Icona Pop

Stockholm electro-pop duo Icona Pop blasted out of Scandinavia in the early 2010s with brash, hooky cuts that combined commanding choruses and dance-floor-ready beats with a defiantly punky streak. Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo formed Icona Pop in 2009 after meeting at a party. In 2011 they released their debut single, “Manners”, a post-breakup anthem marked by a shout-along refrain and synth glitches; it became an underground hit and was used as the backbone of hip-hop duo Chiddy Bang’s 2011 single “Mind Your Manners”. The next year, Icona Pop broke with the careening “I Love It”, a collaboration with pop upstart Charli XCX that built on the scrappy spirit of “Manners” while adding muscular production. It was a worldwide smash; Icona Pop went on to tour with Miley Cyrus and One Direction, release collabs with the likes of Cobra Starship and Louis The Child, and put out two albums, 2013’s This Is… Icona Pop and 2023’s Club Romantech.