Snoh Aalegra

I feel like nowadays it's almost become a corny thing to say that you want to be a role model or do something good for the world, but the artists I've looked up to - like Michael Jackson, Whitney Houston, and Prince - were about something.

If my music can be part of the soundtrack to your day, that's such an honour.

I've been in situations, when I was younger, when I had people forcing me doing stuff that they don't want to do.

Sometimes I'm very feminine - I wear tight skirts and pumps.

I grew up looking up a lot to '90s supermodels like Cindy Crawford and Naomi Campbell. I just thought those women were such cool role models because they had a good body ideal, too.

We have a huge immigration population in Sweden, but when I was younger, I grew up in a small town and, at one point, I was the only foreigner in my class. I really felt different, and I thought I looked different. Sometimes it was a good thing, sometimes I felt insecure.

This lipstick by MAC called 'Kinda Sexy' has been a favorite for years now and is one of my essential beauty products.

This fragrance 'Parisienne' by YSL was my fave back when I lived in London.

I don't know exactly what genre to put it in, I just know that I grew up listening to a lot of soul music - Stevie Wonder, Michael Jackson, Prince, and Whitney Houston. I was inspired by all these great big voices, and I try to do music that's timeless.

I'm from Sweden, where it's winter, like, half the year. And it's dark - we barely have any daylight.

In Sweden we have a jazz festival, and I would try to see all these people like Angie Stone there when I was younger.

We have a lot of indie artists coming from Sweden, not so much soul. The closest thing we had was Robyn when she came out, but it's a different kind of R&B.

I wrote my first song at the age of 9 and of course it didn't make any sense.

The entertainment industry can feel so serious. But at the end of the day, it's music and it's supposed to be positive and make people feel good.

I like to tell stories in my writing but I definitely use my own life experiences to tell that story.

Above all, I'm very genuine with my music. I would never sing about something that I can't stand for.

Drake is super versatile. He always has a lot of emotional moments on his albums.

I realized home is wherever you're surrounded by positive people who love and support you.

Emotionally, I've always worn my heart on my sleeve.

I just make music that I love. I'm kind of selfish when I make music. I'm like, 'Do I like this?'

As long as I don't have to compromise my art, that's the most important thing. It doesn't matter if I'm famous or not, it's all about the music.

I listen to rap a lot. I love Nas, Damien Marley, and Lauryn Hill.

My name is actually Snoh, but there's a rapper with that name already out there, so I was asked to add something to it. I didn't really want to do it at first, but then I thought of Aalegra. It has a connection to music and means 'joy' in Italian.

I've been obsessed with music since I was a little girl. I knew I wanted to be a singer when I was 9 years old.

I actually got signed when I was 14 with Sony Sweden. Things didn't really work out with that, but I'm glad I had the opportunity to be exposed to the industry at a young age.