skandinavian_Artists > Aqua

AQUA
Biography, 2009

Aqua is a global pop phenomenon. In the late ‘90s the Danish-Norwegian group sold over 30 million albums and singles and topped the charts throughout the world. The international breakthrough single Barbie Girl made Aqua a household name from Europe to America and Australia, selling over a million copies in the UK alone. More huge hits followed, including Doctor Jones, Turn Back Time and Cartoon Heroes. And now, eight years after the group split up, Aqua are returning to the world stage with their Greatest Hits album and a brand new single, Back To The ‘80s, that has already hit number one in their homeland of Denmark.

The four members of Aqua – singers Lene Nystrom Rasted and Rene Dif, and multi-instrumentalist songwriters Soren Nystrom Rasted and Claus Norreen – are both excited and a little surprised by the success of their reunion.
Soren: “After we stopped Aqua, a lot of people said to me, ‘We missed you guys because you did happy music.’ But you never know how people will react, and we wondered, ‘Can we do this?’ So it’s great that the single went to number one. We know there is still a demand for Aqua.”
Lene: “When the single came out I was really scared. It could go either way. But to have that reception again, that warm welcome, it’s been amazing.”
Claus: “We’re aware of what we are as a band. We’re good at entertaining. We write songs that put a smile on people’s faces. And right now, everybody needs a bit of a laugh. Maybe people are ready again for music that’s about good times.”
Rene: “People need some fun in their lives, so they come to party with us. Honestly, since Aqua split up I haven’t seen a band like us. It’s time for happy pop music again!”

These four band members have led busy lives in the years since Aqua broke up in 2001. Lene and Soren, who married in 2001, have two children, and Claus is also a father.
Lene released a solo album Play With Me, in 2003, featuring the hit single It’s Your Duty and I Wanna Party, the latter track covered by Girls Aloud on their Out Of Control album. She also co-wrote No Good Advice for Girls Aloud, a number two UK hit. “I’m not naturally a songwriter,” she admits, “but it was good to try writing. In Aqua it’s not really the place for it because we have two brilliant songwriters. You don’t dare to enter their territory!” More recently, Lene has begun an acting career, appearing as a Norwegian double agent in the World War II thriller Betrayal (released in November 2009).
Rene has worked steadily as an actor, starring in six movies. “I get typecast as a bad boy!” he laughs. He also published his autobiography in 2002, and although he recorded an eponymous solo album in 2007 he says, “I pulled back from music.”
Claus has collaborated with Soren, written music for theatre plays and spent time at home “being dad”.
And Soren has worked on a variety of musical projects including Lazyboy (known as Lazy B in the UK) and Hej Matematik, as well as scoring a ballet for the Royal Danish Opera and writing hit songs for other artists including Danish X-Factor winner Linda Andrews.
Soren explains, “On our own we all have projects that are very different to Aqua, but together we have a certain chemistry. Aqua is a colourful universe, larger than anything else I’ve ever done. Something fantastic always happens when we create things together.”

Aqua formed in 1989 and from the beginning, they set out to do something unique in pop music. Soren: “We started out doing very hardcore dance, but we became more pop. And lyrically, instead of writing straight-down-the-alley songs, we wanted to make them more like fairytales – songs like Barbie Girl and Doctor Jones, hits for kids.” Claus: “We liked the sound and the energy from dance music, but we were writing classical pop songs with a verse and a chorus, not just a short hook like a lot of dance music, and that became a huge part of our success and our identity as a group.” Soren: “We had our look and our sound. Lene and Rene are very characteristic in their image and in their voice. And our videos were very tongue-in-cheek. We never had the urge to be credible. Most bands suffer because they want that. We never did – it’s just not us! It sounds like a cliché but I just like a good pop tune that’s well written and has something distinctive in it. Lene and Rene have very distinctive voices, which immediately means either you hate it or you love it. The people that love us really love us, and the people that hate us really hate us! But I love things that are a little bit quirky.”

It was, of course, Barbie Girl that transformed Aqua into major stars, and it took just one hour for Soren and Claus to write the song. “We just nailed it,” Claus says. The song’s title came to Soren when he visited an art exhibition in Copenhagen featuring a display of Barbie dolls. “We were very secretive about the title,” Claus laughs. “It was such a great idea and we didn’t want anyone else to know about it, so for a long time we called the song Burger King!” And as Soren admits, their worries didn’t end when Barbie Girl was a hit. “We’d released two singles in Denmark before, but when we released Barbie as the first single in other countries, I was very afraid that we would end up being a one-hit wonder band. That would be a terrible thing, but it can happen when you have such a big song. So it was a huge relief when Doctor Jones became number one as well.”

Perhaps Barbie Girl will always be the song that defines Aqua.
Lene: “All bands have one special song that people will always remember.” Claus: “It’s surreal to write something that goes around the globe on that scale. I live in the centre of Copenhagen and recently there was a Gay Olympics in the city. I was sitting outside with a friend when a bunch of Korean guys, athletes, came walking down the street singing. I told my friend, ‘If you can persuade them to sing I Will Survive, I’ll start dancing!’ And I’m a terrible dancer! The funny thing is, these guys didn’t know I Will Survive – but they knew Barbie Girl!”

However, the three new tracks on the Greatest Hits album (Back To The ‘80s, My Mamma Said and Live Fast – Die Young) prove that Aqua is still a creative force. “The record company kept asking us about a best-of album,” Soren explains, “so we thought instead of just putting out old songs we would do three new songs. We actually did a third album, which hasn’t been released yet, but instead of reproducing tracks from that album we wrote three brand new songs.” All three tracks have the feelgood quality that is Aqua’s trademark, combined with a distinctly 21st Century sound. Says Soren: “When we did the new songs we decided we’re not going to run from where we came from. We’ve updated the production so it sounds fresh, but we will always be Aqua. Pop music changes all the time, it’s a living organism, and you write a song in a different way that you did ten years ago. These new songs sound like Aqua today. That’s the sound we’re going for.”

It is purely by chance that Aqua’s comeback single Back To The ‘80s is released at a time when ‘80s pop is undergoing a revival through new artists such as Lady Ga Ga, La Roux and Empire Of The Sun. “The timing seems quite right for it,” Claus says, “but it wasn’t deliberate. It’s more luck than a thought-out plan. We started writing the song three years ago! The idea was to make a hymn to the ‘80s, because all of us had our teenage years in the ‘80s. It seemed like a funny idea and it had that sort of nostalgic feel to it. For a comeback single it felt very natural.” Revealing the inspiration behind the song, Soren recalls, “There was an innocence about the ‘80s. It was all built up on dreams. It was a very naïve period, with MTV in its prime, all the bright colours and fluffy hair. When I look back on the ‘80s, it’s with a smile. I think of pop songs created in a naïve way, much more naïve than happens now, and I love that naivety. When you hear La Dolce Vita by Ryan Paris, you don’t notice how terribly the song is performed. And Kim Wilde might never have been the best singer in the world, but she had something very naïve and trustful. My favourites from that time were The The, Nina Hagen and bigger bands like Tears For Fears and Simple Minds, but I was also very much into hair rock like Def Leppard. Hysteria is one of my top ten albums. That sound was another big part of the ‘80s.”
Claus has his own favourites from the ‘80s. He describes Soft Cell, and especially Depeche Mode, as “the soundtrack to my teenage years”. And he is proud that Aqua’s music means as much to a younger generation, as he discovered when the group met fans on a recent Scandinavian tour. “We all like to be nostalgic from time to time, and it was great to see that our music had been the soundtrack to other people’s lives. We heard stories from people who were sixteen when they got into Aqua and now they have kids of their own. It’s really heart-warming.”
Adds Rene: “When we’re playing live, we’re seeing people who were into us years ago but also their kids are singing our songs! And they can see that we’re having fun. That comes across very clearly. It’s one big pop music party.”

Looking back to the events of 2001, Soren refutes the rumours that his relationship with Lene was the principal cause of Aqua splitting.
“I’m sure the chemistry changes in a band when things like that happen,” he concedes, “but the real reason was that we were all tired. We had seven very hard working years, and everybody needed a break. The Aqua bubble was just too big. Aqua was becoming everything, which is very unhealthy for people. We said at the time that the sparkle had left, which was very true. But we stopped when we were still good friends. If we had kept going I think it would have destroyed everything.”
Lene: “There’s certain sides of being famous that are not so attractive, but that comes with the package. I would never complain about that. Of course there was pressure on me at certain points, but I’m a strong chick!”
Claus: “We’ve been through such massive things in our lives, all the ups and downs of success. We relate like family now. You forgive each other and also respect each other. The differences between us are also what make us strong as a band. We took a break before things got ugly. It was a wise move. Now it’s paid off. We’re more aware of each other this time around, trying to take care of each other.”
Rene: “We’re still the same people, but maybe a little crazier – I’m a maniac now!”

What does the future hold for Aqua?
Claus: “As long as it’s fun, we’ll see where it takes us.”
Rene: “It feels like we’re starting from scratch – but the album has already done so well in Denmark it’s unbelievable. It’s like we came out of a time bubble. My heart will always be with Aqua. It’s our destiny. And we have enormous energy for this second time around.”

Lene: “In the last few years we’ve tried everything, and now we’ve come back to what we’re best at – good pop music. Why fix it if it ain’t broken? To stop when you’re on top like we did, you’re taking a risk to start again. But no risk, no gain – and here we are!”
Soren: “Right now we have no expectations. When you’ve had great success like we had, if we’d stopped for two years and then come back we’d have expected it to be the same. But now I feel a lot less pressure. It’s always fun to build your way up. It’s never fun to be at the top, where the only way is down. This is not rocket science. It’s about making catchy pop songs and fitting into the universe, and that’s what Aqua has always been. In a way we’re starting all over again. But that trip to where you’re going is what life is all about – and to make that trip again with Aqua is just fantastic.”