Carmen Maria Hillestad (born 1983), known professionally as Carmen Villain, is a Norwegian-Mexican musical artist. Hillestad was born in 1983 in

Michigan Michigan ( ) is a peninsular U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, Upper Midwestern United States. It shares water and land boundaries with Minnesota to the northwest, Wisconsin to the west, ...

, United States. Her mother is Mexican, and her father is Norwegian. Her parents raised her in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, Norway. She grew up playing the piano and the clarinet. She worked as a model before becoming a musician. In 2005, Hillestad moved to

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

and started writing music. Her early work was guitar-driven

shoegaze Shoegaze (originally called shoegazing and sometimes conflated with dream pop) is a subgenre of indie rock, indie and alternative rock characterized by its ethereal mixture of obscured vocals, guitar distortion (music), distortion and effects, a ...

and

dream pop Dream pop (also typeset as dreampop) is a subgenre of alternative rock and neo-psychedelia that emphasizes atmosphere and sonic texture as much as pop melody. Common characteristics include breathy vocals, dense productions, and effects such ...

. Her 2022 album, ''Only Love From Now On'', released to positive critical reception.

References

External links

* 1983 births 21st-century Norwegian women musicians Living people {{Norway-musician-stub