I don't think of myself as just a pop artist, but someone who knows she has a bigger meaning. I'm not doing this for myself; I'm doing this because it's my destiny.

The way I figured it, keeping quiet was safe. Words could betray you if you choose the wrong ones, or mean less if you used too many.

And I realized that there's a big difference between deciding to leave and knowing where to go.

My parents had an independent theater company here in Sweden during the 1980s, so I was raised watching my parents create independently, having a lot of fun and just doing what they wanted to do. I think that idea of independence as an artist was something I was always used to. And then I entered the industry from a very commercial perspective, and things were very different then from what I grew up with.

Sometimes I write songs that just come out in a pop format because I grew up on melody and these amazing artists during the 80s. It's my tradition and it's something that I can't really control.

History is filled with fictional people.

Commercial music is music that a lot of people connect to at the same time, but that doesn't mean it has to be something shallow or without personality.