Astrid Smeplass (born 29 October 1996), known professionally as Astrid S, is a Norwegian singer and songwriter. In 2013, she placed fifth in the Norwegian version of ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

'', entitled '' Idol – Jakten på en superstjerne''. In 2020, she released her debut studio album, ''

Leave It Beautiful ''Leave It Beautiful'' is the debut studio album by Norwegian singer Astrid S, released on 16 October 2020 by Universal Music A/S and Virgin EMI. It followed a string of five extended plays and several singles and collaborations. It was announced ...

'', through

Universal Universal is the adjective for universe. Universal may also refer to: Companies * NBCUniversal, a media and entertainment company that is a subsidiary of Comcast ** Universal Animation Studios, an American Animation studio, and a subsidiary of N ...

Early life

Growing up in the tiny village of

Berkåk Berkåk is the administrative centre of Rennebu Municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. It is located in the Orkladalen valley along the river Orkla (river), Orkla. The village lies about north of the village of Ulsberg and southeast of the ...

Rennebu Municipality Rennebu is a List of municipalities of Norway, municipality in Trøndelag Counties of Norway, county, Norway. It is part of the Orkdalen Districts of Norway, region. The administrative centre of the municipality is the village of Berkåk, located ...

, Smeplass played piano at home and flute in her school's marching band. However, she felt classical music was too confining, so she learned guitar and began writing her own songs, inspired by her main influence,

John Mayer John Clayton Mayer ( ; born October 16, 1977) is an American singer, songwriter, and guitarist. He attended Berklee College of Music in Boston, but he left for Atlanta in 1997 with fellow guitarist Clay Cook, with whom he formed the short-liv ...

. At age 13, Smeplass learned to speak English.

Career

16-year-old Smeplass released her first single "Shattered", which was co-written by American singer-songwriter

Melanie Fontana Melanie Joy Fontana (born October 3, 1986)Joyce Cohen''New York Times'', December 26, 2004. is an American singer, composer and songwriter signed to Universal Music Group. Early life Fontana was born in Newington, Connecticut. She moved to New ...

, after participating in ''

Idol - Jakten på en superstjerne ''Idol - Jakten på en superstjerne'' is a television show on the Norwegian television channel TV 2, based on the popular British show ''Pop Idol''. The show describes itself as a "Search For A SuperStar". The contestants are first narrowed dow ...

'' in 2013. She signed a publishing deal with Sony ATV Music Publishing shortly after. Her first single under her new artist image, "2AM", was released through

Universal Music Universal Music Group N.V. (often abbreviated as UMG and referred to as Universal Music Group or Universal Music) is a Dutch– American multinational music corporation under Dutch law. UMG's corporate headquarters are located in Hilversum ...

in 2014, releasing in the US the following year. She also released a cover of the single "

FourFiveSeconds "FourFiveSeconds" is a song recorded by Barbadian singer Rihanna, American rapper Kanye West, and English musician Paul McCartney. It was written and produced by McCartney, West, Mike Dean, Dave Longstreth and Noah Goldstein with additional ...

" by

Rihanna Robyn Rihanna Fenty ( ; born February 20, 1988) is a Barbadian singer, businesswoman, and actress. One of the List of music artists by net worth, wealthiest musicians in the world, List of awards and nominations received by Rihanna, her vario ...

Kanye West Ye ( ; born Kanye Omari West ; June 8, 1977) is an American rapper, singer and record producer. One of the most prominent figures in hip-hop, he is known for his varying musical style and polarizing cultural and political commentary. After ...

and

Paul McCartney Sir James Paul McCartney (born 18 June 1942) is an English singer, songwriter and musician who gained global fame with the Beatles, for whom he played bass guitar and the piano, and shared primary songwriting and lead vocal duties with John ...

. In 2016, she released the song "

Hurts So Good "Hurts So Good" is a song by American singer-songwriter John Mellencamp, then performing under the stage name "John Cougar". The song was a number two hit on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 Whitburn, Joel (2004). ''The Billboard Book of Top 40 Hits,' ...

", which was included on her debut self-titled

extended play An extended play (EP) is a Sound recording and reproduction, musical recording that contains more tracks than a Single (music), single but fewer than an album. Contemporary EPs generally contain up to eight tracks and have a playing time of 1 ...

, ''Astrid S''. She also supported

Troye Sivan Troye Sivan Mellet ( ; born 5 June 1995) is an Australian singer-songwriter and actor. After gaining popularity as a singer on YouTube and in Australian talent competitions, Sivan signed with Universal Music Australia, EMI Australia in 2013 and ...

on his European tour. The following year she released her second EP, ''Party's Over''. In 2017, Smeplass provided backing vocals on "

Hey Hey Hey "Hey Hey Hey" is a song recorded by American singer Katy Perry for her fifth studio album ''Witness'' (2017). It was sent to Italian contemporary hit radio stations on January 12, 2018 by Universal Music Group as the album's fifth single. The so ...

" by American singer

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from her album ''

Witness In law, a witness is someone who, either voluntarily or under compulsion, provides testimonial evidence, either oral or written, of what they know or claim to know. A witness might be compelled to provide testimony in court, before a grand jur ...

''. In 2017, Smeplass's cover of

Cezinando Kristoffer Cezinando Karlsen (born August 3, 1995 in Oslo), known professionally as Cezinando, is a Norwegian singer, rapper, and songwriter. He has a Norwegian mother and a Portuguese father, and spent a part of his childhood in Lisbon. He has w ...

's "Vi er perfekt, men verden er ikke det" was featured on the soundtrack of the fourth season of '' Skam'' and Smeplass performed it at the award ceremony

P3 Gull ''P3 Gull'' (in ) is a music show and an award ceremony organized by the Norway, Norwegian radio station NRK P3. P3 Gold was first held on 29 November 2013 at Sentrum Scene in Oslo, offering awards in four categories: "Newcomer of the Year" (''År ...

the same year. On 30 June 2017, she released her second EP, ''Party's Over'', which featured the singles "Breathe" and "Such a Boy". Two weeks later, an acoustic rendition of the EP was released, with an additional song entitled "Mexico". In September 2017, her single " Think Before I Talk" peaked at number 14 on the Swedish charts, where it was later certified platinum. It was also certified gold in Denmark, where it peaked at number nine. In February 2018, Smeplass was awarded Spellemann of the Year at the annual

Spellemannprisen The Spellemannprisen (also referred to as the Norwegian Grammy Awards) is a Norwegian music award ceremony presented by International Federation of the Phonographic Industry#Local associations, IFPI Norge and :no:FONO, FONO. It was first awarded i ...

, being the first female artist to do so since 2003. After the release of the song "Emotion", Smeplass joined

Years & Years Years & Years were an English electropop band formed in London in 2010. The band rose to fame after their single "King" (2015) topped the UK Singles Chart and entered the top ten hit in thirteen other regions. It was preceded by the release o ...

on their UK tour at the end of 2018, followed by her supporting

Zara Larsson Zara Maria Larsson (; born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish singer-songwriter and dancer. She first rose to prominence in 2008 after winning the Talang 2008, second season of ''Talang (Swedish TV show), Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got T ...

on her US tour in 2019. In April 2019, Astrid became the face of Fendi's F for Fendi campaign. She joined 16-year-old climate change activist

Greta Thunberg Greta Tintin Eleonora Ernman Thunberg (; born 3January 2003) is a Swedish climate activist, climate and political activist initially known for challenging world leaders to take immediate action to climate change mitigation, mitigate the effec ...

for her

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event in Sweden, performing a cover of "I Want to Know What Love Is" by Foreigner. In August 2019, her fourth EP was released, entitled ''Trust Issues''. The EP features previously released singles "Someone New", "Emotion" and "The First One", in addition to two new released; "Doing To Me" and "Trust Issues". Smeplass's first release of 2020 was "I Do", a collaboration with country singer Brett Young. The song peaked at number three in Norway. In September of the same year, Smeplass announced her debut studio album, ''

'', which was released on 16 October 2020. It was preceded by the lead single "Dance Dance Dance", as well as the second and third singles, "Marilyn Monroe" and "It's Ok If You Forget Me". In 2021, similarities were noted in the lyrics of the

French Montana Karim Kharbouch (Moroccan Arabic, Arabic: IPA pronunciation, æɾiːm χɑɾbuːʃ born November 9, 1984), better known by his stage name French Montana, is a Moroccan-American rapper. Born and raised in Morocco, he immigrated to New York ...

track "How You King?" with the Astrid S song "Jump". Astrid S retroactively got proper attribution as a co-songwriter and receives compensation on the track. That same year, she played Askepott (Cinderella) in '' Tre nøtter til Askepott'', a Norwegian remake of the 1973 Czechoslovak/East German film

Tři oříšky pro Popelku ''Three Wishes for Cinderella'' (; , also called in English ''Three Hazelnuts for Cinderella'' or ''Three Gifts for Cinderella'') is a 1973 Czechoslovak- East German film based on the fairy-tale ''Cinderella''. It was directed by Václav Vorl ...

, for which she also released the single "Når snøen smelter", her first original Norwegian-language song.

Discography

* ''

'' (2020) * ''

Joyride Joyride may refer to: Film * ''Joy Ride'' (1935 film), a British comedy film directed by Harry Hughes * ''Joy Ride'' (1958 film), an American crime film directed by Edward Bernds * ''Joyride'' (1977 film), an American adventure film directed b ...

'' (2024)

Filmography

;Television ;Movies

Concert tours

;Headlining * Party's Over World Tour (2017) * World Tour Part_One (2020) ;Supporting *

–

Blue Neighbourhood Tour The Blue Neighbourhood Tour was the second concert tour by Australian recording artist Troye Sivan, in support of his debut studio album ''Blue Neighbourhood'' (2015). Background On 23 November 2015, two weeks before the release of Sivan's deb ...

(2016) * Troye Sivan – Suburbia Tour (2016) *

– Palo Santo Tour (2018) *

–

Don't Worry Bout Me Tour The Don't Worry Bout Me Tour was the second major concert tour by Swedish singer Zara Larsson, to promote her first international debut studio album, ''So Good (Zara Larsson album), So Good'' (2017) and her then-unreleased second international stu ...

(2019)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Astrid S 1996 births 21st-century Norwegian singer-songwriters 21st-century Norwegian women singers English-language singers from Norway Idol (Norwegian TV series) participants Living people Norwegian pop singers Norwegian songwriters Musicians from Rennebu Synth-pop singers Tropical house musicians Norwegian women songwriters