http://www.nytimes.com/2014/09/21/arts/music/tove-lo-on-her-new-album-and-more.html 2014-09-21 06:20:58 Tove Lo on Her New Album, and More The Swedish pop singer Tove Lo, whose first full-length album comes out this month, says she tries to inject a note of gritty darkness into her catchy tunes. === The changes that fame has wrought on the life of the Swedish pop singer Tove Lo start with the pronunciation of her name. “You can say too-veh loo if you want, that’s the way I say it in Sweden,” she said. “But every country besides Sweden says Tove [rhymes with rove] Lo, so I’ve just kind of gotten used to it.” Her name recognition has jumped on the strength of her single “ Preparing for her own United States tour, which includes a concert on Oct. 1 at Webster Hall in Manhattan, she spoke by phone from Los Angeles, where she was relaxing poolside. “I like to be here, but I can’t be in L.A. for too long; I go a bit nuts,” she told Melena Ryzik. “When it’s sunny constantly, there’s something about that that just feels strange to me.” Here are excerpts from the conversation. Q. A. Darkness is not what you usually go to pop music for. No. But I feel like it’s coming more and more. If you say, “I listen to pop,” you picture this kind of perfect, colorful, polished song. I want to have that, but when you open it you see this gritty dark — kind of like dancing your tears away. Disguise the sadness in a pop beat. Icona Pop blew up last year. Do you go to its members for guidance? I talk especially to Caroline a lot, asking for advice. If we knew when we were 16 that this was going to happen — that’s what we dreamt about always, constantly. Staying over at each other’s places, saying, “Think, in a few years when we’re going to be on our tours around the world.” It’s so weird that it’s starting to happen. A lot of your music is confessional and personal. What’s the response been from people in your life? The guy that “Truth Serum” is about, he obviously knew right away, as soon as he heard it. He took it way better than I thought he would. It’s like getting everything that happened rubbed in your face, as soon as it’s on the radio. But he knew that was what I was like. Your album is broken up into three parts: “The Sex,” “The Love” and “The Pain.” How do you think people should listen to it? You should put the first chapter on at the pre-party before going out Friday night. On Saturday, when you’re going with your friends to talk about what happened, put on the “Love” part in the car. And on Sunday, when you’re completely ruined from the weekend, you should put on “The Pain.”