Hanne Mjøen is not your average pop queen. The Norwegian alt/pop artist creates music that makes you want to dance, with lyrics that make you want to cry. Her intoxicating sound is coated in a dark, raw edge, providing a comforting reminder that it’s ok to be flawed, while her lyrics pull the trigger for an outlet of pent-up emotions.
Mjøen is just a small-town girl, living in a lonely world. The child of a hairdresser and a salesman, she came of age in Oppdal, a small mountain village. She had never dreamt of becoming a pop star. All she wanted to do was to sing and write songs, and hopefully have them make an emotional connection with someone out there. Pop music as a genre – with its booming choruses, spine-tingling chord progressions and lyrics about love, longing and betrayal – not its popularity, was what had appealed to her.
This is her journey to find the strength to say it as it is. And she is taking you with her on this journey. Her next single “I Never Told You” continues to take us on an exploration of emotional tribulations. Showing strength in concealment, Mjøen explains, ”There’s so many things you never tell and keep inside, hiding hard feelings to seem stronger than you are. This song is about not wanting people to see you in your weak and darker moments, but also acknowledging them. I don’t want to burden you with my shade, and I won’t let you carry me, cause what if you can’t take it? What if this destroys your image of me, and you start to pity me? I don’t want that. I wrote this song thinking of my mom and all the things I never tell her, cause I want to be the strong and independent person she sees me as.” Shaded with ascending synthesisers, euphoric vocal energy and rhythmic bliss, her latest single opens gracefully into Mjøen’s contagious musicality. To date, her music has garnered over 23 million streams, receiving airplay in over 25 countries worldwide, including Annie Mac and BBC Radio 1. In 2021 she was the 7th most played artist on Norwegian radio and has been praised by the likes of The Fader, The Line Of Best Fit, Paper Mag, Wonderland Mag, 1883 Mag and many more. 2022 is set to be an explosive year for Hanne Mjøen.