“I was kind of over-tired, you know, I felt a bit off. And then I had a seizure.”
Two years ago Emilie Nicolas had a convulsive attack triggered by a brain tumour. It caused an intracerebral haemorrhage within her brain, which is a scary way to explain an even scarier thing: the tumour was causing bleeding in her brain.
“[The tumour] was connected to my throat, so I was very scared. It could [have affected my] speech and language and right hand – so it was like everything a musician needs. I was kind of terrified.”
Naturally, the Norwegian dark-pop artist and producer’s entire career was placed on hold. And what a career that was: a #1 debut album in her home country (Like I’m A Warrior, 2014), two Spellemann Awards (aka Norwegian Grammys), a major label deal, and a spot on the list of the Best 10 Albums of 2014 by Norway’s largest newspaper Aftenposten.
Emilie Nicolas left the music industry, going from near-ubiquity to deep obscurity in just a few years. She crafted her anonymity carefully as she healed and paid no mind to the industry team around her who were wondering when or how they could possibly pick up where they left off; how they could build on a groundswell that had once filled a whole continent but was now just a concerned whisper?
You’d never know it looking at her now. Seated at the cafe inside the Munch Museum in Oslo, she’s nursing a snuff tobacco between her lower lip and gum and beaming with content as she recalls the most funereal moments of her life.
“I was afraid of not being able to sing or make music after,” she offers, all while smiling. “I was kind of asking my boyfriend at the time, and producer and drummer [Eivind Helgerød] if we could make an album quick, but I was so tired from just being scared that I was not in a state where I would be any good.
“I couldn’t stay up in the studio for more than one hour, and then I was tired […] I was the most dramatic about it, like, ‘I have to make my final recordings!’”
But Emilie did heal. And she did make more music. In January 2017 she released her first new opus since the operation, the standalone single ‘Sky’. ‘Sky’ plays out like a rolling piece of indignation. With lush resilience and ornate production, it says, ‘I’ve never left, my decisive effect hasn’t waned, and my heart is open’.
Listen to Emilie Nicolas’ track ‘Sky’ below:
Her pause from the limelight was initially met with acceptance from her team, but in an industry that’s as forgetful as a goldfish when revenue streams are at play, it wasn’t long before the breathing space turned sardonic.
“I just had to say to my managers and my people at the company – especially my managers – ‘I can’t do anything’,” she says. “We had to cancel a lot of shows, and then they just said, ‘We’ll wait for you’. But I mean, when I came back, people were like, ‘Who are you again?’
“[…] There was a new boss that came in after I was sick, and he or she doesn’t know who I was anymore. So when you lose those key people altogether then you’re kind of, starting all over again.
“You’re not an upcoming star anymore and that’s not exciting,” she theorises. “‘Oh you’re an old lady with a new album, congratulations’. I mean, that’s my feeling.”
It needs to be said here that Emilie Nicolas is 30-years-old, and every bit as youthful and wise as a woman of 30 should be. When discussing her return to the public eye she smiles full and often, and when delving into the reason she left, she makes sure it’s clear she didn’t fall prey to an understandable, almost anthropomorphised disaster.
“I just had to say to my managers and my people at the company – especially my managers – ‘I can’t do anything’.”
In June, Emilie released her sophomore LP Tranquille Emile via The Orchard. An almost ‘fuck you’ to pop tropes, the record is full of dark, sexual, romance and healing. Sipping from the cups of FKA Twigs, The Weeknd and Miguel, Emilie uses her pop sensibilities and gravity-free vocals to turn R&B on its head. Tracks like ‘Naive’, ‘God Damn’ and ‘Wild One’ conquer her schtick to never take the obvious route.
Watch Emilie Nicolas’ video for ‘Wild One’:
Incredibly though, the sultry lyrics that come in as thick as syrupy honey aren’t about longtime collaborator, codifier and partner Eivind Helgerød. Now her ex-boyfriend, Eivind co-created the record about an entirely new lover.
“The whole album is about a new guy that I was in love with so he had to make… It was… It was tough for him,” she offers. “I mean, he’s amazing […] we’ve been [working] together for six years so we’ve always had a very professional working relationship.”
Already critically acclaimed and contributing to her over 250,000 monthly listens on Spotify, Tranquille Emile is a statement. Emilie Nicolas is back; but on her own terms. Her music summons a mysteriousness not entirely severed from her personal life and it luxuriates in the pleasures and penalties of authentic interactions.
You won’t catch Emilie embarking on a world tour to support the record – “to me that’s a nightmare”. Non-cooperation is unwittingly at the centre of her charm.
“I said no to releasing my first album in the United States, because I didn’t want to go there because of the flight,” she says, revealing her almost crippling fear of flying.
Locals in Norway shouldn’t expect regular shows either. Emilie is booked to play one show this year, an already sold-out performance at Oslo’s Sentrum Scene on November 23, the 1,750 capacity venue reserved for big-name international acts.
“I said no to releasing my first album in the United States, because I didn’t want to go there because of the flight.”
You get the sense Emilie has always been a unified self, allied with her own desires and ambitions.
“My ideal career is to be in the studio and making music, that’s where I’m comfortable.”
Stream Tranquille Emile below:
