“We’ve all been there, when you wonder if you’ve lived up to the expectations. I thought about the term Hype, in love and at work, and the questions you ask yourself of did you really live up to the hype.

So I wrote a song about it! With my artist job, I’ve sometimes felt that I’ve tried to live up to myself in a way – but a version of myself that looks like me, but cooler, more confident and touring the world. I’ve probably brought that into my private life, and all those things is what Hype is about. We’ve wrapped it in ethereal melodies and bass, synth and drum heavy production, but I love how there’s so much strength in my vocals – there’s power in being vulnerable!” – Sigrid

Earlier this year, award winning critically acclaimed global pop star Sigrid found herself getting back to basics, writing new songs in studios from London to Oslo. A period of experimentation musically, the 26-year-old took back the reins of the writing process, writing lyrics and melodies that felt connected to her roots as one of the biggest breakthrough Scandinavian pop stars of her generation. Reflecting on the past six years of being thrust into superstardom, Sigrid introduced us to her defiant pop with feminist anthem Don’t Kill My Vibe in 2017, which led to winning the prestigious BBC Sound of 2018 – the first Norwegian artist to do so – and today Sigrid reveals brand new single “The Hype”. “The Hype” is an expansive pop anthem that shows us everything we have come to love about the pop sensation, with gritty lyricism and melodies that don’t have an endpoint and keep rising. Asking the question: did I live up to the hype? Sigrid finds a universal feeling encapsulating revelations on career and relationship successes. This quick-witted power anthem is both tongue-in-cheek and blunt, a full circle moment from Don’t Kill My Vibe, which was the beginning of Sigrid’s Hype.

Listen to The Hype

Co-producing “The Hype” with longtime collaborator Askjell, who co-wrote one of Sigird’s biggest ballads Dynamite and Nick Hahn, this is the first release Sigrid has a producer credit on, knuckling down in the studio earlier this year. Not overthinking the process and driving a dance-like-no-one’s-watching beat, “The Hype” is part of a highly anticipated upcoming project for Sigrid, the first new music since How To Let Go’s Acoustic special edition last year. Visually, Sigrid remains one of the most understated pop stars, wearing T-shirt and jeans to play live on stage, picking practicality over what is expected of young female artists in the music industry. Staying true to herself, the visuals for “The Hype” are reminiscent of Sigrid’s debut EP; with no props to lean on and no grandiose concepts, just Sigrid, honest and raw. Sigrid’s rawness is the thread through which the pop star has charmed global audiences. Last month, Sigrid did a surprise headline set at Barn On The Farm, turning up with just a keyboard and stripping her huge pop songs down to stunning piano songs, showcasing Sigrid’s inimitable talent as a modern singer songwriter. Sigrid then jumped onto stage with British band Flyte and artists Billie Marten and Ber, arranging a cover of Neil Young’s Old Man in just ten minutes, which was a festival defining moment.

With two top 5 critically acclaimed albums under her belt, 2019’s Sucker Punch and 2022’s How To Let Go, arena shows in both London and Ireland, global world tours from Japan to LA and festival performances from Glastonbury to her first UK festival headline at Belladrum in Scotland, Sigrid has become one of the leading live pop acts of her generation. Writing huge pop songs from the heart with that rasp, and recalling great vocalists from Stevie Nicks to Carole King and Freddie Mercury, since Sigrid’s ascent to pop stardom in 2017, the 26-year-old has achieved every accolade a young artist from a small town off the coast of Norway could ever have imagined. Sigrid has lit up stages with her non-conformist and progressive attitudes to femininity in pop. Ending 2022 headlining London’s SSE Wembley Arena, Sigrid has become renowned for her high-energy live shows, writing anthemic chorus’ for breathtaking festival performances. It’s no surprise that the only place Sigrid feels she can truly take out “all those emotions” is performing live with her band.

Hailed as “life-affirming” (NME), “stunning” (Line of Best Fit) and “an impressive pop statement” (Clash) – last year’s How To Let Go built on the praise of 2019’s debut Sucker Punch – home to the enormous banger, top 10 hit and festival favourite “Strangers” – flitting between disco-tinged lead single, “Mirror”, and the alt-rock emo of Bring Me The Horizon collaboration, “Bad Life”. Like her debut, “How To Let Go” crashed into the Norwegian charts at number 1, while in the UK it improved on Sucker Punch’s number 4 debut by reaching number 2. Its success means that since exploding straight out of the blocks in 2017 with instant classic and feminist anthem “Don’t Kill My Vibe”.

Last year was an important time of collaboration for Sigrid. Having met Griff at a fashion show, the two pop stars bonded over pizza and their experience in the music industry, and got in the studio and wrote the mighty firecracker ‘Head on Fire’, which won the Best Collaboration at the NME Awards 2022. Another chance meeting with Bring Me The Horizon backstage at Reading Festival, led to vocalist Oli Sykes and keyboardist Jordan Fish sending a demo to Sigri – both being fans of each other’s music – they all got in the studio to lay down lyrics, and the tear-stained rock ballad “Bad Life” was born. Pairing the Norwegian pop sensation’s uplifting power-house choruses with Bring Me The Horizon’s ability to capture intense emotion, playing a might version at Reading & Leeds festival 2022, the song is an allegory for taking struggles with mental health day by day.

With 1.47 Billion global streams (over 365m of those are from the UK along), 1 Million global album unit sales, and the Platinum certified success of pop-dance anthem Strangers, Sigrid has cemented her position as the ‘voice’ in alt-pop, but reminds us that at the heart of every one of her huge pop songs, is a girl at the piano in her hometown Alesund.