Lykke Li Wants to ‘Unsubscribe’ From the Music Industry’s Status Quo
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- Lykke Li released her sixth studio album "The Afterparty," a 24-minute, nine-track LP recorded in Stockholm and executive produced by Li and longtime collaborator Björn Yttling.
- The album is billed as a "dance record for the end of the world," born from apocalyptic feelings Li, 40, had while sitting in her car in Los Angeles, thinking about AI, war, capitalism, and climate change.
- Li walked back her suggestion that The Afterparty would be her last album, telling Rolling Stone she said it while "drunk and nervous" at the release party and that she "can't find another job."
- Li said she wants to "unsubscribe" from the music industry's "terms and limits and values," arguing women face beauty expectations men don't, and gave herself permission to become a "fuck boy British rock star."
- At her Coachella set finale, Li lit a cigarette on stage and danced to Corona's "The Rhythm of the Night" — a direct reference to the closing scene of Claire Denis's Beau Travail.
- Li invoked Werner Herzog's documentary Burden of Dreams about Fitzcarraldo — in which Herzog hauled a 320-ton steamship up a hill — to describe how brutal it is to bring a creative vision into the world.
Why it matters: For an artist 18 years into her career, Li's wish to "unsubscribe" from industry "terms and values" while admitting she "can't find another job" captures the bind facing mid-career artists who reject norms but remain dependent on the industry. Her next album may use only six tracks, narrowing from The Afterparty's nine-track, 24-minute runtime.
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