An Interview With Icelandic Electro-Pop Princess Hildur

Born in Reykjavik, electro-pop princess Hildur made her way into the music industry with a bang. Her latest catchy tune ‘1993’, sees her being whisked away from Iceland to the bustling streets of NYC. It’s not too long to wait till her forthcoming EP “Intuition EP” is out this summer.

After winning Pop song of the year with ‘I’ll Walk With You’ at the Icelandic Music Awards in 2017 she truly is one to watch. We spoke to Hildur about Icelandic traditions, her top 3 wardrobe essentials, and how she got her start in music at Iceland’s biggest music festival.

IS SNOWBATHING DONE ON THE BEACH? IS THIS DONE WITH SUNSCREEN OR SNOWSCREEN? CAN WE DO IT ON A TOWEL, OR IS THAT TOALLY NOT DONE? PLEASE ENLIGHTEN OUR READERS ON HOW TO SNOWBATHE.

Ah yes, snowbathing, the ancient Icelandic tradition. It’s just done wherever you find snow. No sunscreen/snowscreen is needed as one can’t lie too long in the snow without hearting their skin. You can try it on a towel for the first times to ease in but for full effect of energy kick you should not use a towel. The main rules are the same as with ice water bathing. Just try to keep the mind as calm as possible and do yoga breathing. You’ll be fine. And remember to take a photo, otherwise it didn’t happen and you just lay in that snow for nothing.

BESIDES SNOWBATHING, WHAT ARE SOME OTHER ICELANDIC CUSTOMS WE SHOULD GET TO KNOW?

Icelandic food traditions are redonkulous. People here eat fermented shark, smoked sheep’s head, fermented ram testicles, dried fish bites, and blood sausages. I don’t really enjoy any of these except the dried fish (harðfiskur) and blood sausage (blóðmör). But you should definitely try it and wash it down with Black Death (Brennivín) liqueur. It’s disgusting but you’ll look hardcore.

ICELAND IN 2019, DOES LIVING THERE FEEL AS ISOLATED AS IT LOOKS?

The short answer is yes. The longer answer is it’s kind of and kind of not. We are actually closer to most places than people think. Only 2 and a half hours to London and 5 hours to New York. But it still means that you have to fly everywhere you go and that can, of course, be costly and needs a little bit of advance planning. But I spend a lot of time outside of Iceland, last year it was around 50/50 so I don’t think I felt that much that I lived in an remote island. But I think the isolation also makes us work hard. We want to work hard and succeed so we have reasons to go abroad and perform or “make it” big.

WHAT DOES THAT MEAN FOR PERFORMING ARTISTS LIKE YOURSELF? IN TERMS OF REACH, TOURING, AND HOW TO WIN AN AUDIENCE?

I think Icelandic are quite lucky because Icelandic music has one of the best reputation in the world. People are really up for giving the music from Iceland a chance just because they know it’s from Iceland. I don’t think many other countries have such an advance. People think we sound different and exciting and often ask “what is in the water here?”. I’m happy about that and just try to use that advantage as I can. But touring is a little bit more costly if you always have to go from Iceland, but you know, you make it work!

THE ICELANDIC MUSIC SCENE HAS SUCH A RICH HISTORY FOR ITS SIZE - WHO SHOULD WE LISTEN TO NOW?

Yeah it is kind of crazy how much good stuff has come from here, I’m always very inspired to look around and see how much good stuff is happening. I would recommend GDRN, aYia and Vök right now!

RIGHT, ENOUGH ABOUT ICELAND. WE WANNA KNOW ABOUT HILDUR. TELL US A BIT ABOUT YOURSELF. TELL IT ALL!

I’m a kid from Reykjavík, Iceland. I do electronic pop music. I like to write songs for myself and other people. I love experimenting with my voice. I play the cello. I have a whippet called Ugla and that means owl in Icelandic. I have a BA degree in Japanese. I lived in Tokyo for 1 year. I was born January 1 so 1 is my favorite number. My motto is basically enjoying life and be kind to other people and myself.

YOU'RE SPEAKING TO SOMEONE WHO DOESN'T KNOW YOU - DESCRIBE YOUR MUSIC IN 3 WORDS

Intuitive, emotional, inspiring.

WE LOVE YOUR STYLE - WHAT ARE YOUR TOP 3 FAVOURITE WARDROBE ITEMS YOU CAN'T LIVE WITHOUT?

Sneakers – I have a few I can’t choose between, oversized fake fur jacket and sunglasses. I collect sunglasses which is quite ironic based on how little sun we get here in Iceland!

YOUR LATEST SINGLE '1993' IS VERY INSPIRATIONAL. DO YOU THINK THERE IS SUCH A THING AS A NORMAL PERSON?

Good to hear! Well, really I don’t think there is anyone that is “normal”. It was more a figure of speech and how we box people from if they have a fairly “normal” life or if they follow their dreams. I like to hope that most people end up following their dreams and not get to sucked into this form of life that society has accepted to be normal.

WHAT IS THE MOST RANDOM THING WHICH HAS INSPIRED YOU TO WRITE A SONG?

I think most my songs are inspired by random things. I’ve written a song based on my favorite childhood book, on a person that hurt me a lot, inspired by a new vocal effect and then often inspired by a line quote from a movie. I just love getting inspiration from everywhere I can.  

DREAM PERSON TO COLLABORATE WITH AND WHY?

Phew, so many! I would love to write a song with Julia Michaels, I would love to do a collaboration with London Grammar, I would love to produce a song with Pharrell and I think me and Kanye West could cook up some real interesting mixture.

WHAT WOULD YOU BE DOING IF YOU WEREN'T DOING MUSIC?

I think I would always working in something creative like media, in TV or a magazine or in a startup company. I’ve done some of those things before and I like it!

YOUR FIRST GIG WAS ICELAND'S BIGGST MUSIC FESTIVAL, SÓNAR REYKJAVIK. HOW DID THAT COME ABOUT AND HOW DID YOU FEEL PLAYING SUCH A MASSIVE FESTIVAL AS YOUR FIRST LIVE PERFORMANCE?

It’s quite a funny story. I had 2 demos ready an sent them to the organizer because my friend that was producing the songs thought they had good potential. The organizers wrote back a month later and asked me if I could release a single before the festival, they would book me to play. From that a crazy hectic 2 month period started where I had to finish writing and producing a whole live set, release a single, shoot the video and tell people that I excited. It was such a crazy time but I’m so happy that’s how it started, because that really pushed me to go out of my comfort zone from the very start and that’s where the best things happen!

WHAT IS THE BEST GIG YOU'RE EVER BEEN TO?

I think the best gig I’ve been to so far was when Portishead came to Iceland in 2014. I’ve loved this band since I was very young and stole my sisters Portishead CD from her room. I never thought I would have the chance to see them and the show was absolutely breathtaking. I think I just stood froze with goosebumps the whole time!

WHAT WILL 2019 BRING HILDUR?

I have new music that is getting ready to be released so I’m stoked about that. I’ve already started writing my first album and I’m excited to see where that goes. I’ve also got a few trips lined up, playing in the US and then doing some writing in Europe. I feel this will be a good year!

THE FUSEMEUP TEAM ARRIVE IN ICELAND WITH 24 HOURS FREE. WHERE WOULD YOU TAKE US?

I would show you the wonders of my hometown, Reykjavík. I would start in my favorite swimming pool, Vesturbæjarlaug and hit the hot tubs and saunas. It sets the mood right away, you will feel good all day after that! Then I’d take you for a lunch with nice harbour views at Grandi – either Cuckoo’s Nest or Grandi food hall. Then I’d take you to my favorite coffee place called Reykjavík Roasters and a stroll around the downtown area. Then I’d probably take you to the legendary bar Kaffibarinn, for dinner at Sumac and then just the bar stroll down Laugavegur (our main street with 90% of all the bars). No doubt, that’s where the night ends.

Stay Fused.