Not to be confused with Josephine (song).

"Josefin" (Swedish pronunciationⓘ) is a song performed by Swedish singer and songwriter Albin Lee Meldau, who wrote it with the song's producer Peter Kvint [sv]. It was released on 23 April 2021 as the lead single from Meldau's EP, Epistlar [sv] (2021), through Mayfly and Sony.[1] Two years after its release, it saw a resurgence in popularity thanks to a sped-up version on TikTok, and "Josefin" peaked at number eight on the Swedish singles chart.[2][3] It has become Meldau's most successful song and has been certified sextuple platinum by IFPI Sverige.[4][3]

The song also became a hit in Norway in 2023, where three different versions of the song all charted in the top ten of the singles chart: a Norwegian-language version by Delara, a version by influencer Oskar Westerlin [no] created with AI and Meldau's original. In 2024, "Josephine", an English-language translation featuring American singer-songwriter Lissie, was released as a single from Meldau's second English-language studio album, Discomforts.[5]

Composition

Written during the COVID-19 pandemic, "Josefin" was intended as a pastiche of the works by Dutch–Swedish singer-songwriter Cornelis Vreeswijk, and a tribute to the Swedish ballad tradition.[6][7] Meldau's friend Louise Hoffsten informed him about the Cornelis Vreeswijk prize [sv], which he entered with "Josefin", a love song to a woman named Josefin.[6] Hoffsten and Grant [sv] provide background vocals on the song, with Hoffsten also playing the harmonica.[1]

Due to people's efforts to identify the song's subject, Meldau clarified that "Josefin" is a fictional person and not based on anyone specifically.[7] Meldau looked up popular female baby names in Stockholm during the 1980s and narrowed his choices down to three: Sara, Emma and Josefin.[8] He decided against using Sara, due to its rhymes with snara ("to snare") and dödsfara ("mortal danger"), while for Emma, Meldau immediately thought of femma (slang referring to cannabis) due to his past experiences with substance abuse.[7] The song uses the name Josefin due to its ease of rhyming and also its use as a near-homophone of jo, så fin ("yes, so pretty").[7][8]

Personnel

Charts

Certifications

Certifications for "Josefin"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Norway (IFPI Norge)[17] 2× Platinum 120,000‡
Sweden (IFPI Sverige)[3] 6× Platinum 48,000,000†

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
† Streaming-only figures based on certification alone.

Cover versions

Anna Ternheim version

Swedish singer Anna Ternheim covered "Josefin" for the Swedish reality television series Så mycket bättre in 2022.[18]

2022 weekly chart performance for "Josefin"
Chart (2022) Peak
position
Sweden (Sverigetopplistan)[19] 93

Delara version

Norwegian singer Delara released a Norwegian-language version of "Josefin" after a clip of her covering the song went viral on TikTok in June 2023, prompting her to record a studio version.[20] The song would go on to chart at number two in Norway and number thirty in Sweden.

Certifications for "Josefin"
Region Certification Certified units/sales
Norway (IFPI Norge)[17] 2× Platinum 120,000‡
Sweden (IFPI Sverige)[23] Gold 6,000,000†

‡ Sales+streaming figures based on certification alone.
† Streaming-only figures based on certification alone.

Oskar Westerlin version

In June 2023, Norwegian influencer Oskar Westerlin [no] released a version of "Josefin" created using artificial inteligence (AI), which layers his vocals over Meldau's.[24] Produced by Ballinciaga and PandaPanda, the recording reportedly took five minutes to make.[25] It received negative reviews from critics, with Verdens Gang calling it a "stupid gimmick".[26] Kvint, one of the song's co-writers, also criticised the cover.[27] It charted at number four in Norway and became the first hit song in the country made with the help of AI.[24]

2023 weekly chart performance for "Josefin"
Chart (2023) Peak
position
Norway (VG-lista)[28] 4

References

  1. ^ a b Sony Music Entertainment Sweden (23 April 2021). "Albin Lee Meldau släpper singeln "Josefin" med en text och melodi som berör" (Press release) (in Swedish). Mynewsdesk. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  2. ^ Nylin, Lars (3 July 2023). "4 Snabba: David Mortimer-Hawkins, Sony, om "Josefin" som norsk trippelhit". Musikindustrin (in Swedish). Retrieved 2 February 2025.
  3. ^ a b c "Search: Meldau" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  4. ^ "Albin Lee Meldau: Det är som att vi är på en första dejt!" (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio. 7 September 2023. Retrieved 26 January 2025.
  5. ^ Sony Music Entertainment Sweden (13 September 2024). "Albin Lee Meldau släpper engelsk version av "Josefin" tillsammans med singer-songwritern Lissie" (Press release) (in Swedish). Mynewsdesk. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  6. ^ a b Edlom, Carl (7 November 2024). "INTERVJU: Albin Lee Meldau intar Löfbergs Arena: "Kan inte finnas någon plan B, man måste satsa allt"". Nya Wermlands-Tidningen (in Swedish). Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d Thaning, Malva (14 August 2021). "Inte ett öga torrt när Albin Lee Meldau står på scen". Gotlands Tidningar (in Swedish). Retrieved 26 January 2025.
  8. ^ a b "Albin Lee Meldau vill ut i världen och flyttar hem till Göteborg" (in Swedish). Sveriges Radio. 24 September 2021. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  9. ^ "Albin Lee Meldau – Josefin". VG-lista. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  10. ^ "Albin Lee Meldau – Josefin". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  11. ^ "Albin Lee Meldau feat. Lissie – Josephine". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  12. ^ "Årslista Singlar, 2021" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  13. ^ "Årslista Singlar, 2022" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  14. ^ a b "Topplista – årsliste – Singel 2023" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norge. Archived from the original on 13 July 2024. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  15. ^ "Årslista Singlar, 2023" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  16. ^ "Årslista Singlar, 2024" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  17. ^ a b "Troféoversikt: Josefin" (in Norwegian). IFPI Norge. Retrieved 5 February 2025.
  18. ^ "Här tolkar Anna Ternheim Josefin, av Albin Lee Meldau" (in Swedish). TV4. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  19. ^ "Anna Ternheim – Josefin". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  20. ^ Tandberg, Amanda (26 June 2023). "Delaras coverversjon tok helt av: – Hva er det som skjer?". Raumnes (in Norwegian). Retrieved 22 January 2025.
  21. ^ "Delara – Josefin". VG-lista. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  22. ^ "Delara – Josefin". Singles Top 100. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  23. ^ "Search: Delara" (in Swedish). Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  24. ^ a b Klevjer, Carl August; Sørnes, Astrid Johanne (5 July 2023). "Står bak Noregs første KI-hit" (in Norwegian Nynorsk). NRK. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  25. ^ Bakken, Birgitte Vågnes (5 July 2023). "Laga låt med kunstig intelligens – gjekk til topps på Spotify". Framtida.no (in Norwegian Nynorsk). Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  26. ^ Bøe, Tor Martin (30 June 2023). "Ukens låter: Oskar Westerlin, Astrid S og Blur". Verdens Gang (in Norwegian). Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  27. ^ Edlom, Carl (5 July 2023). "Låtskrivaren Peter Kvint om norrmannens AI-cover: "Vad är det som är på riktigt?"". Nya Wermlands-Tidningen (in Swedish). Retrieved 25 January 2025.
  28. ^ "Oskar Westerlin – Josefin". VG-lista. Retrieved 25 January 2025.
Allikas: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Josefin_(song)
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