Sway (Tove Styrke song)
The Joanna Nordahl-directed music video depicting a queer romance between two skaters earned critical praise and a Grammis nomination.
While composing her third studio album Sway (2018), Tove Styrke aimed to create "clean and simple" yet interesting songs.
[1][2] She collaborated with producer Elof Loelv on most of the album tracks in Stockholm, and also worked with British musician Joe Janiak during her stay in Los Angeles.
[4] In an interview for Billboard, Styrke explained that she intended to open the album with "Sway" and position "On a Level" as the final track.
[16] Hannah Mylrea of NME classified her vocals as staccato,[10] while Pitchfork's Margaret Farrell wrote that she pauses "to catch her breath between vowels".
[12] i-D writer Ivan Guzman, who coined the track an "elated head rush of a song", wrote that its lyrics express the "mixture of anxiety and euphoria that comes with ripping off the band-aid and just kissing your crush".
[2] Styrke told Dagens Nyheter that the song is about a friendship that is disrupted by romantic feelings and the subsequent uncertainty of where the relationship might lead.
[18] Farrell noted the piece as a "nervous stream of consciousness more than a mating call, capturing the anxiety of being forced to read a vibe".
At the time of its release, Jacob Moore of Pigeons & Planes called it a "sweeping, feel-good take on love" and selected it as one of the "Best Songs of the Week".
[21] Moore asserted, "Styrke is perfectly capable of writing immediate, insanely catchy pop songs, but she consistently pushes her music into interesting new territory.
"[21] Renowned for Sound writer Francesca Lamaina applauded Styrke's vocal and songwriting abilities throughout Sway's "eight extraordinary songs".
[11] In connection with this, Lamaina deemed the title track a "fast-paced, romantic and playful" song and named it "the perfect opener" for the album.
[22] In a review for Pitchfork, Farrell observed that Styrke's vocal range had expanded considerably on the album, resulting in a more daring and playful sound.
Farrell specifically pointed to "Sway", which the writer described as a "woozy, seductive overture" where her "voice maneuvers around come-ons like an ice cube melting through hot fingers".
[23] Similarly, Idolator's Matt Nied picked "Sway" as a standout track while writing, "Emerging as a highlight on an already hit-filled tracklist, this could easily dominate the charts.
"[12] In a lukewarm review in Nya Wermlands-Tidningen, Mas Karin Gustafsson stated that the song and "On the Low" blend into each other due to the "cool" approach of other album tracks.
[29] While conceptualizing the video treatment, Nordahl drew inspiration from Styrke's description of the album as a "collection of love stories" from varying viewpoints.
She told Paper, "The flow and movement in the song really reminded me of warm summer nights, skating, and the sense of empowerment and freedom that I associate with that, so it felt like a perfect match.
"[30] Several weeks of unsuccessful screen testing and searching made Nordahl consider changing the entire concept, until skaters and real-life best friends Arran Horton and Bailey Marklew were cast in the lead roles.
[31] The visual was met with critical praise; Guzman of i-D declared it "stunning",[2] and Lindsay Howard of Variance deemed it "simply perfect".
[36] Styrke did a televised performance of the song on the TV4 morning show Nyhetsmorgon on 6 May 2018,[37] followed by a rendition on SVT1's Allsång på Skansen on 31 July 2018.
