Interview with Hjertebankfestivalen, June 2025
*I apologise for any mistakes, neither Norwegian nor English is my first language
[On screen text] Backstage after the show Hey, are you having fun here? I'm feeling good! It was a really great concert.
You just finished your second Hjertebankfestivalen, that must be fun! Yes, very! I was very impressed by the festival, and I was impressed by the line up and by the audience. I have played many festivals and I don't think I have seen so many mosh pits before. It was so fun hearing Don't Kill My Vibe sung back by literally everyone at the festival. So fun.
There were approximately 3,500 young people here today. How do you think it was for them to see such a big artist in their hometown? It must have been so wild. We talked about it in the car on the way to backstage. I asked everyone if they remembered the first big concert they went to without parents, where you just went with your friends, experiencing a real audience with mosh pits and all that. My first big concert was at Jugendfest in Ålesund, and I saw Avicii, that year with Levels.
How old were you? I was 15 years old.
That's fun. That is one of the biggest music experiences I have had. Because the first time I heard real bass coming out of PA, the sound is so loud, you are there with all your friends. I remember it being so fun. It wasn't Avicii today, but it was really, really fun today. Everyone was so nice.
What is your favourite festival, and why is it Hjertebank? [Laughs] Hjertebank is up there now! It's my first time at Hjertebank. Closing Hjertebank was so much fun, it's up there with my favourites. Glastonbury and Hjertebank together. And Coachella.
The big three. What would you say to the young people here today who want to be on the stage? I said this on stage, when I was in 8th grade I wanted to quit music. I played music at the cultural school (after-school music programme) and I wanted to quit, but mum and dad had already paid for the whole semester, so they told me to continue for the next six months. So I continued. And I fell in love with music again. Because it wasn't very cool playing music when you are 13 years old. I was bad at football and at handball.
But it paid off. It did. And there are so many things to do in the music industry, and I didn't know what the music industry was before I was in the music industry. I thought the only thing you could do was play music. But there are record labels, booking bureaus—the ones that book the concerts—there is management if you want to organise things, tour managers—those who are on tour with us and make sure we get to things on time—there are monitor technicians that fix our in-ear monitors. There are so many things you could do, so if you love music, but want to do something else. My photographer sits right over there, that's Charlotte from England who travels the world with us. So there's lots to do.
