We chatted with tovelo about her new album 'Femme' – her first album as a married woman – and the emotional stakes as she trades in the danger of infatuation for the terror of true love
I feel like you can find me there and then when you listen to my music, you’ll be like, oh, wait, she’s actually a serious artist.Yeah, and people are apologizing. But honestly, it’s not their fault; I adopted the international way of saying it. In my private life, people would say Too-veh. It felt like a good line. Like, okay, when I’m working, I’m “Tove” and when it’s me at home, it’s “Too-veh.“ It’s really interesting seeing it change.
I sometimes think of pop stars as professional love addicts — I know a lot of your songs have been inspired by your dramatic love life — but are you able to still find the chaos in marriage?Our relationship is great, though: We’ve been together for six years now, and I’ve really found my person. He’s amazing. He definitely has his fucking weird quirks, just like me, but I feel really loved and respected. Even if we’re in a fight, I still feel like he’s being good to me. It’s very new and weird.
That one line in the song, “Sweet girl you’re so disciplined, keep it down,” makes it sound as though the disorder was something external to you. Was that the case for you as a teenager? I went to a voice doctor after maybe five years of it. I was 20. The doctor felt my vocal cords and said, “I can tell you’re bulimic. All I can say is that if you keep doing this, you will ruin your voice and you will not be able to sing.” So I was like,Obviously, I didn’t get fine that day, but it was a boost in taking therapy seriously. I think that probably took another five years and then I was good.