STRØM CURRENT: VITA DOSA

Hi Sandra, thanks for joining us. First of all, can you tell us about this rollercoaster of a playlist? What did you have in mind when creating it?

Well I’m very into trying to show the many facets of being an artist and a person. Living in such a curated world where we get to really be specific about which sides we wanna show or how we wanna show them I think we lose all the nuances that are more likely to be discovered if we were actually more together outside the internet. I chose to just play tracks that I’ve been listening to since I moved to Tidal (the better of two evils, u know) I really think we should ditch Spotify. We’ve become way too addicted to something that has broken the infrastructure of the music industry and how we consume music. If this playlist has a theme, then it’s that I try to stay curious about music always and I try to get inspired by legends, newcomers, old and new.

Speaking of curiosity, what did you listen to growing up?

My musical upbringing was in a way very influenced and also very limited by my family. I lived with my grandma who had this grand piano in her living room. I didn’t have my own room growing up and in my early teenage days when I needed space I tried to create a cave by hanging some quilts under the piano and then I slept under the piano on a mattress. I had filled the tree case inside with printed photos of my heroes. One of them was Marilyn Manson. I had always shared music taste with my brother and father who also lived with my grandma and my taste was a weird mix of Depeche Mode, Backstreet Boys, Aqua, Spice Girls, Blink 182, Avril Lavigne, Eminem and whatever they listened to. When I saw Marilyn Manson for the first time on MTV I was mind blown. I changed my whole appearance to look like him. Got completely obsessed and watched all his interviews thinking he was so clever and brilliant how he could just be so on point. Mind you this was before I knew anything about all the me too cases that made me dump his ass.
Nevertheless he did a good job at transcending my life and turning every day into escapism.

How are those early sources of inspiration reflected in your own music?

Ever since I was little, I’ve wanted to make music—not just for myself, but to make someone else feel what I felt when I listened to music.

Years ago, I wrote a lyric: “Who the fuck is gonna come save me when the world is already burning?” The early days of my life still echoes through my music today—in the lyrics, in the chaos of my production, in the dystopian vibes, and even in my aesthetics. When I look back, those early days feel like one long, misty, and cold winter. And now, I look outside, realising it wasn’t just my world that was messed up. It’s the whole world that’s burning—and no one seems to care. It’s one big loop.

I know I might sound sad or even depressed—and I should be—but I’m not. I’m excited. I’m happy. I love life. There’s so much to do, so much to learn, and so much love if you know where to look. I love my life even more because I know how hard I fought for it.

This summer, I’m finishing my bachelor’s in music production at the Music Conservatory, and in May, I’m releasing my album. Music is where I take my stories, my sadness, and shape them into something beautiful—immortalizes it for someone else to mirror themselves in.

…and how are those early inspirations reflected in the playlist?

I think.. What I’m trying to say is: I try my best not to do the cool thing or be pretentious or at least try to reflect on my choices and why I do it. I try to understand how things work and how things are made. I listen to all kinds of music and I try to make something similar so I can understand the process or try to adopt some of the skills and fuse things together and turn it into my own.