After a hiatus and years of cryptic messages and one-off performances, superstar EDM trio Swedish House Mafia have finally returned with new music. An anthemic new single called "It Gets Better" was released today, confirming all of the rumors and speculation from fans around the world.
The elusive trio, comprising Axwell, Sebastian Ingrosso, and Steve Angello, spoke with Zane Lowe from Apple Music 1 about how the new song came to fruition, and how time apart and the pandemic brought them back together.
"COVID actually helped us in this process, as weird as it might sound, because otherwise we might not have gotten where we are today," said Axwell. "We had the time to pick up and start again. And we make and remake and retry and regroup and have hope and then quit again. And then grab that little hope that we had, bring it back, and start over and then finding something. So this whole time, the time has really helped us to have gotten where we are with the sounds and with the songs and to a place where we feel proud. We love what we have done."
Speaking on the exciting new single, the trio reflected on their songwriting process and what makes it all come together, no matter how long it takes.
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"There might be like a guitar sample," Axwell continued. "It's like, okay, that's cool. Whatever. And then one day a vocal sample comes along and you're like, that's also cool, whatever. And then we sit in the studio late at night and just... We throw everything onto the table and we're just like, how does this work with this? And then, oh, what about this with that? And then we're like, oh shit. That's the magic sauce. Those two together. That's what happens there."
Ingrosso insisted that the drums tied "It Gets Better" together. "But also the rhythm," added Angello. "It feels so original and it feels like... I don't know... I can't place... I can't genre place it."
Check out the full Zane Lowe Apple Music 1 interview with Swedish House Mafia below.
"It Gets Better" is out now and can be found here.