Interview #2 - Face To Face
*Exclusive*

The 30th of July 2001 I gave Staffan aka Bosson another phonecall. Of course, I had to interrupt him while he was eating (and chewing enthusiastically in my ear for about a minute). We did a little small-talk until he could tell me that he didn't have a clue what he was even going to do in Norway while he was here. All he knew was that he was in Oslo the 31st from around 12 and in some other city the day after. "I think it's a TV show or something." So I had to call another guy who was in charge of his schedule to get a "date". So I got one - from 3:40pm onwards. This is the result of our meeting...

At first I showed up at 3:30pm as planned at THE most fancy hotel in Oslo. The top floor with an outlook over the city. I stood by the railing and waited for him. After I'd been standing there, looking cool for like 10 minutes I started looking frequently at my watch. I started wondering if it was supposed to be 3:30pm or 4:00pm. 5 minutes later a gang consisting of 4 guys came out on the roof and I turned around, looked at them over my glasses and after I took a quick peak I turned a round again. I took another look at my watch, and as I released a deep sigh I heard someone say, "Are you the one who's going to interview me?" I once again took a peak over my sunglasses and noticed Staffan in front of me with a bag and a rucksack, dressed casually and with a big smile. I nodded and said hello to the two band-guys and the guy from the record company.

First we sat down outside with the others, but after a little while we decided to go inside - so the wind wouldn't get all the attention from my tape recorder. [It always finds everything else a helluva lot more interesting than the actual voice I'm trying to capture, so absolute silence is necessary.] He signed my "One In A Million" single with "Thank you for all the kind words. Bearhug from me, Bosson." and a heart. Kind of sweet, don't you think? He also asked one of the band members to take a picture of us. Here it is:

1) Why are you in Norway now?

Why I'm in Norway now? I've just done a show at P4 [a Norwegian radio station] where they played an acoustic version of "One In A Million" that we played with guitars and percussion. They also played "I Believe" for the first time on radio here - it's going to be the next single. It'll be exciting to see where it goes, but I think it'll work just fine. Tonight I'm going to be on a TV show called... [looking through a bunch of papers that's probably an inch thick, packed with schedule] ah, here it is! "Sommeråpent" [summer open]! That'll be fun! That show is pretty big, isn't it? Tomorrow I'll be in a "Top 20" show in Trondheim , and that'll be a lot of fun too!

2) Speaking of "I Believe" - when will it see the stores?

I don't know to be honest. In the end of August, I think. Yeah, in about a month's time it'll be in the stores, and they'll start playing it on the radio now so we'll see how my airplay it gets.

3) So, when will we see the video?

I guess it'll be out around the same time. It'll probably be played on "Nordic Top 5" on M-TV, because it'll go out to places that can play it right now. It's not everywhere they play videos apart from on M-TV, so we'll see where they'll play it.

4) What kind of relationship do you have with the press? Do you talk to them or avoid them?

Sometimes it can be 3 weeks where I talk to the press all the time and do interviews 10 hours a day. If I can't be on stage and write music in the meantime, it feels like it's going over my head. Other than that it's pretty quiet. Well, it's never completely quiet. May, June and July have been filled with things to do 24/7, and I'm hoping that August will be a little quieter. I think I'll just do shows and relax a little.

5) In Norway we have "Se og Hør" [same as "Hello" and "OK"] who make up the worst thinkable gossip about the celebrities. Is it like that in Sweden with you?

I did an interview with that magazine a while ago, I don't know if you've seen it yet? But honestly, I don't experience much of that. I'm not a scandalous guy, and I'm not bothered with a lot of untrue stories etc. Of course, there was a little when I was dating Jessica who was Miss Sweden 98, and there's always a little here and there, but I'm not at home a lot. I'm mostly ravaging abroad [laughing].

6) How much does a good/bad review mean to you?

To be honest I haven't checked a lot of reviews. I know that it's easy to put down the type of music that I'm into, but something I can get good reviews for is that I write myself, because a lot of musicians in my genre don't do that. I like pop music and I'll go in the direction of Savage Garden with a little bit more guitars and such. I think it's ok if someone who likes pop music and reviews the CD doesn't like it, but often it's some dude who loves hard rock who's set to review a pop album. So when they listen to it, they don't like the music! Then, in a way, they can't represent it, because they compare it to the type of music they originally like. You have to review the different genres separate, and I think it's fun when reviewers write about how a song is built up and are good enough so the reader understands that he gets it. That he understands the music! There are some reviewers who don't have a clue as to what they're talking about, so they just write a bunch of nonsense. But those who analyse the lyrics, look deep into the meaning, understand the kind of work that is put into a song and compare with similar albums I have a lot more respect for. In the end, it's just a personal view, and if someone trashes the album, then that's his opinion. I'm not really interested in what he thinks, I'm not interested in selling my music to him as he's not a part of my audience. I want to communicate with those who like what I do, and I'd rather sell 250,000 singles to people who like my music than one single to the guy who doesn't just to make him like it. On the other hand, a reviewers' opinion can affect others as they might think it's a professional point of view, but some are easier to believe than others. For instance, there was this guy in Sweden who called "One In A Million"a "childish summer record" and that was it. But, in the next sentence he talked very warmly of "A Teens" and "Friends" and things like that. So, on one side we have those bands, and on the other side we have "One In A Million" that was nominated to a Golden Globe in the same category as Bob Dylan, Sting and Björk, so it can't be that bad, right?

When you write the songs yourself you put down a lot of time and energy in a song that can have very personal lyrics, and if I'm going on a radio station in Germany they'll change the lyrics. Like if I'm going to do a jingle for them it'll be something like...[sings in German], and that's fine. But when they start messing with the lyrics of the song and change the full meaning I just have to say stop. It's ok to maybe do it for fun by putting in some new lyrics in the chorus, but not when they start messing around too much. It's like a little baby, you just don't do that. The songs actually mean something to me, and I'm not making them just because it's commercial but because they have a meaning. I'm not making songs for the "Smurfs".

7) What's the biggest difference between "The Right Time" that's your first album, and "One In A Million"?

I wrote "The Right Time" partly with a friend and partly by myself. It contains of the first songs I recorded and I was still experimenting with which ways I could go. "One In A Million" is more professional, and I've written more and been producing as well. The two albums are different to begin with, but the next album will be really interesting as I know exactly what to do: Where I want, who I want to work with and how much I want to do myself.

8) What's changed after you became a celebrity?

I don't know, really, apart from that it's a lot more to do. Before I could take it easy, write a couple of songs here and there, but now there's something going on all the time. But it's ok, really, because when you think about it, this is the way to build a ground for the future so I can continue making music. It's really important what kind of success the singles from this album has. "One In A Million" has been a smash hit, but we'll see how "I Believe" will do and the next single after that. Other than having fifty-eleven things to do, people recognise me here and there and it's absolutely incredible to go on a stage and sing a song that people recognise! It's weird, but so much fun! It's a completely different feeling to go on stage now than before when nobody knew who I was.

9) What's your best song and why?

"It's Over Now" is special because it's about my grandmother, but I'd have to say "One In A Million" because it's been so big and people love it. It obviously has something that people like. Also, because I wrote it to my ex girlfriend Jessica it's also a little special to me. It's also the song that's started my career for real. In the end, while I was working on the new album, I worked without my record company because I wanted to go in this direction and they didn't. This was my re cord company in the USA, the record company in Norway and Sweden have always been supportive of my choices

10) "One In A Million" featured on the "Miss Congeniality" soundtrack. How did that happen?

The man who puts the music together for Sandra Bullock's movies works for Capitol which is my record company in the USA, so that's how I got the opportunity to write a song for the movie. I wrote "One In A Million"and Sandra Bullock thought it was brilliant. She called me and invited me to Austin, Texas where they were doing the film. She asked if she could re-produce the song to make it fit a choreographed dance-scene in the end, and of course I said "yes". I went down there and met her, the director and some of the other actors. After that I saw her at the premiere in Los Angeles.

11) How do you want others to see you?

Like a pig! Like the pig I am! [Laughing] I'm just kidding. I don't know, humorous, humble with a twinkle in my eyes. I set high goals for myself and others, and I know it can be quite demanding, but also positive as I want a lot and I'm quite driven at what I do and I know where I want. People may think what they want of me, really.

12) How do you think others see you?

I think people can think of me as incredibly stubborn at times, because I am. Especially when it comes to my music, my career, what I want and how I want things to be done. When it comes to that I'm hard as a rock, I won't give in for anything or anyone. But it's only because it's thanks to my stubbornness that I've made progress. People close to me seem to like me, and that's what's important, really.

13) What makes you blush?

Almost nothing. I'm pretty good at avoiding that. If I say or do something embarrassing, I'm good at joking it away.

14) What's the meaning of life?

Have you heard the new version of "I Believe" or what? Didn't I play it for you on the phone? No? Hmm, the meaning of life? I just talked to a taxi driver who was an atheist and he told me what his views on life were: What we do to our earth and that he believed it was Satan who sent man to destroy it. I guess he could be right, because if God had been so good we probably wouldn't have done what we do. We start wars, get into a lot of trouble, steal and destroy the earth. I do, however, think that to feel good about something we must experience something bad too -- or else we won't have anything to compare with. For instance, if you eat something good all the time you'll get tired of it. You have to eat something disgusting to appreciate the good things. That's sort of how life works as well. I think the meaning of life is that we have a certain time that we have on this earth, and it's important to make the best of it. Try to feel as good as possible for as long as possible. Try to fill life with things you like, things that make you happy and things that make you feel good. It's not only one answer to this, but the thing is to make the best out of it.

15) If you had 2 weeks to do whatever you want to do, what would you have done?

I'd stay in Gothenburg, fix my apartment, take it easy, go out with pals, rest and maybe I'd work out a little. I wouldn't go anywhere because the only place I can relax is at home, and I'm never home. When I'm out travelling now it doesn't feel like I'm on holiday. People who are home all year and work and are in the same place all the time fly away from it, while I'm abroad for a whole year so I have to go home. So that's why I would be home and have a holiday there. As a matter of fact, I could use 2 weeks off so I can give it all in the fall with more shows.

16) What day will you always remember and why?

One day? I'm not sure. There are a lot of days that you remember for different reasons. For instance when you win your first song contest, fall off your bike or ride down the balcony with it. But when it comes to my career I think I'll always remember when I was at Golden Globe and walked down the red carpet, the Grammy's, the tour with Britney and the thing with Sandra Bullock.

17) On the phone you said that you've imitated Michael Jackson. How did that happen?

By coincidence, really. I worked as an entertainer at "Hotel 33" and they were going to have a number of shows where people could imitate artists. Then someone said, "Wouldn't Staffan make a great Michael Jackson?" and I decided to try out for it. I tried to imitate his voice and do the make up and the moves, and they liked the result so I ended up being Michael for a while.

18) You sound like him on some of the songs on "One In A Million"...

Yeah, now that you mention it, maybe a little. One should think I'd sound more like him since I imitated him for quite some time, but I'm not a huge fan of Michael Jackson to be honest. Mostly I listen to Nik Kershaw and Crowded House, but I guess on some of the songs I sound kind of like him. Maybe it's because some of them are built up the same way Michael could have done them, like "Over The Mountains"[sings], but "One In A Million" on the other hand [sings again] isn't built up that way, and therefore I don't sound like him either.

19) What's your favourite song by another artist?

"The Riddle" by "Nik Kershaw". The world's greatest song! The melody, the way it's built up... Amazing song! [He sings half the song to prove his statement, and I agree!]

After my own little private concert with "Bosson" as "Nik Kershaw" I had to admit to myself that I couldn't hold on to him much longer. [Even though I could have listened to him sing all day!] He was hungry, and so were the three men outside. After a big hug we entered the elevator while the musician was shaking something that looked like a lemon i n hard plastic while looking thoughtfully into the air. Maybe it's the melody for the first song on the new album?

I went home to type up the interview, and sat down in front of the TV set when he said he'd be on. Then it occurred to be that this was live! So I called his manager and he said they were like 5 minutes away from my house. I ran down and got to see him perform a new version of "I Believe" - it's BRILLIANT! Just wait!

Afterwards I sat outside until his manager said I could come up. I took a picture of him and the guys to use for the interview, and this is the result:

Charming, huh? ;)

He gave me another one of his bear hugs before I left...

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