FEATURE: Groovelines: The Cardigans - Lovefool — Music Musings & Such (2024)

IN THIS PHOTO: The Cardigans photographedcirca 1997/PHOTO CREDIT: Andy Willsher/Redferns/Getty Images

The Cardigans - Lovefool

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IN September…

there are two big anniversaries regarding The Cardigans. The Swedish band released their debut album, First Band on the Moon, on 17th September, 1996. The album’s first single, Lovefool, was released on 14th September, 1996. It is amazing to think that a song that strong was released so early in their career! It is a classic that is almost twenty-five. I remember when the song came out. In high school, I loved the Pop music that was in the charts. I don’t think I knew about The Cardigans prior to Lovefool’s release. I was instantly smitten. I especially loved Nina Persson’s incredible voice. Wikipedia give us some background regarding the song:

"Lovefool is a song written by Peter Svensson and Nina Persson for Swedish rock band the Cardigans' third studio album, First Band on the Moon (1996). It was released as the album's lead single on 9 September 1996 in the United Kingdom and internationally on 5 October 1996.

Following a re-release in 1997, "Lovefool" found international success, peaking at number two on the UK Singles Chart and achieving moderate success on other European charts. In North America, it reached number three in Canada and number two on the US Billboard Hot 100 Airplay Chart (it did not appear on the Hot 100 due to rules in place at the time). In Australasia, the song topped the New Zealand Singles Chart and climbed to number 11 in Australia, earning Gold sales certifications in both regions”.

If you have not heard the album, First Band on the Moon, I would urge you to do so. It is an interesting album with many gems. Your New Cuckoo is a song from The Cardigans one does not hear much. I am surprised that a song as instant and brilliant as Lovefool appears so low down the album tracklist (it is the seventh track). Also on the album is a brilliant cover of Black Sabbath’s Iron Man. That goes to show how confident The Cardigans were right from the off! I think that Lovefool is one of the most memorable songs from the ‘90s. One need only hear a few seconds of the introduction to know what it is! One feels warmer when they hear the song. Although Lovefool is quite a simple song, it resonates because of the musicianship of the band and Persson’s intoxicating voice. The video is also pretty fantastic! Nearly twenty-five years after it was released into the world, Lovefool still sounds fresh. You might listen to a song like this today and not feel as though it is out of step with the current times. That said, there have been a lot of artists making music inspired by the 1990s. Five years ago, Billboard marked twenty years of a classic track. Nina Persson reflected on a song that was a huge chart success in 1997:

“Twenty years ago today, a Swedish alt-pop band called The Cardigans released a single very much unlike anything else they'd recorded, but which would change the course of the band's career.

"Lovefool" -- the uber-earworm from the band's third studio album, First Band on the Moon -- swiftly became a hit in Europe but didn't debut internationally until Oct. 5, 1996. "We put out that song and record and embarked on a long tour, so in one way, nothing changed for us," frontwoman Nina Persson told Billboard recently over the phone from Los Angeles, where she was preparing to play a show with Local Natives. "Then the movie came out" -- that would be BazLuhrmann's '90s-defining Romeo + Juliet -- "and the U.S. caught on tremendously."

After Romeo + Juliet was released on Nov. 1, 1996, "Lovefool" debuted on the Adult Pop Songs chart dated Nov. 30 at No. 39. It then hit the Radio Songs chart the following week, peaking at No. 2 and staying there for eight nonconsecutive weeks. It spent seven weeks at No. 1 on the Pop Songs airplay chart, beginning with the Feb. 22, 1997-dated tally. (The song did not chart on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, because at the time, non-commercially available songs -- like "Lovefool" -- were not eligible to chart on the list.)

As Persson recalls today, "Lovefool" felt like an odd fit for The Cardigans. "We definitely were aware that it was a single and a catchy song when we wrote it, but the direction it took is not something we could have predicted," Persson says. "It wasn't necessarily our character; it felt like a bit of a freak on the record -- which, objectively, it still is." The song's upbeat feel wasn't the band's initial intention. "Before we recorded it, it was slower and more of a bossa nova," Persson says. "It's quite a sad love song; the meaning of it is quite pathetic, really. But then when we were recording, by chance, our drummer started to play that kind of disco beat, and there was no way to get away from it after that."

The band had already shot a different music video for the U.K. and Europe -- "much more bleak, much more our original style," Persson says. "We had an actor playing a sort of handsome-man-love-interest of mine, and he was supposed to be a kind of gangster and the band played his gang members." But thanks to the success of Romeo + Juliet, another video debuted and became ubiquitous on MTV, cementing Persson's public image as a flaxen-haired pixie floating at sea, a message in a bottle in human form. Watch the MTV staple below, as well as a side-by-side comparison of the two videos:

Persson acknowledges she and her bandmates weren't initially thrilled by the success of "Lovefool." "It took over our whole existence, and it wasn't something we totally identified with," she says today. The Cardigans played it on Beverly Hills, 90210 and on the morning talk show circuit; Persson remembers being "freaked out" when she'd see the video on screens in American clothing stores. "We were kind of snobs," she acknowledges. "We felt like these things were glitzy, and we felt like, 'No, no, we're a rock band!'"

But today, with the distance of two decades, she's able to look on the song a bit more kindly. "Now, we see it from the other end, and we're proud and thankful," she says. The band happily plays "Lovefool" in concert. And as Persson herself wrote on her Instagram on the anniversary of the song's U.K. release: "We love you, sweet nuisance!”.

Although the band became defined by Lovefool, it is good that Persson and The Cardigans look back fondly and are appreciative. It must have been strange, in 1996 (and 1997), having a song that big on your hands. No matter what they put out after that, they would have had to match the success and sound of Lovefool. The 1990s produced many glorious songs that will be remembered for decades. There are few as potent, sweet, moving and timeless as Lovefool. I wonder whether The Cardigans will mark twenty-five years of the song in September. It is a track that is played a lot to this day. It is reaching new generations. Such a blissful song, there is also this note of heartbreak woven through. Such a skilfully-written track that is performed beautifully! Taken from the simply excellent debut album, First Band on the Moon, Lovefool is an iconic track. I first heard it when it came back, yet I do not tire of hearing it now. It brings back fond memory. It also hits me in different ways every time I approach it. Lovefool means a lot to different people. Everyone has their own experiences with the song. There is no doubt that the song is…