Embrace your ‘Beautiful Madness’ with Agnes

By Karl Batterbee | Photos: Swim Club IMG

Swedish pop royalty Agnes pairs music with mindfulness on her latest LP Beautiful Madness, the follow-up to 2021’s four-time Swedish Grammy-nominated album Magic Still Exists. The star speaks with Scan Magazine, sharing some words of wisdom we could probably all benefit from.

Agnes’ moment of Beautiful Madness has arrived at an important milestone for the singer, as she celebrates the 20th anniversary of her victory on the second series of Idol, which was the start of her two-decade career as a recording artist. “It’s so surreal when you hear that number,” admits the Vänersborg-born Agnes: “I can’t even understand it… 20 years!”

Beautiful Madness was preceded by four hit singles: Balenciaga Covered Eyes, MILK, EGO and Wake Up.

Replacing rose-tinted glasses with ‘Balenciaga Covered Eyes’

Shortly after that Idol win, a Number 1 single and album was achieved by the girl who had become Sweden’s newest pop idol at just 17 years of age. A second Number 1 album happened for her less than a year after her debut, but it was not until her third album – 2008’s Dance! Love! Pop! – that Agnes started to break through internationally. And what a breakthrough it was. The album’s biggest single was Release Me, a song that became a major smash across the globe, becoming one of the biggest hits of the year in the UK, where it peaked inside the Top 3.

Agnes was the winner of the second series of Sweden’s Idol TV show, in 2005.

All this time later and Agnes’ music continues to draw people to the dance floor in large numbers. The first single from the Beautiful Madness album was Balenciaga Covered Eyes; an exploration of the contrast between external glamour and inner fragility that is experienced on a night out at a club, with those ponderings set to pounding house beats and piano. “It all started with an image of a person at a party, appearing confident on the surface but experiencing something else inside,” Agnes reveals. “It came from wanting to write something I myself would want to hear when going out on weekends.”

Beautiful Madness is the follow-up album to 2021’s Magic Still Exists, which was nominated for four Swedish Grammy awards, winning one.

Interesting things happen when we stop chasing perfection

Contrast is a running theme throughout the album, and Beautiful Madness is not only its title, but an embodiment of the soul of the album, encapsulating Agnes’ life experiences in recent years; embracing contradictions, showing both strength and vulnerability, while releasing the pursuit of perfection. “It’s about having a lot of questions and not really having it all figured out. It was the first time in my life where I felt, honestly, it’s OK to be complex. It’s ok to feel and think a lot of things at the same time. You don’t have to simplify yourself.”

Beautiful Madness can serve as a therapy session if you are open to it, cheering you on and encouraging you to lower your walls and step outside of your comfort zone. All set to the most invigorating dance music, of course. From digging deeper into whatever might be holding you back (Trigger), to keeping your pride in check and abandoning your vanity (EGO), Agnes clearly encourages listeners to break down your barriers and follow your dreams (MILK). “I’ve realised that it’s precisely in the contradictions, in the madness and the unfinished, that life actually feels alive. That’s what Beautiful Madness is,” Agnes explains, adding: “Life is a beautiful madness, and it’s when we stop chasing perfection that the truly interesting things happen.”

Agnes achieved huge success outside of Sweden with global chart smashes such as Release Me.

The ultimate self-help anthem

On 1 January 2026, Agnes made quite a cunning move, releasing the ultimate self-help anthem, Wake Up, as a precursor to the album. With jaw-dropping clarity, she had a message to accompany all of those New Year’s resolutions made the night before. “It all started with the lyrics,” Agnes confirms. “It just came to me: ‘wake up, honey, you’re living in the past / you and I are so much more than our history / raise your standards / perspective is always a key to your truth’. And I looked at it in a playful way of talking to yourself. I hate the idea of thinking you know who you are and how to do things. You can always change, and you can always find new ways of looking at yourself, and other people and the world. Wake Up is a playful way of getting out of that stagnant idea of who you are.”

Agnes sings her mantras of self-worth with such clear conviction that as a listener you cannot help but envy someone who seems like they have arrived at the place of complete self-acceptance. But that is not the case at all: “It’s definitely going to be a lifelong journey,” laughs the singer. “But that’s also so inspiring. So many times, it has happened to me… You think you’ve got it all figured out. And then one year later and you’re somewhere else completely. I think that’s so important, to always be open. Because everything can change.”

“This is a party I want to invite people to”

As well as returning with a new album, Agnes has been getting out there to perform it for fans, too, with two sold-out shows having already taken place in London and Stockholm this year. “Those two shows,” the artist recalls, “that was a pretty overwhelming experience. It had been 12 years since I last had my own live show. To see all these people showing up and singing along, it was so beautiful.”

More gigs will follow in 2026, as well as some festival appearances confirmed in both Sweden and the UK. And Agnes is looking forward to seeing those crowds again: “When you’re making the music, you’re in your own little bubble. You go to the studio, and you work with a little group of people, so much in your own world. To then go up on stage and to see the people who are listening to the music, to be able to connect with them and to see the reaction of people crying and singing along… I’m so grateful. It’s just a beautiful way of spending your time.”

Surprisingly for an artist two decades into her career, her appreciation for performing in front of a live crowd is actually quite a new experience: “When I was younger, I had a lot of stage fright. I think it was because I didn’t know what it was all about. How do I want to express myself? What do I want to say? How should it look? How should it sound?”

Now, Agnes is an artist with full confidence in her answers to those questions. “This is a party I want to invite people to. And now I feel like I know exactly how I want this party to be. That’s the new chapter in life, to meet people and to sing and dance. I’m not religious, but I’m spiritual. And music is such a spiritual thing.”