I Know Your Hands Will Clap

Photo by Marcus Palmqvist, ©Atlantics Records

If you follow me on Twitter, then you already know that my latest musical obsession is a Swedish chanteuse named Lykke Li. It was love at first listen. I seriously can't get enough. I've had her sugary debut album, Youth Novels on repeat since I bought it. She uses her sweet, innocent, and absolutely beautiful voice to sing about love, estrangement, and trying to get by in a less than ideal world. She does it damn well.


With a look that perfectly mirrors the smoky dance floor vibe of her music, her personal style also makes me want to dance, dance, dance amongst sequins, stripes and speaker phones. Lykke's very distinct look tends to include tons of black, layering of slouchy tops with cropped jackets and loads of large jangly pendants. Any girl who can effectively mix pretty glamour with a dishevelled scruffiness wins points in my book, and her combination of nonchalant stripes with magpie sequins in the video for “Little Bit” (which is awesome for a hundred different reasons, not least of all the dancing boy in short shorts and braces…) is a prime example. So is her combination of old black t-shirts with top-knot chignons and smoky bedroom eyes. I think I might be a little bit in love with this girl.


Lykke Li will be in Vancouver to play at The Commodore Ballroom in February. I'm definitely hoping to catch the show.

**Photos are not property of Work In Progress. They have been taken from various websites. If your photo has not been credited and you would like it to be, please e-mail me.**