After one of the most massive breakthroughs seen on the danish music scene in the past decade, Drew Sycamore is ready with her third album Superfaith. A short album but potent with minimalistic but powerful hooks and a defiant optimism that sounds like “an illegal rave party with a bunch of religious fanatics on a spaceship in the future.” Only a few artists get to experience a breakthrough such as that of Drew Sycamore. Becoming the most played artist on danish radio of 2021, contouring the Orange Stage at Roskilde and taking home awards like they were frivolous one night stands in the Christmas party season. Drew Sycamore took her place as the next big thing during the lockdown years. So what’s next? Well, ‘onwards and upwards’ seems to be the mantra and she isn’t showing any signs of stopping any day soon: Progressing, changing, and instantly sharing her songs with the world. Superfaith is her carefree and humorous reaction to her own hectic years and a gift to a world that needs a shoulder rub. “The first albums have been quite heartfelt, and this album has been my escape from having to deal with myself all the time. Don’t get me wrong, I love my job but it’s a lot of me me me. I have a lot of feelings but I really felt like pouring something else into the world. The world is pretty crazy right now. War and climate crisis. It gave me a desire to only pour joy and happiness into peoples lives. Get them to think about something else than feeling overweight, that they should get more involved in activism, get better grades. I didn’t wanna write a single negative word, but simply create a magnet for the greatest emotions” The songs on Superfaith are sensual and they don’t linger on semantics. They gaze outwards rather than inwards – but are kept tight by minimalistic hooky choruses like the ones, late-90’s r&b-queens mastered. As on the previous albums Drew Sycamore has been in charge of text and melody, while the producer-duo Fridolin and Frederik Nordsø has been in charge of production and sound. The two brothers have been driven by the vision of an energetic pumped, over-the-top humorous sound. When a bassfill or hookline gave them giggles, they kept it. Because right there, in the laugh, the spark of excitement is born. Lyrically, Drew played around with religious concepts and moved them from their usual roles. The Madonna, Paradise, sin and saviour runs through the album. ”Our common frame of reference has been, that everything has to sound like an illegal rave party with a bunch of religious fanatics on a spaceship in the future.” Drew Sycamore states. This has resulted in the single ‘In The Club’. Lyrically the track expresses in all simplicity the longing for one person who is the reason to be a the club. Is there an invite to a ”ménage à trois”? Maybe. Most likely. At least in this story. It all culminates with groans and a majestic guitar solo. Beneath the carnality exists a little rebellion against the patriarchy of the christian church ”You are here to worship the Mother, the Daughter and the Holy Spirit” she chants in a powerful and demanding voice. On ’Paradise’ she steps out from the gloom of the club and into the light, very much because of the riff from her co-writer and guitarist Lasse Boman. One day when she stepped into the studio, this particular sunlight embellished riff was blasting out from the speakers and Drew Sycamore quickly thought “what is going on? Are you having mojitos?”, before the melody almost wrote itself. Lyrically she used a method she sometimes turn to: She puts herself in another artists place – what would Prince write, or Billie Eilish or Kylie Minogue. Not to copy them, but to channel a certain energy. For ‘Paradise’ she thought of Chris Martin, because he can “hit a note, that is cheesy, but powerful”. From this came a song that undeniable gives the feeling of sitting on a picnic blanket with someone you love wishing it would be like that forever. On the song ’Into Your Arms’ Drew let’s in the listener that gives a throw back to her earlier works with a very heartfelt lyric and delivery. The Timberland-ish beat, strings and 90’s piano processes her past years. A shout out to a marriage, that has been her sanctuary in the hustle and bustle of squeezing through the tunnel into fame. When everything intertwines nicely and gathers under such a tight title as Superfaith (Which, for those in the know, being one word gives a nod to David Bowies Blackstar), one might think, that Drew Sycamore thinks in large concepts and fancy launches. However it is the pure intuitive urge to create, that has pushed Drew Sycamore to where she is one of the biggest pop stars in Denmark. ”I’m not conceptual. I just make something, and then something else, and then I tie them together in a nice knot. And then I start something new. That is also why the album has to come out now instead of being part of a long plan. I have to get on with my next pokemon-development”. Facts
Drew Sycamore had her debut as a soloist in 2018 and the year after she released her first album – from which both ‘Perfect Disaster’ and ‘Hard To Love’ became track of the week on Danish national radio P3. The first three singles from her second album Sycamore, all topped the Danish airplay chart. In continuation of the album, she won the main award at Danish national radio P3 Award show, two Danish Music Awards in the categories Danish Soloist of the year and Danish Radio hit of the year, three awards at Danish music magazine Gaffa Awards and a Carl Award – a Danish songwriter award. She became the most played Danish artist on Danish radio in 2021. In 2022 she opened the legendary Orange Stage at the first Roskilde Festival after Covid.
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