{"id":2452628,"date":"2019-12-26T16:00:00","date_gmt":"2019-12-26T23:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.aspentimes.com\/?p=318062"},"modified":"2019-12-26T16:00:00","modified_gmt":"2019-12-26T23:00:00","slug":"icona-pop-toasting-2020-with-w-aspen-performance","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/local-news\/icona-pop-toasting-2020-with-w-aspen-performance\/","title":{"rendered":"Icona Pop toasting 2020 with W Aspen performance"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n
Icona Pop will perform at the W Aspen’s “Light It Up” New Year’s Eve party.<\/strong>
Courtesy photo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n

Just about every \u201cSongs of the Decade\u201d list that\u2019s come out in the last few weeks included Icona Pop\u2019s<\/a> punky, inescapable electro-dance hit \u201cI Love It.\u201d<\/a><\/p>\n

Released by the Swedish duo in in 2012, the synth-pop collaboration with Charli XCX \u2013 simultaneously a break-up song and an exhilarating dance track \u2013 is the kind of timeless pop concoction that\u2019s so ubiquitous and instantly familiar that it\u2019s hard to believe there was a time it didn\u2019t exist.<\/p>\n

In its best songs of the 2010s wrap-up, NME wrote<\/a> that \u201c\u2019I Love It\u2019 \u201cproved to be the ultimate go-off anthem in the giddy days of summer 2012.\u201d Rolling Stone\u2019s<\/a> called the song\u2019s oft-quoted \u201cI\u2019m a \u201890s bitch\u201d line \u201cone of the more bumper-sticker-worthy generational salvos of the 2010s.\u201d<\/p>\n

But as Icona Pop\u2019s Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo recalled recently, they\u2019d been touring with the song for about two years before it broke out as a global sensation.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was a crazy ride,\u201d Hjelt wrote in an e-mail. \u201c\u2019I Love It\u2019 was so different from every other pop song on the radio all around the world, but somehow it connected with people.\u201d<\/p>\n

For many, the song is indelibly linked to HBO\u2019s \u201cGirls\u201d and the scene of Lena Dunham\u2019s Hannah singing along to it in a pivotal second season club scene.<\/p>\n

Jawo recalled that episode airing in January 2013 was the turning point for the song, which leapt from being a hipster hit into the stratospheric smash and generational anthem. It jumped into the Top 50 on iTunes the next day and soon climbed to no. 7 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart and went double-platinum. Tours with Katy Perry, One Direction and Miley Cyrus soon followed.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe really noticed a huge difference when the song was featured in an episode of \u2018Girls,\u2019\u201d said Jawo.\u201d It just exploded. I still don\u2019t think we realize how big the song was and still is.\u201d<\/p>\n

On New Year\u2019s Eve 2013, the duo performed at the ball drop in Times Square for a global television audience.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat was really a dream come true,\u201d said Jawo. \u201cWe\u2019ve only seen it on TV and suddenly we were standing there counting down to the New Year. \u201c<\/p>\n

Icona Pop is closing the decade with a performance at the W Aspen on New Year\u2019s Eve 2019, as the centerpiece of the hotel\u2019s \u201cLight It Up\u201d party. The W has given Aspen\u2019s apr\u00e8s-ski and nightlife scene a shot in the arm since it opened in August, shifting the town\u2019s social center of gravity away from long-established spots with buzzy events like this Icona Pop show and a recently announced pop-up of West Hollywood\u2019s The Abbey Food & Bar during Gay Ski Week next month.<\/p>\n

Making their Aspen debut with the W performance, Icona Pop is thrilled to be here.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe absolutely love doing New Year\u2019s Eve shows,\u201d said Hjelt. \u201cIt\u2019s always a good vibe, you can really feel the excitement and I think the only challenge is to be away from your friends and family.\u201d<\/p>\n

And though they\u2019ve performed in stadiums and to massive outdoor audiences at the biggest music festivals in North America and Europe, Icona Pop still feels at home in an intimate nightclub space like the W\u2019s.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve done so many different kinds of shows, everything from super small clubs to massive arena shows, but we love both,\u201d said Hjelt. \u201cWhen we play smaller venues we can usually get a closer connection to the audience. \u201c<\/p>\n

Since their breakout work with Charli XCX on \u201cI Love It,\u201d the duo has collaborated with the likes of Louis the Child, Ty Dolla $ign and Afrojack. They said they seek out artists that will challenge them.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can do something totally different and go out of your comfort zone when you collaborate with someone,\u201d said Jawo. \u201cIt usually turns out super cool and interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n

Most recently, they teamed with New Orleans bounce rapper Big Freedia on her new album, including the single \u201cLouder,\u201d released in November. Hjelt said they teamed up by accident, meeting when they were recording in adjacent Los Angeles studios.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe bumped into Freedia in the studio and she asked us if we wanted to join her on her album,\u201d she recalled. \u201cA couple days later we were recording two awesome songs.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking back on the decade, the duo \u2013 formed in 2009 \u2013 is pleased.<\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes you forget to stop for a second and see how far you\u2019ve come,\u201d said Hjelt. \u201cWe\u2019ve definitely reached our goals. Our dream was to be able to tour and write music as a job and that\u2019s what we are doing.\u201d<\/p>\n

They have been working on new material and writing music over the last year, planning on new releases in 2020. But for now, their eyes are on the snow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are both skiers,\u201d said Jawo. \u201cI am not very good but I absolutely love it. We\u2019ll be there a couple of days before and after the show. So you\u2019ll absolutely see us on the slope enjoying life.\u201d<\/p>\n

atravers@aspentimes.com<\/a><\/p>\n

via:: The Aspen Times<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Icona Pop will perform at the W Aspen’s “Light It Up” New Year’s Eve party.Courtesy photo Just about every \u201cSongs of the Decade\u201d list that\u2019s come out in the last few weeks included Icona Pop\u2019s punky, inescapable electro-dance hit \u201cI Love It.\u201d Released by the Swedish duo in in 2012, the synth-pop collaboration with Charli […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2452628","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","category-local-news"],"acf":[],"publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-08-19 00:01:48","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"distributor_meta":false,"distributor_terms":false,"distributor_media":false,"distributor_original_site_name":"KSPN The Valley's Quality Rock","distributor_original_site_url":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn","push-errors":false,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452628","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2452628"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2452628\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2452628"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2452628"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alwaysmountaintime.com\/kspn\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2452628"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}