Swedish alternative pop vocalist Skott is mixing things up. Her new EP, Chapter I (Acoustic), released on June 18, takes five of the hits that previously defined Skott’s career, and strips them down to bare-boned acoustic versions.
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Skott credits much of the idea for this album to her fans. After viewing videos of her fans singing her songs, accompanied by acoustic guitar or moody piano chords, Skott wanted to do the same in order to get back to the roots of her own music. After seeing the cover versions of her own songs in so many different ways, she became inspired and asked her fans to choose what songs they’d like to hear in her own acoustic versions.
“I liked their choices, so I got to work on these raw, more naked versions,” Skotts says. “It’s super nice to kind of go back to the roots of basically how the songs were born.”
During COVID, Skott acknowledges how hard it was to feel so disconnected from her fans, saying, “[I’ve been] a bit disconnected from the actual this listener of the songs, like the people that I want the music to reach. So, I had a moment when I saw a video of a girl sitting on her bed in her bedroom, and she was playing ‘Porcelain’ on guitar and she was singing. I just got completely struck by that and I got teary-eyed, it made it so real for the first time to see that. My song actually made its way to someone’s bedroom and they want to sing it in their way. They crave to sing a song that I wrote, and that’s so big to me.”
To Skott, this project felt much more personal than a normal EP. In a time where connection was lacking, she felt that this was a way to share a piece of her heart with her listeners. In the same vein, Skott released a series of videos performing the acoustic versions of her songs in her very own kitchen, sitting on the counter with plants surrounding her. By filming the videos in her own home, she hoped the welcome listeners into her world, like they have so beautifully for her with their cover videos.
You can listen to Chapter I (Acoustic) here now.
