SXSW 2017: Sigrid is a superstar in the making

South by Southwest is full of label showcases, typically devised for a label’s up-and-coming artists to get a platform for good press. You don’t really see superstars at this level; indeed, artists like Lady Gaga and Katy Perry eschew SXSW altogether. In a way, it’s a canny facsimile of SXSW’s increasingly irrelevant “indie” ethos. These showcases are designed to show off the relative unknowns, the young upstarts whose careers either skyrocket from here or fizzle out into obscurity. It’s easy to expect far more of the latter than the former. Austin is riddled with obscure bands playing cheap bar shows, desperately trying to regain a shot at their former glory. This isn’t really a playground for superstars, and the whole week can feel like one big version of “American Idol.”

Imagine my surprise at finding a legitimate superstar in the making during the one festival where such a thing is almost unheard of. Her name is Sigrid. She is a 21-year-old singer from Bergen, Norway, and she is a certifiable pop phenomenon.

If you go on her Spotify, you might be confused. “She only has one song! How is she a superstar if she only has one release?” That one song, “Don’t Kill My Vibe,” is perfect. It is so perfect, in fact, that it just might be my pick for best song of 2017 thus far. That may seem like a reach this early in the year, but consider that this winter and spring have brought us gems like Drake and Jorja Smith’s “Get It Together,” Charli XCX’s “ILY2” and everything Kendrick Lamar has done so far. This is serious and not at all hyperbolic praise.

“Don’t Kill My Vibe” is pop balladry done right, a synth-driven call of empowerment raging against the people in your life who want to break you down and generally hate on your state of affairs. Lyrically, it’s well-worn territory, but it’s the performance and the details that separate it from the rest of the pack. Sigrid’s voice is stunning, gritty but not too raspy with a beautiful falsetto. Like Lana Del Rey, you’re not quite sure how the same person is singing in such disparate voices, but you’re amazed by the sheer technical versatility. The song’s production pops and crackles, especially the vocal mixing. There’s an absolutely sublime moment right before the second chorus where Sigrid transitions out of a softly delivered verse into a punchy, raw shout—“I TRIED TO PLAY IT NICE”—that gives me goosebumps every time I hear it.

Sigrid doesn’t just have one perfect song. She has eight. At the Universal Music Group Showcase at Antone’s Nightclub (Sigrid is signed to Island Records), she performed all of them. As a festival, SXSW thrives on tight, thirty-minute sets. It’s great for audience members, as we can fit in an absurd amount of shows in a short amount of time. I can’t imagine how pressure-filled it must be for artists; how can they maximize the impact of their performance in such a short time? The Sigrid show, however, was professional and seasoned, a show-stopping demonstration of a phenomenal talent.

Sigrid performed all eight tracks back-to-back with a little stage banter thrown around as her band adjusted between songs. As unreleased songs, I couldn’t find the names of any song that wasn’t “Don’t Kill My Vibe,” but her debut EP is reportedly due for a release later in the spring. I can’t wait for it to come; each new song was a master-class in Scandinavian pop. Sigrid excels at every major pop musical convention. Her ballads are properly serious and showcase dramatic vocals, her mid-tempo bops glide and bounce, and her new-wave rockers manage to sound like nothing else in a sea of ‘80s-inspired Spotify playlist filler. Through all of these styles, Sigrid conveyed a particular charisma, that “it factor” that every major pop star has. You could tell in her dancing, her diction, the little smirks she’d give the crowd. It is legitimately amazing that SXSW was her first major festival. She seemed as if she’d been performing for huge crowds for years.

It’s been at least forty years since ABBA, the last bona fide, Scandinavian pop sensation to have a long career in the States, broke onto the scene. Sigrid seems primed to do what Tove Lo, September and countless others haven’t managed to do—conquer America. “Don’t Kill My Vibe,” the rest of her stellar unreleased catalogue and her innate charisma should make her a household name by the end of the year.