants. There was a time in my life where I was deeply burned out. I literally could not move – it came after a decade of touring, having a son, my mum passed away, a divorce… and it was cathartic, having to lay in my bed looking into this crazy garden. It was the most restful healing.”

‘TЯAƎH ЯUOY OT YAWHӘIH’ is a track lifted from a broader piece of work in which Li reimagined the music and videos from her album for a visual art installation titled Ü & EYEYE displayed at Los Angeles’ prestigious contemporary museum The Broad in late 2022.

“The full version is sitting on my laptop,” she said. “I need to release it to the few people who are in need of a mega trip. People can take a mushroom and enjoy it and the privacy of their own home.”

After sharing her fifth studio album ‘EYEYE’ in 2022, and welcoming her second child last year, the Swedish indie-pop artist has spent this year collaborating on fresh material with long-term producer Björn Yttling [Peter, Björn and John].

“Each time I write I always try to go into a new world – a new era,” she said. “I know exactly what it is now. I’m pretty far. It’s deep, but also more fun than the last one.

Asked when fans could hear the songs, Li suggested “probably at the end of next year”.

The songwriter hasn’t been dormant in 2024 – in April she released a cover of Johnny Cash’s ‘Ring of Fire’ for Netflix’s Damsel film soundtrack, appeared on Abstract Crimewave’s track ‘The Gambler’ and in September shared ‘Midnight Shining’ – a Greg Kurstin-produced track which didn’t make it onto her 2014 LP ‘I Never Learn’.

Now, she’s now preparing the follow-up to her fifth album, which NME described in a four star review as “much more of an art-pop mood piece than a home for singles.”

“‘EYEYE’ was a very introspective, introverted journey. This new work is more extroverted, a bit impulsive and chaotic,” said Li. “We’re [the world] in a really dark place, and I don’t know if there’s any turning back? But that’s also very much the circle of life – to destruct, to die, to be reborn. I don’t know exactly where we’re at in that cycle, but it seems like we’re heading somewhere pretty dark.”

She added: “This album is kind of like me trying to be rock ‘n’ roll, but also you can hear that it’s from a very Swedish point of view.”

Lykke Li also took a moment to salute Charli XCX’s extraordinary year, saying the British musician’s ascent and dominance in 2024 with sixth studio album ‘Brat’ has been “mega inspiring”.

“To see a woman that’s been grinding for a long time – it’s amazing to see,” said Li I feel like there are a lot of women in the world who are finally having their moments.

“It’s something we talk about in Sweden. To be an artist is to never give up. That’s what it is – continuing the grind. It could be in five years, 10 years or 100 years that you’ll have your big moment.”

After attending a recent North American stop-off for Charli and Troye Sivan’s The Sweat Tour, Li added: “It was such a good show. So refreshing. Especially walking there towards the show seeing all the people in their Brat outfits. I’m like, ‘this is amazing’.”

Since releasing her debut album ‘Youth Novels’ in 2008, Lykke has gone on to release acclaimed albums including ‘I Never Learn‘ and ‘So Sad, So Sexy‘,. In 2019 she collaborated with Mark Ronson on ‘Late Night Feelings’.