Icona Pop was formed when Aino Jawo met Caroline Hjelt at a friend’s party following a particularly gnarly breakup. “I was so consumed in my own life,” she told SPIN last year, “and then when I met her everything changed.” It’s that sentiment that’s powered the Swedish electropop duo’s impressive rise since, which included a self-titled EP that landed on SPIN’s 20 Best Pop Albums of 2012, and which is summed up so perfectly by the chorus of a certain ’96 Tupac Shakur hit. The late Los Angeles icon rhymes, “All I need in this life of sin / Is me and my girlfriend,” and these girlfriends rework the hook, changing “bloody” to “happy” for the Bonnie and Clyde-referencing “down to ride” portion. But the message is still the same: Haters be damned, we’re coming through. And Icona Pop being Icona Pop, they’ve added some nah-nah-nahs, their own chant-baiting verses, a four-on-the-floor dance beat, and a whole lot of synthesizer. It’s enough to completely reinvent the source material, which is exactly what makes it a worthwhile endeavor. Billboard reports that the leaked track will be the group’s next international single, and that the pair have worked with Zebra Katz, Stargate, Benny Blanco, and Shellback on their forthcoming debut album, due “before the end of the summer.”
Icona Pop tour dates:
June 2 – Ozark, AZ @ Wakarusa Festival
June 8 – New York, NY @ Governor’s Ball Music Festival
August 2 – Chicago, IL @ Lollapalooza Festival
August 3 – ON, Canada @ Grove Music Festival
August 4 – Montreal, QC @ Osheaga Festival
August 12 – Asheville, NC @ Orange Peel*
August 13 – Nashville, TN @ Exit / In*
August 14 – Atlanta, GA @ Masquerade*
August 16 – Orlando, FL @ House of Blues*
August 17 – Miami, FL @ Grand Central*
August 18 – Tampa, FL @ The Ritz*
August 20 – New Orleans, LA @ House of Blues*
August 21 – Houston, TX @ Fitzgerald’s*
August 22 – San Antonio, TX @ Backstage Live*
August 23 – Austin, TX @ Emo’s East*
August 24 – Dallas, TX @ House of Blues*
August 26 – Phoenix, AZ @ The Crescent Ballroom*
August 28 – Santa Ana, CA @ The Observatory*
August 29 – Los Angeles, CA @ The Fonda Theatre*
August 30 – San Francisco, CA @ The Fillmore*
September 3 – Vancouver, BC @ Commodore Ballroom*
September 4 – Portland, OR @ Wonder Ballroom*
September 6 – Salt Lake City, UT @ The Complex*
September 7 – Denver , CO @ Gothic Theatre*
September 10 – Minneapolis, MN @ Varsity Theatre*
September 11 – Milwaukee, WI @ Turner Hall Ballroom*
September 15 – Cleveland, OH @ House of Blues*
September 19 – Boston, MA @ Paradise*
September 20 – New York, NY @ Webster Hall*
September 22 – Philadelphia, PA @ Theatre of the Living Arts*
*w/ Sirah & K.Flay
