Overview

Songs from Sweden shows how Swedish songwriters and producers are the creative forces behind much of today’s international pop music. As Ola Johansson reveals, the roots of this “music miracle” can be found in Sweden’s culture, economy, and thriving music industry, concentrated in Stockholm. While Swedish writer-producers developed early global recognition for making commercially successful pop music, new Swedish writer-producers have continuously emerged during the last two decades. Global artists travel to Stockholm to negotiate, record, and co-write songs. At the same time, Swedish writer-producers are part of a global collaborative network that spans the world. In addition to concrete commercial accomplishments, the Swedish success is also a result of the acquisition of reputational capital gained through positive associations that the global music industry holds about Swedish music. Ultimately, pop songs from Sweden exhibit a form of cultural hybridity, drawing from both local and global cultural expressions.

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Reviews

Johansson's study will still be of interest to scholars and students in Popular Music Studies and Scandinavian Studies. In particular, Songs from Sweden casts a welcome light on an otherwise enigmatic corner of the global popular music industry and is a welcome contribution to ongoing conversations about Sweden's role as a producer and broker of transnational culture. (Ryan Thomas Skinner, Scandinavian Studies, Vol. 93 (2), 2021)

Author Information

Ola Johansson is a professor of geography at the University of Pittsburgh at Johnstown. He holds a Ph.D. from the University of Tennessee, and has also researched music as a guest scholar at Linnaeus University in Sweden. Johansson is co-author of the books Sound, Society, and the Geography of Popular Music and World Regional Geography.

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