TV4

Per Gessle talks about Roxette In Concert 2025 on Efter fem

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TV4 invited Per Gessle on Efter fem to ask him about the world tour, Roxette In Concert 2025. Watch it HERE! The program starts with showing a short part of the video to Sällskapssjuk, the duet single of Per and Lena Philipsson.

Program leader Tilde de Paula Eby likes the song very much, she says it’s a new collaboration between two giant artists that she really likes and it is released today. Tilde adds there is something else happening to Per and Lena, they are also going on a world tour. Per confirms and says at least they are going to South Africa and Australia. Tilde says it’s a world tour then. Per laughs and says it’s a big world out there. They were thinking of doing that at the beginning of next year and it’s quite exciting, under the name Roxette.

Tilde says it must be pretty emotional for Per to do this tour with someone other than Marie. PG says it is, of course. He has been toying with this idea for years, how to manage the Roxette catalogue in a good way. The great thing about the Roxette songs is that they still live on and there will be new people who like them. When you start thinking about it, there are really only two ways to go. Either you leave it at that or you move on. Per needed time to himself and also needed to find the right voice. When he recorded Sällskapssjuk with Lena – it’s a song from the duet album that will come out in the fall – then he realized that „shit, there it is”. He thought Lena would fit the Roxette songs perfectly. Per knows Lena is a big Roxette fan. Besides that, he has worked with her. Per has co-written her breakthrough song, Kärleken är evig in 1986. PG contacted Lena after the recordings of Sällskapssjuk and asked if she was interested. She was a little shocked, of course.

Tilde says she can imagine that one can react to such a question both with total jubilation and also a little panic. She says they will talk further about how it was, but before that, she asks her colleague, Henrik Alsterdal to tell a little background info about Roxette.

Henrik shows pictures from the good old days and talks about the numbers: 80 million albums sold, 4 Billboard No. 1 hits, 19 songs on the UK Top 40 and over 600 concerts. Henrik also talks a bit about PG Roxette and the upcoming Swedish album and finishes by stating that Per goes on tour with Lena under the name Roxette and the first gig is planned to be in Cape Town next February. In Cape Town, where Per played his last Roxette concert with Marie in 2016.

Tilde says, when you listen to these songs, it’s like decades are flowing through your whole body. She can’t even imagine what it’s like for Per. PG says they had a fantastic journey with Roxette. The eight years between 1988 and 1995 were fantastic. They were on the US charts for almost four years without falling off. They just changed the song. It was simply an amazing time. He still has to pinch his arm. Tilde says it’s funny that Per, who has done so incredibly much, can still appreciate these things and feel that he has to pinch his arm. It’s unreal. Per says it’s unreal indeed. Their whole journey, coming from such a small country like Sweden at the time. Their record company marketed them as an American band in England, because they couldn’t say they were from Sweden. To succeed was incredibly difficult.

Tilde asks Per if it is on purpose that he and Lena will play the first concert in Cape Town. Per says it was not intentional, it just happened that way and it’s actually strange that it turned out that way. Maybe that’s a sign, PG says.

Tilde is curious if Per has mixed feelings about doing this. PG says, not at all. If Marie would still be here, they would have been out on tour all the time for sure. But she is no longer there. Like Mr. G said before, you either leave it at that or you move on and start a new chapter in the book.

Tilde wants to know how he asked Lena Philipsson. She realized that it must have been mixed feelings for Lena, wonderful and scary at the same time. Per says it was absolutely like that. She asked how she could replace Marie, but Per said it’s not the idea that she should replace Marie, but Lena should do it her way. This is about managing the song catalogue. Per understands that Lena was stressed about it. At the same time, he thinks she has a lot to gain from this. She is a superstar in Sweden, but she has never played in Australia, in South Africa, in South America or in the USA. For her, it’s also a big challenge. Per is sure that if you have never seen Lena Philipsson and don’t know who she is and see her on stage for the first time, you will be shocked. According to Tilde, Lena is incredible on stage. It’s like a persona stepping out of her. She has body language and an absolutely phenomenal voice.

Per says they tested some Roxette songs at home at his grand piano and it sounds magical when she sings Queen Of Rain, Spending My Time and Listen To Your Heart. Per thinks this could be amazing.

Tilde says Per talked about South America, Australia, South Africa, but what about Sweden. PG says, oh, he forgot about Sweden. Haha. There are no plans for Sweden yet, but it will surely come, if it works. They see the Australia and South Africa tour as a small pilot tour. They see how it feels and how it works. PG brings the old classic Roxette band with him. If it works, it would of course be a lot of fun to play in Sweden too.

Tilde is incredibly impressed by Per’s driving force and is wondering where it comes from. Per says he loves his work. He loves to write, to be in the studio, to be on stage. He loves to play his songs and to feel the positive energy that comes from the audience. You get so much back, he says. PG thinks he has the best job in the world, after Tilde. Tilde smiles and says they probably share the first place.

According to Tilde, besides being a lot of fun, it’s a lot of work and it’s quite tough to travel around. Per agrees, touring is a lot of waiting at airports and in traffic jams and all that. But the reward is when you are on stage. It’s fantastic. That one minute, 30 seconds before you go on stage and 30 seconds into the first song, it’s the magic minute. You travel to another universe then. It’s a great charge up and a fantastic blast. That’s wonderful. When Tilde hears how Per describes it, she wants to experience it.

Tilde finishes the interview by mentioning Per’s upcoming album, Sällskapssjuk that is released in fall and the title song that has been released today with Lena Philipsson. She thanks Per for coming on the show and Per thanks for the invitation.

 

 

 

Stills are from the interview.

Per Gessle and Molly Hammar on Nyhetsmorgon

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Per was Jenny Alversjö’s guest on Nyhetsmorgon, TV4 this morning. Molly Hammar joined them via Zoom. Watch the interview HERE!

Jenny informs that Per is back with a new single, Beredd. On Friday we got a taste of what’s to come this autumn, because PG will release a new album, Sällskapssjuk. On Beredd we don’t only hear Per’s beautiful voice, but also Molly Hammar’s, Jenny adds.

Here they play a short part of the video to Beredd.

Jenny welcomes Per and asks how it feels to release this song. Mr. G says it feels great. There are only very positive reactions and it’s wonderful to have Molly in this. Per is very happy. Jenny understands that and she says now he works in Swedish again. PG says he has also done some Gyllene Tider in between, but it’s been seven years since he made his Nashville records that were in Swedish.

Jenny says Per is always active. Now this is the first taste from the album Sällskapssjuk, which will be out this fall. Jenny is curious if there is any special reason why the first single is released now. Mr. G says it’s mostly because he wanted to release different duets before the album is out and this way he needed some leadtime. The next single comes in May.

Jenny wants to know more about the background. Why Molly? Because that’s pretty much the only thing they can talk about now, since Per is so secretive about the other collaborations.

PG tells Jenny that he wrote a lot of songs and felt it would be fun to have a different angle this time, to do duets and work with different male and female singers that he likes very much. So he called around and found a bunch of singers that he likes. It’s been an incredibly fun project.

Jenny asks if it was difficult to find these partners. Per says it was easier than he thought. PG says you want to work with people you like, but who have something to add. When you write a song and another personality comes in, things happen with the song both lyrically and musically, so it’s important to find the right one. He thinks it has turned out very nice in this case.

Jenny says it sounds like no one refused to collaborate. Per confirms that and says smiling that it’s unbelievable.

Jenny asks how Per has chosen Molly. Mr. G says Molly is a favourite. She is an absolutely magical singer. She has this magnet, when you hear her voice, you can’t stop listening to her. Jenny says Per mentioned Molly could sing a phone book. PG says she is the classic one who could do that. She is a bit like Adele, she has that kind of voice. You can’t help, but listen to it. So Per is glad she wanted to join him.

That’s a nice compliment according to Jenny. Here they call Molly via Zoom. She is in London. They greet each other and Molly thanks Per for the compliments. Per asks Molly how she is. She feels great, and asks if she doesn’t look fresh. PG says she does look fresh despite that it’s Sunday morning.

Jenny says Molly looks splendid and asks her about how it feels to hear what Per has just told about her. Molly says it’s huge. When Per called her, it was a very big deal for her. Because Per is a legend and a fantastic musician. When they got to meet and then hung out in the studio, then she started liking him as much as a person too. Molly thinks it’s fun that you can be a legend and be incredibly nice at the same time. So she is very happy.

Jenny asks Molly what she thought when she heard the song for the first time. Molly says she loved it right away. She thinks that it’s a classic fine, cross-generational pop song, because it’s a theme that everyone can relate to.

Jenny is curious about how they did the recordings, if they were in Stockholm or in Halmstad.

Per says they met in Stockholm and tested some keys and such. Then Molly came down to Halmstad. The whole album was recorded in Halmstad, by the way, with lots of local musicians. So Molly came down to Halmstad and they had a good day in the studio and a very nice dinner in the evening in Tylösand. Molly confirms it was super nice.

Jenny asks Molly how important she thinks it is to hang around when creating together. Molly thinks it’s important to have a lot of fun together when making music. Otherwise it just gets weird and she doesn’t think this magic could happen then. You have to have fun and laugh together.

Jenny says they would have loved to see Molly in the Nyhetsmorgon studio, but she is in London. She is curious what Molly is doing there. Molly is running around writing songs and she has a great time. Jenny says she should come to the studio when she gets home. Molly says it would be her pleasure.

Jenny says it’s great that they could have her on the show this way. She knows Molly has a lot to do, so they will let her go now and wish her to have a nice time. Molly thanks for that and says goodbye to both Jenny and Per.

Jenny says Per has been in the business for a very long time, but she wants to know if Per has learned anything from this collaboration. PG says it’s hard to say that you learn something, but as he said before, songs grow and change when you work with other people. And as everyone knows, he has worked a lot with duets in Roxette. He wrote so many songs for Marie that changed and raised the quality of the songs simply because of her voice and her personality. And it’s the same here. All these people he has worked with have changed his songs. It’s not like he sat down with seven or eight people and wrote new music together. It’s his songs and his lyrics that they come in and sing to. So there is a big difference here.

Jenny thinks that many people, including her, will forever associate Per with Marie, of course, even if he does duets with other artists. She asks Per what it was like working with others. Per says it’s always exciting. Before you go into the studio and you have a song, it might not feel right. The keys might not fit or there might be too much modulation for it to work. When he chose certain singers, he listened to what kind of voice they have and in theory he tried, this person fits this song, that person fits that song. And some have not worked at all. Then he already knows in advance that it won’t work. Jenny asks if there were a lot of singers on Per’s list to revise, if he had to revise Molly. Per says no, it was simple with Molly.

Jenny can imagine that when Per and Marie worked together, they must have known each other inside and out, so Per rarely got to revise things there. Per says no, but he was listening to the Roxette catalogue and sometimes he heard some strange key changes to lower and higher, so that they can both sing. You can do such technical tricks. The songs Marie sings herself, they are in her register what she enjoyed the most.

Jenny can imagine that there might be an extra reminder of Marie when Per has collaborations and someone else is at the microphone. Per says not really. It’s been so long since Marie and Per have worked together. It was a lovely era in his life that he preserves. But he doesn’t think too much about it now. But the loss is still there, definitely.

Jenny says she knows that Marie wrote some of the music on the new album. Per says it’s actually a song that is not a duet, but he sings it himself. Marie and he wrote it together in the ’80s. Per wrote the lyrics and Marie and Per wrote the music. So it is also a bit special. It was written long before Roxette, when Marie and Per hung out in his attic apartment in Halmstad in the early ’80s and watched Dallas and Dynasty and stuff like that in the evenings. Jenny finds it lovely and she can see Marie and Per in front of her like that.

Jenny wants to know how Per finds such a song. If it was on paper or they recorded it on cassette. Per says it was on cassette and there have been a few demos on it over the years. It has been a little too good to throw away, but it has never found its rightful place.

Jenny asks Per if he has an overview of everything they have worked on. Per says he doesn’t. A few things have appeared in recent years that he has forgotten about, but they are somewhere on cassettes and strange minidiscs. There has been a lot of technology over the years. It’s such a long time.

Jenny asks if the song that Marie co-wrote is also a duet. Per says it’s not a duet, he sings it himself.

The album will be released this fall. Jenny asks Per about the title, Sällskapssjuk. PG says he wrote a song called Sällskapssjuk and he thought it’s a good title when you have a lot of duets. He also thought it was a nice expression, a nice word.

Jenny says Per mentioned before that he worked on the album in Halmstad, he recorded it there. So some of the songs are probably very organically recorded. Per confirms it. He has worked a lot with local musicians to try to find a new angle, a new sound on the record. Everything is a bit homegrown. It’s hard to explain music, but it’s very organic. There is a lot of lap steel and there is a lot of violin. It’s good.

Jenny wants to know how Per finds inspiration again and again. Mr. G says he doesn’t really look for inspiration, but it pops up from time to time. He is not the kind of person who goes and sits down to play the piano and guitar and writes every day. He usually says that he writes as little as possible. Because when he has something on his mind, he becomes very focused and it goes quite quickly. So Jenny says this means Per doesn’t really like sitting and writing like that. Per says he doesn’t like it at all. He has to do it only sometimes. It’s something that has to come out in some way.

Jenny asks how it is to record in Sweden and elsewhere. There must be a big difference between Sweden and the rest of the world. Per has experienced both. PG says there really isn’t that much of a difference. It’s a completely different thing to work in the studio and to be on stage, of course. This communication that you work with when you have an audience in front of you, it’s fantastic. Many people always ask if it’s fun to play Sommartider or The Look, which you have played a thousand times. When you have an audience in front of you that gives so much back, it’s clear that you love to play your hits. That’s why you work, so to say. Jenny says it must be amazing to see those songs live on through different generations too. What a gift!

The album is coming this autumn, there will be more duets. The next single comes out in May. Jenny asks who will be Per’s partner in that, but Mr. G doesn’t reveal. Jenny asks for a hint. Per says it’s a fantastic male or female singer. Haha.

Jenny thanks Per for coming and hopes to see him again in spring. Per says it’s always fun to be here.

Stills are from Nyhetsmorgon.

Per Gessle and Anders Herrlin about Gyllene Tider on Efter fem – TV4

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Per Gessle and Anders Herrlin were guests on TV4’s Efter fem on 1st June. You can watch it HERE!

The program leader, Axel Pileby says 4 years ago Gyllene Tider was out on a farewell tour and said goodbye in packed venues around the country after 40 years. But if you are one of Sweden’s greatest bands, you can make a comeback as many times as you want and now a new tour awaits and also a new Gyllene Tider album. He says it’s great to have Anders and Per on the show and asks them if GT is still as much fun. The guys say it’s a lot of fun. PG adds it’s a wonderful little pop band of the type that isn’t formed anymore.

Axel says they will talk about the GT film later, but he heard on the radio that yesterday Anders was going to meet the guy who will play him. Anders says it felt a little strange, but it was nice. The guy studied him thoroughly and they talked a lot. The guy was staring at him to check Anders’ moves and behaviour and so he felt watched.

The program leader says they will talk about the film and many other things soon, but first comes a little nostalgia and his colleague will tell a bit about magical Gyllene Tider. So here comes a compact history of GT. After the introduction of the band’s career, Axel asks the guys if they sometimes stop and think, wow, what have we done. Anders says when they see such presentations, they do. Seeing the 2004 Ullevi picture there, it’s just fantastic. Axel says he wasn’t there, but just by looking at the picture he gets goosebumps. It must have been extraordinary. Per says the first time they played Ullevi was absolutely incredible. So it has been an awesome trip.

Axel asks the guys how often they think back to GT and such things as Ullevi. PG says he is reminded about Gyllene Tider all the time. You hear GT music all the time, e.g. now when it’s graduation time of secondary schools (studenten), the students still sing Sommartider.

Axel says the band is back again after their 2019 farewell tour and he is curious what happened, why they changed their minds. Anders says the pandemic happened after their decision. Everything became so sad, everything was shut down and it was boring. Then this idea was born that they should fix themselves and bring back some light. Anders remembers when he hit the last note at the last gig in Oslo, he thought, „shit, what have we done? This is really sad, we should continue”. Per says people have a different way of thinking because of the pandemic. You started to appreciate things that you have in a different way. Time passed and so they started talking about why not recording a new album and play a bit more together. All of a sudden it felt obvious in a way, so it wasn’t really planned, but Hux Flux just happened. Axel says they maybe somehow realized it even more how much they miss each other, how much they mean to each other, because they have been a part of each other’s lives for so long. Per says such thoughts popped up during the pandemic in different ways. PG thinks a lot of people can identify with it.

Axel asks if there is any fear related to Hux Flux. He means that they said goodbye in 2019 and there was a big hype around it, a lot of people went to see them. Now they come back again and they are Gyllene Tider, but Axel is curious if they are afraid that the interest will not be as great. PG says you never know. Every time you do a new project, you can’t take anything for granted at all. Per thinks they have such a huge song catalogue that it feels completely right to do this. PG also hopes that there will be more things, so that they won’t go on another farewell tour.

Axel asks the guys how it is touring these days compared to 40 years ago. Anders says it’s a little easier now. Back then they carried their own stuff themselves. Maybe not Per, but the rest of them carried Per’s guitars too. Haha. Now they just go along and stand on the stage playing. Per says the only fun thing about touring is being on stage. Everything else is waiting to be on stage. It is the communication and energy that you get from the audience and that you feel the love. You live for this in a way. The rest is just sleeping pills… waiting for the flight, long bus rides, all that and new hotel beds every night. As he said before, you can never take anything for granted and it’s very cool to be in this band and to play on these stages and meet the audience. Anders says when they went on tour in their little tour bus 40 years ago, it was also cool, this little gang going around. They stuck together and learned a lot during those times.

Axel goes back to 1985 and asks about why the band split up. Anders says they kind of felt like they were not getting anywhere with their music. There was so much happening in music at the time with synths and more electronic stuff, but they were kind of stuck, so then Anders thought it’s better that they take a little break and they did.

Anders moved to Stockholm and started working in a music store and learned a lot about synth music, because he was very much interested in it. Then he started working with Per again for Roxette and added his knowledge to the music they made. And it was good.

Axel asks Per about 1994-1995 when they were on tour with Roxette and Per was writing music in Japanese ice hockey halls for GT again. PG says it was during the Crash! Boom! Bang! tour. They were to take a break with Roxette, because Marie wanted to have another child. So Per wrote songs for GT. Det är över nu he actually wrote in an ice hockey hall in Japan. All these songs, Kung av sand, Juni, juli, augusti, Gå & fiska! were written back then. It was a great time, PG says.

Axel mentions that Per often writes in unexpected places. PG says ideas can come anywhere, as long as you are motivated.

Axel asks the guys to tell a bit about the GT movie that premieres next year. Anders says it won’t be a documentary. It’s more about 5 guys from a small town who succeed against all odds. Per says it’s a film about 5 teenage guys who meet and start a band and suddenly end up in Stockholm in their clogs.

Axel wants to know how much the guys in GT are involved in the film. Anders says they get to read the script and think. Per says they have been there the whole time, because that script is their story, so it’s clear that they have to be there. They have told a lot of anecdotes and so it has become the script in a way. But it’s clear that the story is written in a way that it becomes an interesting and funny movie. It’s a very funny script with lots of laughs and cries, just like it was for real. Per thinks it will be a great movie. PG says most people who are in a film like this have already died, so it will be very strange to see this. Anders has already met mini Anders. Per has also met mini Per and he thinks that guy is amazing.

Axel says the movie will be exciting and he speaks for many people out there when he says it’s much fun that GT is back again. The new album is out soon and the tour starts on 7th July in Halmstad. Axel thanks the guys for coming to the show. Per says it’s their pleasure.

Stills are from the video.

Per Gessle on Nyhetsmorgon interviewed by Jenny Strömstedt

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Saturday morning Per was invited to Nyhetsmorgon, TV4’s morning show and Jenny Strömstedt interviewed him. You can watch it HERE on TV4 Play if you are in Sweden or HERE on TV4’s website if you live anywhere else or you have troubles with VPN.

Jenny introduces Per as one of Sweden’s most beloved artists. She says one of Sweden’s most beloved bands went on a farewell tour 3 years ago, but this week the happy news came about Gyllene Tider’s comeback. Here comes a little footage from previous tours and when the camera shows the studio again, Per is already sitting on the couch enjoying GT’s music that plays in the footage.

Jenny welcomes Per on the show and Mr. G thanks for that. Jenny holds up the Pop-Up Dynamo! vinyl and says Per also releases a new album under PG Roxette. She asks PG when he sleeps at all. Per replies he sleeps as rarely and as little as possible and admits he is busy with many things at once. There is always something going on.

Jenny says Per was on Nyhetsmorgon together with Micke Syd approximately 3 years ago and they talked about their farewell tour that was coming and now they reunite again. Never say never, Jenny adds. Per explains that it was really meant to be a farewell tour, but he thinks the pandemic changed everything. It brought him a lot of new thoughts. The whole new GT thing came after he bought a guitar. He bought the guitar and wrote two amazing songs that screamed for Gyllene Tider. The 5 guys met more often lately because of the upcoming GT movie and Per just asked them if they should record some new songs. Everyone thought it was a cool idea. This lead them to record a new album which is called Hux flux and a summer tour with the same name next year. The album is already finished. Jenny finds it exciting. She asks Per how he felt that those two new songs were Gyllene songs. PG says it’s a special kind of style, a sort of power pop style that sounds like only Gyllene Tider sounds. It’s very cool. Jenny is curious about what happens when the guys gather in the same room. Per smiles and says that not much happens when they just gather in a room, but a lot is happening when they play together. It’s just awesome. It’s cool to be in a band. He wishes all young people would try it, to play the same song at the same time and have a role in a little band. It’s actually a magical feeling.

Jenny says she thinks the band reunited so many times because the audience that has been following them over the years needs GT. When she saw Gyllene Tider’s last gig, which wasn’t the last one in the end, she looked around and everyone in the crowd was moved. She feels that the audience and the band strengthen each other’s life, they made this journey together. She asks Per what role he thinks a band like Gyllene Tider has in this generation. One big role is certainly what Jenny mentions, Per thinks. Mr. G says that the fantastic thing in his job, writing music and songs is that they really communicate with people, when they are getting married or meet or cry, etc. Songs mean a lot to people. That’s the power of music. So of course it’s amazing and it’s almost impossible to quit if you once started. It’s impossible to imagine that he would stop writing music or be on stage.

Jenny asks Per if he gets any kind of feedback now when he is on stage with Gyllene Tider and plays the old songs again. Per says, not really. He sings texts he wrote when he was 23, so he realizes that time has passed and he probably wouldn’t express himself the same way today. He tells he was on an unplugged tour earlier this year and played a lot of old songs in acoustic arrangment. He realized it’s very different when you are 63 and sing a song you wrote 45 years ago, because the song suddenly means something else. Even if it’s the same lyrics, it gets a different angle. For example, Ljudet av ett annat hjärta or När vi två blir en, these are songs he wrote when he was 20 or so. When he sings them now, he tells the story in a different way vs. when he wrote the song. Jenny repeats the title När vi två blir en while thinking about the next question and Per starts singing „… känna din kropp emot min…”, then he asks Jenny if she knows the song. They are laughing. Per explains the expressions in the lyrics are young, the declaration of love is young, those are young thoughts and young vibes. He thinks it’s important to find something you can stick to all the time while time goes by.

Jenny says Per goes on with Roxette under the name PG Roxette and releases a new album next Friday. Jenny heard there is a fan forum where a tough discussion went on if it’s right or wrong that Per continues without Marie. Per thinks it’s a relevant question. He tells that Marie quit Roxette in 2016 and it wasn’t obvious to Per to continue, but time passed by and he felt that he wanted to keep Roxette’s legacy alive. There are so many people all around the world who love Roxette’s music and he now tried to make a record that is kind of a sibling to Look Sharp! and Joyride. Mr. G says he didn’t try to replace Marie. He works together with the classic Roxette band and let the two girls – who were on tour with them during the „modern times”, if one can say so –, to come forward when they are needed.

With GT there were two most intense years, with Roxette eight. Per tells Roxette started in 1986 and ended in 2016, so it was altogether 30 years. It’s not more than half of his life, but almost. So all his adult life he lived with Roxette. Gyllene Tider ended actually in the mid ’80s and it became project-based. So it’s Roxette Per worked with the most. Jenny is curious what has shaped Per the most. PG says the success and the opportunity he got through Roxette in life has shaped his whole life and the whole life of his family. It became his destiny in a way.

Jenny asks Per if he sometimes can look back and reflect on all the huge success he had. If he allows himself to do that. Per says he doesn’t do that, he doesn’t like to sit and look back that way. Of course, sometimes when he talks about it, he reflects on it, but he doesn’t sit at home and looks at the golden records, for example. It’s the future that counts. It’s that he is a songwriter first of all. He started writing songs when he was a teenager.

Jenny asks Per where he gets the driving force from and that he can’t help it. Mr. G says he wanted to enter the pop world when he was a kid – 6-8 years old –, because the pop world was much more exciting for him than the real world. He thinks it’s still a bit like that. He likes to live through his songs. It’s tragic but true.

Jenny closes the interview with mentioning the GT tour next summer and she asks Per about the upcoming GT album. PG tells it will be released next spring, PG Roxette album is out next Friday and tickets for the GT tour go on sale on Tuesday.

Jenny thanks Per for coming on the show and wishes good luck with everything. Per says it’s always a pleasure and sends his greetings to Niklas [Niklas Strömstedt, Jenny’s husband].

Stills are from the morning show.

Thanks for the technical support to János Tóth!

Per Gessle and Uno Svenningsson on Efter fem

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Per and Uno were guests on Swedish TV4’s program, Efter fem today to talk about their new single. You can watch the video HERE.

After welcoming the guys, program leader Anna Brolin asks them how they are doing and both of them reply they are feeling very well. Anna also asks if they like each other. Uno replies „absolutely”, Per replies „sometimes”. Haha.

Per tells they started writing this song, Bara få höra din röst already in the summer of 2018. Uno came to Tylösand, they recorded a demo and they forgot about it, but last year Uno called Per to tell that it’s time for this song to become a single. Uno tells his son produced it, then all pieces fell into place and now they are here. Anna asks if the guys are nervous about the release. Both of them reply immediately that they are not. Here they show a little part of the video that will also be published tomorrow, 21st January.

Per says, as Uno said, the song has become so much better than it was, thanks to Uno’s son. Uno adds that it’s also fascinating how their voices fit so well together. PG agrees and says they both have strange voices. Anna asks if they knew it before that their voices fit and Uno tells he was singing on Per’s album in 2020 and already then he thought they sound good together. Per says they both have special voices and one can hear it when Uno sings and when Per sings. „Sometimes it’s good”, he adds. Haha.

The guys say it’s much fun to work together. It’s fun to be hanging out and talking about memories from the past. The first time they met they should have written a song, but they were talking about their memories instead. They talked about their careers, Per also about Roxette memories and how they met their old idols. Per says there is a lot to talk about, the music industry is fantastic, the little that is left of it.

Regarding how they met in Tylösand Per tells Uno and his wife called and they wanted to have dinner together. Per said OK, but Uno had to sing on one of his songs, Du kommer så nära (du blir alldeles suddig). That was the first duet they did together in 2020. And the dinner was good.

Anna asks what the guys are impressed by in each other. Uno says he has always loved Per’s voice and he is a fantastic songwriter. Per thanks Uno for being so kind. Mr. G tells when Uno sings he is phrasing in a totally different way than Per and he thinks about music in a different way vs. PG. You can learn from other artists and singers and wonder how they did this or what they thought about that. Also, Uno interprets a text in a totally different way and it’s exciting. Anna asks Uno if he can demonstrate how he is phrasing. Uno makes some „noise” and all three of them burst out into laughing. Per says „what a nice sound” and tells Uno maybe he should drink some water. Haha.

Anna asks if there are plans to play together live. Per tells they haven’t talked about it at all. It was just fun to do this stuff and they will see what it leads to. It’s always nice to meet and hang out, but they won’t tour with this. Uno says he is working on his album, so there will be more singles this year. Per says he came directly from the studio and there are a lot of things going on. He also hopes that he can continue his unplugged tour in April and May. Tickets are on sale from next Tuesday. It’s tough now for all musicians, artists and technicians. Everyone wants to start working again as soon as possible. Anna asks how to handle this situation during the pandemic. Uno says you can always write new songs.

Before saying goodbye, Uno shows a little more of his phrasing and Anna thanks for the example while they are all laughing.

Stills are from the interview.