The Interview
*EXCLUSIVE*

9:15pm 16 July - after a couple of interruptions - I finally got through on the phone to a very tired (but talkative) Staffan Olsson. He told me that he'd just recorded a scene for the new video "I Believe" which is going to be the next single in Scandinavia. It will be released in Norway in the middle of August and a promo will be sent to radio stations in the end of July. He's also made a different version of the song that it's quite as popish as the one on the album - but more like "One In A Million". (Notice that I mentioned in my review that I had a feeling "I Believe" would be the next single!) He talked about how good my review was *grin* and my ego kind of got a little boost from that. It's not every day that you get a compliment from the artist whose album you've reviewed, is it?

Anyway, I could hear that he was tired and probably exhausted, and took a look at the bunch of questions I'd created for the occasion. It made me realise that these two facts didn't fit very well together. One tired popstar + a dozen questions = drop half the questions. But I was lucky, I didn't have to skip more than a couple!

The big question was of course, "Why the name Bosson?"
He laughed and said, "Den stora frågan!" (The big question!) and explained the whole thing to me. "My father's name is Bo and in Sweden it's very common to have last names that ends with "son" and because I'm my father's son, I thought Bosson sounded cool." [Bo's son = Bosson].

I asked him why it's not pronounced the way it's written and he said it all depended on how people in each country choose to pronounce it.
"Here in Sweden we say "Bosson" [he says his name in Swedish] and in Norway it's more flat [he pronounced it in Norwegian - it sounded hilarious but totally accurate!]. In the USA it's more like "B'sahn".

The next natural question for me to ask was why he didn't choose to use his own name, and we realised - after trying to pronounce Staffan Olsson in English - that it was probably for the best that he used Bosson. If only to keep it simple and easy. He joked a little about a Norwegian singer called Espen Lind.
"Espen Lind on the other hand works like a charm," he laughed.
A number of pronounciations of Norwegian Espen's name followed - and me trying not to laugh out loud.

I felt it necessary to ask why he wanted to be a "popstar" and how he's got where he is today. So, the question was, "Why did you want to become a musician?"
"I really haven't thought about it much, I guess it was just meant to be. I realised that it was something I'd like to do after I'd written and made songs for a while. I was discovered because I did a lot of gigs and shows and wrote a lot of songs. I want to touch people's hearts, and because of this music has become a very important part of my life."

He's also been on tour with Britney Spears and of course I was dying to know how he pulled that one!
"The biggest radio station in the world [located in LA] started playing the song "We Live" and all of a sudden all the record companies wanted to sign me to their label. I already had a contract in Sweden, but met up with Capitol Records and was signed with them. They kept playing my song on the radio and the guy who was in charge of Britney Spears and N'Sync's tours was interested and believed in the song. He asked around a little and was told that I was recording an album. I was then asked to join Britney on tour from the beginning of March."

We talked a little about this, and he started expressing that he was getting tired, but told enthusiastically about his trip to Singapore and that he had just returned home.
"I was put on first class on the plane and on the most luxurious hotel in the president suite! I was like, "Hey, cool, I can get used to living here for a while!" Since I returned I've been fixing some scenes on the new video "I Believe" and answered about a hundred e-mails, so I'm about to fall asleep here. By the way, I'm going to Austria next week."

A couple of seconds of silence followed, until he all of a sudden seemed really excited and awake:
"But, hey, this is something you can put in your interview! In Singapore I won an award for "best newcomer" in the same category as Craig David, Dido, 2 Be 3 and Standfast! About 2000 people were invited and afterwards we did a signing in a recordstore [HMV] and I signed well over a hundred CDs."

When we had this little talk about music, what's more natural than asking what he listens to himself?
"I've listened a lot to r'n'b and Crowded House. The last album I bought was Nik Kershaw's new album. Did you know that he's released a new album now? It's got some great instrumental parts with guitars!"

But what does Bosson think it takes to be a good musician?
"The best thing is to be able to write and sing yourself, play a couple of instruments - guitar and piano perhaps - and produce. I'm involved in everything, and I think it works great - but at times it's exhausting. It's limited how much you can contribute and be totally happy with the result if you can't do everything yourself. It has to be strange to go on a stage and only sing other people's songs, and have people coming up to you and say, "That song means a lot to me!" and because you haven't done anything but sing it, it has to be weird. Of course, you can probably relate to what you're singing, but it's like, "Aha... cool... err..." because you really don't have anything to do with the song at all."

Bosson has written most of his songs himself, and what I wanted to know was what inspires him to write!
"Everything. First I sit down and make the melody, then the chorus. Then I build around the chorus and the melody, and drift into a kind of "dreamworld" where I get a scenario and from that scenario I can write the rest of the song from beginning to end. It's about life and things that touches you personally, for instance if you're angry or happy. Relationships with friends and special friends. You can't write a song about "korv och mos" [a Swedish dish] because nobody can really relate to that anywhere else but here. It has to be something people can relate to."

What would Bosson do if he wasn't a musician, I wonder?
"I'd be making "korv och mos" of course!" he laughs. "I'm just kidding. Video director? Acror maybe? Anything in showbiz - a 9 to 5 job is nothing for me." [Is a 9 to 5 job any good for anyone??]

He's come this far in his career. He's sold a bunch of albums and singles, been on tour with Britney and made some music videos. But what more doe he want to archieve?
"As much as possible. Touch as many people's hearts as possible, express myself as a musician and be creative. The next step is to get a family and such, but right now I'm concentrating on the music."

I listened to an interview with Yahoo where he talked about Brasilian girls and how crazy they were. I downloaded a video documentary that proved this. Buw what does Bosson think the typical Bosson fan is like?
"They're like ordinary fans, I suppose. Scream a little and such. I don't know, really. What do you think?
I told him that I'd seen the documentary.
"That was from Brazil. They were pretty... err... wild down there. But everybody thinks it's nice to be given a compliment! For instance, "Well done!", "Great voice", "Good song", "Nice sweater" and so on. We all like that people notice if we look good or do well."

I've heard that he's imitated Michael Jackson on several occasions, and of course I was curious on what occasions and why.
"Rumour, huh?" he laughed. "Yes, it's true. I've done it many, many times. In Germany and the USA. I'm not a big fan or anything, but I like the entertainment and what it does to the audience. I didn't walk around thinking I was Michael Jackson because I imitated him, but I made a lot of money from doing it and that's how I could afford to make my own album."

I draw my breath and heard him yawning on the other end. I took a look at my watch. Almost 40 minutes since we started. I started feeling sorry for him, but still I threw in one last question: "Will you come to Norway to have a full concert any time soon? A world tour in the nearest future maybe?"
"To be honest, I have no idea. It depends how many people want a full concert, and I have to sell a lot of albums to prove that people really want it. It'll definitely be a couple of small gigs like the ones at Aker Brygge and in Arendal soon. Mostly in Sweden, I guess, but I'll be dropping by Norway too. The record company decided not to promote the album in Norway until "I Believe" was released on single. And since that's about to happen, it'll get things moving. You won't get rid of me that easy!" he laughed.

I believe him!

Another yawn was heard on the other end and I basically told him to get to bed.
"Yeah, I'll be asleep in 2 minutes whether I'm in my bed or not..."

He thanked for a nice conversation, but before he hung up he joked,
"Hilsa sjefen!" [Say hello to your boss]

;-)

[NOTE: A lot more was said, but this is the most relevant facts to be put in an interview. Also, there are a couple of in-jokes here... like the last comment ;-)...]

 

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©Terri Knudsen 2001. knobby@start.no