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The Cardigans
What? Don't you like popcorn?
by Michael O'Brien

She’s Swedish. She’s gorgeous, and she knows it. 24-year-old Nina Persson, the Cardigans’ lead singer, was sitting at the bar all by herself, waiting for her band to finish sound check. I took a deep breath and walked over to her, hoping her manager had informed her about the interview. She smiled as I introduced myself and replied, "I’m simply ravenous - you must take us to eat."

The Cardigans are an intimidating sight. Their music is clean, glamorous and refined-and so are they. Nina is breathtaking, bassist Magnus Sveningsson is impeccably dressed and at least 6’5," and Peter Svensson and Lasse Johansson exude style from every pore. Honestly, I was surprised to find them so talkative and friendly; the band has a reputation for being a difficult interview.

"Yeah, we know we have that reputation. It was often from having done 300 million interviews and having people trying to provoke a sensational answer. In the end, you end up not saying anything at all," said Persson.

Last year, the Cardigans took the world by storm with their hit single "Lovefool." Hearing it for the first time is a pop music fan’s delight. The exquisite production and glittering melody wrap perfectly around Nina Persson’s crystal teardrop vocals. However, simple pop gems are not a rarity. These days it takes more than a catchy tune to sell 2 million records.

For the Cardigans, that special something is Nina Persson. The "Lovefool" video was the world’s introduction to Nina - the voice, the attitude, the style, the dimples, the short blond hair and the big bright swimming  pool-blue eyes.

For the rest of the band, Nina’s quick ascent to cover girl status was a  little hard to swallow.

"It was a big problem to us that there was so much focus on Nina," said Peter.


"I realized I’d spent 25 percent of my life in this band"

The band has come to terms with Nina’s stardom. Sveningsson recently relinquished his lyric writing to Nina.

"Nina is an extremely talented writer. It’s kind of a double-edged sword. I really like what she’s doing; at the same time though, the band thought my songs didn’t really fit in on the new album. That really hurt me at the time. It was kind of frustrating to have the others kill my darlings," said Sveningsson.

Nina’s singing style has changed on the new album, probably due to the fact that she’s singing her own words. She sounds sexier, less "cutesy-pie"-her voice has a new, grown-up fullness to it.

"It’s much more about my life on this album than before. It’s just that  these emotions are more vibrant and are easier to write about. The hopelessness is a theme for this album, it’s not necessarily what I feel all the time. So don’t feel sorry for me," said Persson.

The entire new album sounds fuller, more realized than their first three efforts. The growth is probably due to the band’s maturity. They’ve been together since they were teenagers, and are just now entering their mid-twenties. The band recently celebrated its sixth anniversary.

"I realized I’d spent 25 percent of my life in this band," said Persson.

"I think for being this young, we’re experienced. We keep our feet firmly on the ground, because we’re Scandinavians we aren’t easily impressed," said Sveningsson.

Luckily, I was able to shift the conversation towards Nina’s love life --certainly the burning question on everyone’s mind.

"We’ve become more at ease with the fact that Nina will be on the covers"

"I have this bad tradition. Every time we are about to start a big tour like  this one, I fall in love. Last time we released a new album, I started a new relationship - and I’m doing it again," she laughs. "Maybe it’s because I know that it’s the worst time in my life to start something up. Maybe I attract people who like hard-to-get women," she sighs, running a lit cigarette around the rim of the ashtray.

The fact is, Nina attracts most people. It’s terribly obvious that the rest of the band is not exactly comfortable with this. Nina seems to crave attention, and it doesn’t seem to sit well with her male bandmates. Rumors of a breakup are constantly swirling around the Cardigans. In the past year Nina has recorded a solo, singer-songwriter album with a friend, and Sveningsson is looking forward to making music with some of his friends after the tour. There are definitely five large Scandinavian egos in the Cardigans, but there is only one face on the magazine covers.

"We had a major crisis after the last tour. We decided to have a long break, which was necessary. We’ve become more at ease with the fact that Nina will be on the covers," explained Sveningsson.

"People have a thing about Swedish girls, don’t they?" asks Persson. "There are always sixteen-year-old Adidas jacket guys that say things, but they never try to come close. I don’t know if there’s something about my appearance which scares them," said Persson.

During our conversation, all four male members of the band have alluded to their previous physical indulgences with groupies - all of course claiming to have grown up since. So, what about Nina?

"It would be disgusting actually. Somebody coming in and telling you how fabulous you were on stage and then actually being with them would be really creepy," said Persson.

Despite his recent "settling down," Svensson is eager to offer me some advice.

"My girlfriend taught me a really good phrase that you can use. It goes ‘Do you want to go home with me to f--- and have popcorn?’ If she says, ‘No way! F--- off,’ you say, ‘What, don’t you like popcorn?’ I’ve tried it, and it works!"

It had been at least three minutes since the focus of the conversation was on Nina, and she was eager to regain the spotlight, so she smiled, called me "Baby" and told me about her last trip to New York.

"I was in a cab in New York recently and the driver was absolutely disgusting. I made the big mistake of telling him I was Swedish and he was  like, ‘Ah, you like sex, huh?’ and I was saying ‘Well, yes I do." And he went, ‘So you like girls sometimes too?’ This was a long cab ride and he kept going on, so I tried to turn it around and asked him if he’d had sex recently and he just smiled and was all proud that he had," said Persson.

The current tour, including this stop at the Double Door, is just a small teaser tour before a world tour kicks off in February.

Nina took the stage shortly after 11:30 p.m. in tight black leather pants and a skimpy, sleeveless black top, sporting a black leather steel-studded biker chick wristband. During sound check, Nina sang with a bored indifference, mouthing the words, warming up her voice. In front of the crowd, she assumed her dream girl persona, brushing her hair back behind her ear and gently raising her eyebrows as she purred, "...maybe, I was your whore" during "Been It" from the Cardigans breakthrough album First Band On The Moon.

The Cardigans music is a sweet pop seduction. Like all the best pop bands, they keep their songs short, and this time around they’re keeping the set short - only nine songs. Most of the set consisted of material from the new album, "Gran Turismo." The first single from the new album, "My Favorite Game," was one of the highlights of the evening. However, the strongest songs of the night were the few from First Band On The Moon, the new ones will probably catch up after the band plays a few more live dates.

The Cardigans are guided by producer Tore Johansson, who is largely responsible for their sound and success. He ruled with an iron fist during sound check, obsessing over every small detail, and it paid off-the band sounded terrific and played with confidence. Overall, it was a strong, although short, performance. Nina’s stage presence alone is enough to make the Cardigans worthwhile, and the band seems to get stronger with every album.

"We would never say we’re the best f---ing band in the world," said Svensson.

"We never say it, but we believe it," added Persson.

Visit their site at http://cardigans.com
all pictures are from the same site