Last week we went to YouTube Works Awards to celebrate the amazing work of all the brilliant minds producing the most innovative campaigns on YouTube in the Nordics last year. Michelle Kadir, CEO of YouTube Nordics, talked about the virality of our partner Rednex’s song Cotton Eye Joe and Rednex performed the song live. Thank you YouTube Nordics for having us and congrats @rednexofficial on the latest couple of months’ success!
Meet Lia Larsson - a name that is synonymous with “epa-dunk”, one of the biggest genres in Sweden right now. Lia Larsson made her way into many Swedish people’s hearts with her humor and dancing, but her big breakthrough came with the debut single “Va Sa ‘Ru (Russin På Russin Av) in 2022, which became the most streamed new Swedish christmas song of the year. Since then she has released several hits, such as “Fara Ner På Byn”, “Edelweiss (EPA remix)” and the chart-topping “Banka Banka”. Today Lia Larsson has more than 435 000 followers on Tiktok, 100 000 followers on Instagram and has gotten more than 2 million views on YouTube.
Lia was one of the contestants in this year’s edition of Melodifestivalen, where she sang her new song “30 km/h”. In less than a day the song had already climbed its way up to second place on Top 50 Sweden on Spotify. Following the success of “30 km/h”, Lia is currently on her first tour with the same name, reaching all the way from Storslett in Norway to Rangsby in Finland, with lots of Swedish stops along the way. While waiting to see her live at one of her stops, make sure to visit her YouTube channel and watch some of her music videos, or listen to her newest release “FULLA”, with Norwegian artist Silje Bakke!
More than 3 billion views and a reach of 12% of all YouTube users in the world within less than a month - those are the world record breaking numbers that our partner Rednex has gotten on their YouTube channel lately. It is the good old classic “Cotton Eye Joe” that has gotten new life 30 years after the original release, making Rednex the most played artist globally as of right now. The song has become viral because of a chicken nugget singing the fake lyrics “Gedagedigedagedago” to the song. Read more about the popular meme via the link in our story.
Congrats @rednexofficial on being the world’s most played artist and for such amazing view numbers! We are very proud to be involved in this milestone and to have Rednex as one of our many partners.
The success story of the Laroxx Project began in 2011, when the debut single “Sunshine Love” was released. Almost 13 years later the official video and the Sandrocks Holiday Remix have reached a total of 72 million views together on YouTube. Over the years the Swedish dance music producer has built himself a strong international fanbase, with listeners spreading across countries like India, Brazil, Italy and the US. Following the success of “Sunshine Love”, Laroxx Project dropped several other hits, such as “Jabba Jabba” and “Goodbye My Love”, which are also still going warm among the fans worldwide.
Today Laroxx Project is an established part of the worldwide dance music scene, releasing both original songs and covers for the world to dance to. Make sure to listen to one of his latest original successes “I Can Feel Your Love”, or hear the classic “All That She Wants” in new form, all on his YouTube channel. Thank you Laroxx Project for spreading love through music since 2011, and for letting us be part of the journey!
Say hi to our new partner RIELL!
@iamriell released her debut EP “PARADISE” in 2020, but has been a widely popular topliner in the industry for many years. The Canadian Dance Pop artist is also a songwriter, producer and a master at performing live, something that has been recognized by many during the three international tours she has already been on. But not only do people love her live performances, she has also gained a lot of recognition for her skills as both a musician and an artist via awards such as the Western Canada Music Award for Electronic Artist of the Year, the Grand Prize in the John Lennon Songwriting Competition Electronic Category, first prize in the USA Songwriting Competition in the Dance/Electronic category, and an Honorable Mention in the International Songwriting Competition and Unsigned Only.
With more than 500+ million views across platforms and a newly released EP, there is no doubt that RIELL’s journey of success has only begun. The new EP “Winter” was released last week and is written based on the five stages of grief. More music is coming later this month as well, as she’s teamed up with @thefatratofficial on “Myself & I”, which will be released April 26th. Make sure to pre-save the new single via the link in our story and keep listening to “Winter”!
Thank you RIELL for taking us on this exciting path you have ahead of you, we are super thrilled about your new EP and everything that is to come!
We might be longing for warm summer days in this cold and snowy weather, but with the drop that Tingsek finally provided us with today, all we can think about is “October”!
Tingsek’s breakthrough came with the release of his self-titled debut album in 2005. Since then he has spoiled us with songs like “World Of Its Own” and “Maggie and Al” featuring Allen Stone, as well as six more albums, the latest one being “Home” which was released in 2021. “October” is the first single from his upcoming 8th album and the lyrics of the song humorously explore self-critical reflections on clumsiness within relationships. Apart from writing and producing his own songs, the multi-talented Swedish soul artist has also worked with many other artists along the years, such as Bernhoft, Timbuktu and Ane Brun.
Tingsek is especially known for his talent as a live performer. He has done several sold-out headline shows, opened for Adele in Holland and toured with Allen Stone in North America, and always left the audience absolutely stunned by the magic that he and his band manage to create while on stage. If you haven’t yet been lucky enough to experience Tingsek live, you should definitely check out the many live performances that are on his YouTube channel to get a sense of what you’ve been missing out on.
Swedish artist and producer Discrete has had an interest in music production since he was only 13 years old and his career took off when releasing his debut single “WITHOUT YOU.” in 2018. Today he has a catalog of over 200 million streams and has worked with artists such as Astrid S, Dan Caplen and Becky Hill to name a few. His way of combining and floating between different genres has been shown to gain him a steady fanbase both domestically and internationally. In 2023 he was nominated for “Framtidens Artist” (Artist of the future) at P3 Guld, recognizing his great achievements as a leading artist in the industry, but also positioning him as one of the promising acts of tomorrow.
We are super happy to be part of the successful journey that Discrete has had this far and even more excited for what’s to come. While waiting for some new drops, go to his YouTube channel and listen to hits like “Drown In Me”, “Trippin’ Bout You” and “Typo”, or why not get into the vibe with some of his DJ sets?
Some highlights from our wonderful weekend at Future Echoes!
We had a blast meeting both new and old friends and talking about opportunities with potential future partners. Thank you @futureechoesfestival for a great festival, for having us in one of your panels and for some fantastic shows. See you next year!
One thing fans can expect of the Swedish-Bosnian DJ and producer Salvatore Ganacci, is to never know what to expect. Salvatore Ganacci became a viral phenomenon when releasing the massive hit “Horse” in 2018. Apart from the song having an interesting and boundary-pushing sound itself, the music video that came along, for instance featuring scenes of Salvatore Ganacci riding a giant shoe, left the fans perhaps a “little” confused but absolutely amazed. “Horse” and its music video won several awards both in Sweden and internationally, praising the humor and creativity. The virality in 2018 didn’t just come from “Horse” however, Salvatore Ganacci also did a performance on Tomorrowland which was highly appreciated and talked about as the “perfect set” for a long while afterwards.
Fans were just as amazed in 2021 when Salvatore Ganacci released another one of his most streamed songs, also followed by a music video just as strange as “Horse”. In “Step-Grandma”, he shakes new life into Swedish singer Nanne Grönvall’s old classic “Håll om mig”, taking over the dance floors as well as the radio stations. The debut album “Culturally Appropriate” came in 2022, containing even more hits such as “Take me to America” and “Let You Do This” with Sebastian Ingrosso, Steve Angello and Buy Now. While waiting for another viral phenomenon, check out Salvatore Gannaci’s latest music video to “Your Mother”. We promise you won’t be disappointed!
Celebration time: 1 Year, 1 Billion views per month! We’re proud of our artists and thankful to work together as a unity to amplify YouTube!
The Danish popstar Christopher has been one of the hottest names in our neighboring country for a long time, topping charts with hit singles like “Bad”, “Leap Of Faith” and “Fall so hard”. With multiple chart topping singles in China and having headlined the Sound City Festival in South Korea in 2018, the singer has had a loyal fanbase in various Asian countries since the beginning of his career as well.
When Christopher not only wrote and performed the entire soundtrack for the Netflix original “A Beautiful Life”, but also made his debut as an actor in the lead role last summer, the rest of the world discovered the talent that European and Asian fans had already recognized, gaining him a dedicated and loyal fanbase globally. The movie instantly became #1 on Netflix worldwide and several of the songs included in the soundtrack topped the charts in many countries. Following last summer’s success, Christopher is going to spend this upcoming summer meeting new and old fans on his “A Beautiful Live Tour” where several of the venues are already sold out. In other words, be fast if you want a chance to see him live! And if you don’t get the chance, there are many live performances as well as other videos to watch on his YouTube channel.
Singing? That’s not something we’re very good at, but we do know someone who most definitely is: Molly Hammar. Coming from a family where singing and playing music comes as naturally as breathing, Molly Hammar knew early in life she wanted to spend her days singing and writing songs, and let’s just say she’s been pretty successful executing that plan. Songs like “Words”, “Douchebag” and “Get to know me first” have positioned Molly as the strong and powerful singer that she is, and as Molly uses her music as a way to express her feelings about life’s experiences, self love and female sexuality, her music has always been relatable to a wide audience.
While most of her earlier releases had international focus, Molly’s participation in the Swedish show “Så mycket bättre” showcased her talent for singing and writing in Swedish as well, making her one of Sweden’s most beloved artists with chart topping tracks as “Ingen annan rör mig som du” and “Regnar och regnar”.
As the Swedish movie “The Abyss” was recently released on Netflix, Molly Hammar went to Kiruna where the movie was recorded and made a performance video of her song “Deep Down”, the soundtrack for the movie. The video turned out really beautiful, so if you haven’t seen it already you should go to Molly’s YouTube channel and watch it!
If you know about Yung Lean, chances are pretty big that you already know everything there is to know - ever since his breakthrough he has had an incredibly loyal and dedicated fanbase. His first hit single “Ginseng Strip 2002” has been living rent free in our heads since it went viral on YouTube back in 2013. Not so strange then that the track managed to go viral yet again almost 10 years later, an achievement that’s far beyond the usual. The track gained so much new popularity it became the second most played song on TikTok in 2022. Yung Lean has been one of the pioneers of cloud rap and emo rap, genres that he and his friends in Sad Boys have dominated ever since the early 2010s. The Swedish rapper has built himself an international empire with singles like “Agony” and “Kyoto” and the latest album “Starz” and we are very happy to represent him on YouTube.
At the end of last month Yung Lean released the long awaited single and music video for “Shadowboxing” exclusively on YouTube. If you haven’t already seen it, you know what to do. Also, the next release is only hours away… Stay awake because the album “Pykos” by @yunglean2001 and @dg_bladee comes out at midnight!
Let us take you back to the summer of 2016, when the sun was shining high and whether you were at the beach, at a party, eating ice cream or playing volleyball, there was this one song always blasting out from the speakers, becoming the soundtrack of the season. Of course we are talking about Mike Perry’s “The ocean” ft. Shy Martin, which was released just before summer and gained so much attention that it reached more than 9 millions streams in just six weeks. This was the big international breakthrough for the Swedish DJ who since then has continued to release hit songs like “Stay Young” ft. Tessa and “Inside the lines” ft. Casso. Today Mike Perry is an established name in the international EDM scene, having played at some of the biggest festivals in the world and worked with a lot of great names both within and beyond the genre.
As the days are finally starting to get warmer, Mike Perry just provided us with another possible summer soundtrack just in time for the upcoming season. This time he has teamed up with @tentimesmusic and @hot.shade and their new single “Complicated” is out now! Head straight to YouTube and give it a listen!
Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman are a Swedish DJ and producer duo who have played an important role in the progressive house and EDM scene worldwide. With their creativity and distinctive sound, they push the boundaries of the genre, while still staying true to their sound and the imprint that they have made on the genre since their breakthrough back in 2012.
This year marks 10 years since the release of “Payback” with Steve Angello, a track that has pretty much become a mandatory part of every EDM festival and rave ever since the release. Having played at some of the biggest dance music festivals in the world, including several appearances at Tomorrowland, Dimitri Vangelis & Wyman are also known for their high energy on stage, never leaving the crowd disappointed.
The duo’s first release of 2024 is finally here! The brand new single “Retro” will be released this Friday. Swipe to hear a snippet of the single and make sure to give it a listen on Friday!
Sofia Karlberg is the Swedish pop singer who went viral internationally in 2014 with her cover of Beyoncé’s “Crazy in Love”, we’re sure you’ve heard it! As the success grew wider, so did the dedicated fanbase. After a couple more years of uploading charming cover videos recorded at home with her phone, Sofia’s debut single “Bad Omen” was released in 2017. Since then Sofia has built herself a strong brand continuously combining covers with original songs. Her debut EP “Hold My Love” was released in 2022, containing five songs that represent Sofia’s life story and welcome the listeners into her world.
Head over to Sofia’s YouTube channel and follow along as her journey continues. You’ll probably relive some old memories too!
Fancy some rock, punk or pop? In Mimikry you get it all! This year marks the Swedish band’s 30th anniversary since their very first gig together, but also the 20th anniversary for their big breakthrough song “En flicka som är stark”. Mimikry’s powerful music brings you through the good and bad in all of life’s experiences, and with their creativity and constant new ideas they always keep their fans curious of what’s to come next. Most of all, they have made themselves a name on the live stage as the band with the never ending energy, always giving their all.
This weekend (1-2 March) we’re hoping to see you at “Mimfest” in Borlänge, a festival created by Mimikry as a celebration of their 30 years together. If you haven’t had the luck to experience the band live already, now’s your chance! To join the celebration, they have also invited several friends such as Lillasyster, De Lyckliga Kompisarna and many more to play. Check out the whole lineup and buy tickets via the link in our story. But be fast! The tickets are selling fast and there are not many left.
Congrats @mimikryband to 30 successful years!
He has done hundreds of videos having songs from a wide range of genres meet metal - now we want you to meet 331Erock. This American wonder soon celebrates 15 years of uploading metal covers to his YouTube channel, somehow leaving his worldwide fans more amazed by every video. With his great skills and creativity both as a guitarist and composer, 331Erock makes everything from Disney themes and game soundtracks to pop ballads and classical pieces sound like they were never made to be anything else but metal tracks.
Apart from his first ever YouTube video celebrating 15 years in November, 331Erock is getting closer to yet another milestone: 600 videos! With the brand new cover he is releasing today, there’s only 11 videos left to go. Make sure to go listen to when Starship troopers meet metal and stick around for the 600th video!
Thank you @331erock for 15 years and almost 600 videos of exceptional shredding and outstanding solos, and congrats on such a successful journey!
The Albanian rapper ELAI started making beats when he was only 7 years old, eventually leading him to produce songs for some of the biggest artists in Sweden. He was nominated for a Swedish Grammis in 2022, recognizing his impressive work as a producer. Alongside producing songs for others, ELAI has started to focus more on his own music, which soon turned out to be a success. With hit songs like “KUKU” and “Nokia”, it didn’t take very long for ELAI to build an empire of dedicated fans worldwide.
Last week the music video for ELAI’s hit single “Joti” not only celebrated one year, it also surpassed 35 MILLION views! If you’ve missed out on watching, make sure to watch the video right away and become part of ELAI’s successful journey.
Kim Cesarion’s unique falsetto led him to great success in 2013, when he released the hit single “Undressed”. The following album sold platinum in various countries and since then we’ve heard him release songs both in Swedish and English and collaborating with other songwriters and artists such as Rymdpojken and Molly Hammar. Tonight we’re all going to cheer for Kim when watching Melodifestivalen, as he’s making his debut as a contestant. We are beyond excited to see him perform his new song “Take My Breath Away” and hopefully make his way to the finale.
Make sure to watch Melodifestivalen at 8pm CET tonight and vote for Kim! Until then, head over to Kim’s YouTube channel and check out his other songs.
Lucille Group wishes you the best of luck tonight, Kim!
