A conversation with pop provocateur Cobrah

0:12Cobrah:Hello and welcome to the Monaco Weekly. I am Fernando Augusto Pacheco and today I speak with Swedish singer Cobra about her new album, Torn. It was a pleasure meeting the pop provocateur in our studio to talk about her unapologetically bold record.

0:48This is my first album. And when you do an EP, I've done quite a few EPs. You have to be very to the point. You have to have one vision. It has to be very strong and you cannot dive into too many complex feelings or emotions because you have a very limited amount of time to show what you're all about. And when I was writing the album, I was starting to write music like my EPs and it didn't feel like I was challenging myself and I stopped feeling like I was evolving. and the only thing I've tried so many things in music but one thing that I felt like I was missing in my songwriting was like the personal touch I think I've done so much club music and my style has been very repetitive lyrics over very textured beats I was really excited about writing more like trying melodies for the first time trying chords for the first time trying to write more about feelings for the you know things that doesn't go over a house beat that goes maybe over a pop song you can get a little bit more introspective I guess and when you have like I have 11 songs you can also show a little bit more depth and vulnerability as well and

2:14Cobrah:And maybe a softer side, even from your fans. So some of your fans might be surprised with the album as well, right? I hope they're not too surprised. Sometimes I'm like... I can tell you, fans, do not worry. There's still a lot of songs to dance in a club. Yeah, it's like half cunty, half sad. It's on purpose because that's why it's called Torn. I feel like I'm not closing any chapters, but I'm opening a couple of more. I feel like I have such a rich musical background, really, and I never really had the opportunity to show it. So I'm more excited to show what else I can do outside of the short format EP.

2:57Cobrah:I have a question because you did mention the word melodies as well. And I know you come from Sweden and you're not perhaps, you know, the typical kind of Swedish pop that maybe a lot of people know. But it is a country known for melodies and everybody kind of studies music. I wonder, just being from Sweden, what did that influence at your work? And as I said, I know that you're not necessarily ABBA or Ace of Base, but you know what I mean, right? I think it's like when it's so in your world, like the sound of how to make a pop song. I think Cobra was really born, the way I write music was really born as a defiance of that.

3:34I was writing a lot of music at school and it would be so. I've always been slightly of a provocateur like slightly anti everything so I was like oh we're supposed to conform to how to write this is how you make a pop song and I'm like fuck that you know it's not interesting and it's not fun and life is about breaking that thing so in the beginning the earlier works was very much no verses no choruses just like a little vocal hook and then it goes into a a b and c part instead of the classical format but now i'm much more leaning into kind of the verse and that whole thing which is another experiment in itself how to make those kind of the standard format of songwriting and how do you mesh the core of who i am which it's to not do that into, I'm trying to push it into that world a little bit, because it's also a challenge to do that well.

4:36Cobrah:Absolutely. And before we talk about some of the songs in the album, one thing that always comes across in your videos and in your music as well is the look, you know, how every single video of you is so kind of well made, is beautiful. I love the latex as well. So tell us the importance of fashion as well to your music, because I think it's very important for the way you present yourself it is incredible thank you I think I was kind of born out of a latex womb a little bit it looks good on you latex is good it is good I think I was always when I grew up the same with like pop music and wanting not to be that I felt like everything that was made for girls especially when you're a kid is so pink and fluffy and and cute and I just really was uncomfortable with that it made me feel very weak cute is it's not a powerful thing to be and I was not very comfortable with that at all so when I was starting to make music as Cobra I was invited I was taking pictures for fun I was exploring kind of what I would become and I met this photographer and she had a whole house full of latex and I could try everything on and I remember just kind of like it was the only time or it was the first time I felt like I was a girl and I was a woman and I was really comfortable like that because I I came from a from a position of of power it wasn't like oh this is like a sex thing it was more of like this is a way to be a woman or a girl and a force and so it clicked for me it clicked for me and it's clicking still for me.

6:23It's this thing that makes me feel just incredible as a person. So it is important. And I think it's, I don't know, I'm just really drawn to extreme situations generally. Like when I was working on these videos that we've done now, we were going through all so many ideas. They were like, have you been chained up? Yes, I have. Have you had pipes in your mouth with water flooding in your mouth? Yes, I have. Have you been naked full frontal? Yes, I have. Like, have you been probed by aliens? Yes, I have now. So it's like, so what do we do then that is extreme and fun? Fashion is just a great way to live out fantasy and corsets and latex and just things that it's like extreme sport.

7:12Like whatever gives me adrenaline is exciting. And I think there's parts of fashion that really, where you really have to endure extreme pain. And I love it. I just like the extremeness of fashion, really.

7:26Cobrah:Well, and it's funny that you mentioned about your videos and everything. I have to say, I love the video for Hush, you know. And it's interesting because the song is about, correct me if I'm wrong, about attraction, about desire. Yes, yes. But I was so scared about that man as well. Oh, he's so lovely. No, he's lovely, but I like it. It's a bit unsettling, but that's the good thing about it as well, right?

7:58I think the core of what I do is always that we do something beautiful or sexy or alluring, but with the touch of something that makes you feel a little bit uneasy. It's never gory. It's never scary. It's just a slight uncomfortability that I think makes it interesting. It's the same with the album cover. We have this gorgeous gown, but it's not made out of skin, but it looks like skin. It's a silicone dress, and it has these stretch marks that just travels all the way through the body. And it's the same with the monster. I had this idea of doing a love story because the song is, you know, about that starting attraction.

8:47And it's a personal story of, you know, when I met someone and, you know, you can't really breathe and you can't really talk and you're texting and you don't know who's saying what. And it's just it's just all about those tiny details. Right. but I wanted to make it come to life the way it would come to life in my fantasy and not in the real world. I'm all about the fantasy of it and having that monster. I mean, I'm a big, I'm a huge gamer. I game all the time. I play like a thousand hours of Baldur's Gate. It's in my blood, this kind of monster otherworldly vibe.

9:21Cobrah:Are you a horror fan as well? No, I'm not. Oh, interesting. I get very scared. More of a fantasy girl than a horror girl, I'd say. but just creating characters and you know making fantasy come to life like what a better life can an artist have than to have that ability to do that one question about your music in general that you know your song is very you know sex positive but i feel that the music industry today sometimes it can be a little bit conservative even the times they were leaving so it's important to have someone like you i mean and you are rebellious in that case so i think it's it's a good thing right i think so i do think that my songs and the way i write comes from a place of joy and from a place of like the thrill of challenging and being like ha ha ha wonder if i can wonder what happens if i do this but it never comes from a place of anger or like provoke you know it never comes from a place of being aggressive or or too political actually it's It's more coming from a place of like searching for the thrill of, can I say this?

10:30Can I do that? Tee hee hee. See, you know, seeing what happens. It is fun because it is forbidden. I'm not trying to push acceptance so hard so that what I do won't be forbidden anymore. I am playing on the forbidden, but I like that it is forbidden. I don't, you know, if everyone was naked in a video or like, you know, said suck my clit five times in a song, then it wouldn't be fun to do it.

10:55Cobrah:I totally agree. And that playfulness, it's missed. I understood very well. That's very well explained. Thank you. Very nice. And well, let's talk about some of the songs on the album. I mean, I have to say my favorite song is Dog. I mean, I love many songs. I was writing here, I think, charming, very nice, very different songs. yes so but i i like both you know but tell us is there a song that is your favorite or a song that you would like to talk about well i really like hit girl i feel like hit girl is it comes right after dog i feel like that song is like five songs and in one song it was actually it started out as like a piano ballad that now is like i don't know if it's edm but it's not like an electronic very intense track where it starts as a rap.

11:50I feel like in the start, I always try to envision the world, but like in the start, I'm in the car and then I go out and I sing and then I go to a bar and like, cause the second verse is almost like an acoustic bass that comes in and I do a little jassy singing over it. So like I go into the bar and I sing about going into a bar and it sounds like I'm going into a bar. It's a very like theatrical track and it's not one of the singles, but it's a favorite one of mine. I think we did really well with the production and I worked on it. But it's like you said, with Dog and Charming, that part of the album, it's like a mini, little mini love story because Hush, which is that first meet, goes into Charming, which is about staying in love you know when when you go deeper and you see that this person is also unfortunately a person and you know it's not all lovey but you stay and you love it anyways and and then you go over to dog and it all kind of falls apart and you you know you're just really frustrated with everything and then it goes over to hicka which is more about being by yourself and navigating this very extreme world that you live in as an artist.

13:08So the whole album kind of follows a story.

13:12Cobrah:Oh, and in that way, I'm very curious about what are you doing live to it, because there is an upcoming tour of the album. I mean, I'm sure you're ready, like planning. Are you excited by that, including a Coachella show in April? Yeah, I'm really excited. Obviously, most excited about Coachella. It's the first time. It's a big deal, right? Yes, it's a big deal. And I've never been there before. So the first time I go will be the first time I play. The whole reason why I got into music was to do live shows. I used to do musical theater quite a lot and dancing and stuff. And in the beginning, I wanted to be an artist where other people wrote the music and I would just do the performance.

13:50But I didn't find anyone that wanted to write the music that I wanted to play. So I felt like I was kind of forced to be a songwriter. And with this album, I feel like I'm taking in charge more of being a songwriter. But for the tour, now when there's actually more songs, there's more than five new songs, there's an actual album. I am going to try to make it as cinematic as possible and as much of a story as possible. Because the last tour we did, we had this mega like fetish cross and I was upside down and it was made out of iron. It was like 80 kilos in total. It was massive. And I'm going to try to link the visuals from the videos a bit more.

14:32and try to do a little bit more of a full body story. Like the album has a very thought out linear story, the way I place the songs. So I'm going to try to bring that to life.

14:45Cobrah:And I'm very happy to say, I mean, I don't know if we can say this already, but Dog is going to be one of the upcoming singles as well, right? Yes, it's going to come out with the album.

15:20Cobrah:Thank you, Cobra. Her album, Thorn, is out now. I'm Fernando Augusto Pacheco, and this show was edited by Jack Jewers. Thank you for listening.

15:32Thank you.