Anna Linnea Södahl (born 17 September 1987), also known as simply Nea, is a Swedish singer and songwriter.

Early life and education

Södahl was born in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

to Swedish parents. Her parents were residing in South Africa as missionaries for the

Church of Sweden The Church of Sweden () is an Evangelical Lutheran national church in Sweden. A former state church, headquartered in Uppsala, with around 5.5 million members at year end 2023, it is the largest Christian denomination in Sweden, the largest List ...

, but also performed undercover missions supporting efforts to combat

apartheid Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...

. When Södahl was three years old, the family returned to Sweden, where she was raised in

Alingsås Alingsås () is a urban areas of Sweden, locality and the seat of Alingsås Municipality in Västra Götaland County, Sweden. It had 24,482 inhabitants in 2010. Geography Geographically the city is situated by the outlet of the small rivulet Säv ...

. Södahl returned to South Africa as a teenager, working as a volunteer for three months at an orphanage and writing music with the non-profit organization Star For Life. Södahl studied songwriting and producing at Musikmakarna in

Örnsköldsvik Örnsköldsvik (; ), often shortened to just Ö-vik, is a Urban areas in Sweden, locality and the seat of Örnsköldsvik Municipality in Västernorrland County, Sweden, with 32,953 inhabitants in 2017. Its natural harbour and archipelago is in th ...

, graduating in 2015.

Music career

As a songwriter Nea has been using her real name, Linnea Södahl, and has written songs for

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 ...

Tove Styrke Tove Anna Linnéa Östman Styrke (; born 19 November 1992) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. She gained popularity as a contestant on '' Swedish Idol 2009'', finishing in third place. After the show, she started a solo career in electropop. Sh ...

Tinie Tempah Patrick Chukwuemeka Okogwu (born 7 November 1988), better known by his stage name Tinie (formerly Tinie Tempah), is a British rapper and singer. He has been signed to Parlophone since 2009, now a subsidiary of Warner Music Group. He created his ...

Felix Jaehn Fee Jähn (born 28 August 1994 as Felix Kurt Jähn, ), known professionally as Felix Jaehn, is a German DJ and record producer. Jaehn achieved international success with their remix of OMI's song "Cheerleader", which topped the charts in multip ...

Twice Twice (; Japanese language, Japanese: トゥワイス, Hepburn romanization, Hepburn: ''Tuwaisu''; commonly stylized in all caps) is a South Korean girl group formed by JYP Entertainment. The group is composed of nine members: Nayeon, Jeongyeon ...

and

Axwell Axel Christofer Hedfors (; born 18 December 1977), better known by his stage name Axwell, is a Swedish DJ, record producer, remixer and owner of Axtone Records. He is a member of Swedish House Mafia along with Sebastian Ingrosso and Steve Angello ...

, among others. Her songs have received a total of almost two billion streams worldwide on

Spotify Spotify (; ) is a List of companies of Sweden, Swedish Music streaming service, audio streaming and media service provider founded on 23 April 2006 by Daniel Ek and Martin Lorentzon. , it is one of the largest providers of music streaming services ...

. One of her most famous songs, Lush Life, which became an international hit and the most played song in Sweden during the summer of 2015, has sold ten times platinum in Sweden and platinum in the UK and US. As for Swedish artists, Södahl has, in addition to Zara Larsson, Axwell and Tove Styrke, also written songs for Linnea Henriksson, Sabina Ddumba, Skott, Kasbo and Shy Martin. On 22 December 2019, Nea was placed number one as a singer and number three as a songwriter on

Svensktoppen ''Svensktoppen'' () is a weekly record chart airing on Sveriges Radio. Until January 2003, the songs had to be in the Swedish language. Svensktoppen has aired since 1962, except for the years 1982–1985. In the years leading up to the January 20 ...

with the songs " Some Say" (which interpolates

Eiffel 65 Eiffel 65 are an Italian Eurodance group formed in 1997 in the studios of the Turin based record company Bliss Corporation. The group consists of Jeffrey Jey, Maurizio Lobina, and formerly Gabry Ponte. They gained global popularity with their ...

's "

Blue (Da Ba Dee) "Blue (Da Ba Dee)" is a song by Italian music group Eiffel 65. It was first released in October 1998 in Italy by Skooby Records and became internationally successful the following year. It is the lead single of the group's 1999 debut album, ''Eu ...

") and "Fira jul med mig" (performed by

Linnea Henriksson Ellen Linnea Petrea Henriksson (born 9 November 1986) is a Swedish singer and songwriter who participated in '' Idol 2010'' in which she placed fourth. , she is also the lead singer of the jazz band Prylf. In 2012, Henriksson released her first ...

). Other Swedish artists she has written for are

Sabina Ddumba Sabina Ddumba (born 23 February 1994) is a Swedish singer. Her music has soul, gospel, and R&B influences. Ddumba was a backing vocalist on Katy Perry's song " Walking on Air" in 2013 and has collaborated with artists such as the hip hop band Lo ...

, Skott, Kasbo and

SHY Martin Sara Hjellström (born 5 November 1993), known professionally as Shy Martin (stylized as shy martin) is a Swedish singer and songwriter. As a songwriter her compositions have been streamed over 3 billion times on Spotify alone, while her songs a ...

. On 6 September 2019 Södahl released her first own song as an artist under the artist name Nea. The debut single " Some Say" was released through Milkshake Label (Sony Music Sweden) and became a major international hit and the 13th most played song on European radio in 2020. In Sweden, the song was on

for 57 weeks. On 10 January 2020 a remix of "Some Say" made by German DJ

was released. On 12 June 2020 Nea released her debut EP "Some Say EP" which in addition to "Some Say" also included the singles "Dedicated", "TG4M" and "Drunk Enough To". Nea performed at the Spanish music festival Los40 Music Award in 2020 and received two nominations, where she won in the category "Best international dance".

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Notes

Awards

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sodahl, Linnea 21st-century Swedish women singers 1986 births Living people Swedish expatriates in South Africa English-language singers from Sweden People from Alingsås