Brother Leo—the alter ego of GRAMMY® Award-nominated Swedish singer, songwriter, and producer Ola Svensson—has released a new single entitled “Shine”. Listen to the track now below.
Backed by bright piano, a metronomic beat, and lively horns, the track builds from breathy verses into a show-stopping falsetto-driven refrain on which he croons, “Wonder when it’s my day to shine?” He notably teamed up with GRAMMY® Award-nominated songwriter and producer Elof Loelv[Rihanna, Tove Lo] to co-write the tune.
About the transformative single, he had this to say, “‘Shine’ is the first song I wrote for my upcoming album. In a way, it was also the birth of what would become Brother Leo. I was in a pretty dark place when this song came to life. The writing process out to be quite therapeutic and became a turning point for me, both personally and creatively. To some, this will probably just be another happy tune, and that’s more than fine by me—but for me, it’s something totally different.”
It’s also something of a self-fulling prophecy as he’ll no doubt shine brighter than ever throughout 2019 as he readies his first album for release soon!
Brother Leo remains on the cusp of an international breakthrough. The artist’s November 2018 single “Push Up” just crossed 1.5 million streams. Meanwhile, his Fatboy Slim-produced summer single “Strangers On An Island” clocked over 3.5 million streams and counting. Additionally, NME christened it “A gorgeous, laid-back slice of pop magic,” and Wonderlandexclaimed, “You’ll be wanting to direct your attention to the surreal, but mesmerizing visuals for Brother Leo’s Strangers On An Island.”
Named after Svensson’s more confident and free childhood imaginary twin, Brother Leo officially made his worldwide debut in 2018. The dynamic nature of the music aligns with his rather unbelievable story. Long before his emergence as Brother Leo, mom forced her son born Ola to participate in boys’ choir and take piano lessons when all he “really cared about was football.”At only 17, he played professional soccer for former UEFA-cup team Trelleborgs FF. After singing during a school function, friends clamored for him to audition for Pop Idol. Despite his reluctance, he ended up landing a deal in his native Sweden as a result. Unlocking a quirky, clever, and catchy signature style, Ola achieved a string of number ones off the back of his Swedish debut before making his bones as an in-demand songwriter with cuts for gnash, Hailee Steinfeld, Akon, and more under his given name. He assumed the identity of Brother Leo in 2018 and began writing and recording with Mark Ralph [Clean Bandit, Years & Years, Jax Jones], Coffee [Rihanna, Dua Lipa, Justin Bieber], Dan Grech [Lana Del Rey, Liam Gallagher, George Ezra], and more.