Last month, Norwegian punk rock force Ida Maria unveiled her latest single, Lazy. A defiant voice in the Nordic underground, Ida has built her sound on jagged emotion, unruly guitars, and the kind of honesty that doesn’t ask permission. I spoke with her about the new song’s pulse, the worldview tangled in her music, and the noise still waiting to be made.
Lucy
Your new single “Lazy” is bold and explosive, but there’s something very personal under the noise. What part of yourself were you confronting when you wrote it?
Ida Maria
Laziness is what I’m the most ashamed about in myself of all the sins. You shouldn’t rest on your laurels you know. It’s culture. I don’t know where it crosses from chilling to being lazy. I just like to chill. I like to do stuff, but I also sometimes just like being. I guess I have some bad conscience there for not contributing directly per se to the labor force but at least here you humbly have my music. I am also a volunteer in farming.
Lucy
If you had to explain your sound to someone who’s never heard it before, how would you describe it?
Ida Maria
Tries to hit each genre within rock before she hits 50? No. Completely bonkers single mom dabbling with forces she doesn’t know? No. Don’t fuxk with the Catholic Church? No. I’m just a punk rocker trying to explain some things know what I mean? I dabbled with some sin and dabbled with some religion and both can be dangerous if you take it too far. So it’s funny to research this landscape between what’s right and what’s wrong, and what’s in between. It’s just punk rock baby
Lucy
You’ve performed on global stages and collaborated with icons. After all these years, what still surprises you about making music?
Ida Maria
To fall in love with music again and again. It never seizes to amaze me. I was just talking to my parents about healing frequencies and how Mozart how it was played before, was played in a different frequency cause they tuned in 432 hz and not 440 hz like today. We need for take this seriously guys.
Lucy
When you dig into darker themes like sin and self-sabotage, does it feel like confession, confrontation, or something else entirely?
Ida Maria
Feels like I’m delivering a shopping list of been there done that. I’m guilty of all of them. I’ve used the whole project as a tool to see how I can better myself. Can’t sin all day all night it’s exhausting to sin. When it comes to understanding the human though – Carl Jung is my favorite.
Lucy
Many artists burn out after one or two albums. What do you think has kept your fire burning for nearly two decades?
Ida Maria
When music started to become more about selling lipsticks than about freedom of speech (which was about 15 years ago) I dropped out and started farming for a bit instead. I Now we’re here. Let me have a little chat about this. Literally sodom burning.
Lucy
You’ve built a career on your own terms. Have you ever felt pressure to soften your edges, and what happened when you didn’t?
Ida Maria
I’m always working on healthy boundaries. Music is very sacred to me. I don’t cast spell with no reason. I know the power of music.
Lucy
Your songs have landed in legendary shows like Skins, Gossip Girl, and Grey’s Anatomy. What do you think it is about your music that keeps pulling filmmakers in?
Ida Maria
I think my songs are quite visual and descriptive. You know what they’re about. I’m not hiding anything. If anything, I’m saying too much.
Lucy
What can you tell us about your upcoming album?
Ida Maria
Writing the song «More» with Topi Latukka and Aleksi Kiskinen in Helsinki, Finland was a big kick and set off the whole album idea for me. Then I knew what it was gonna be about. I also wrote another sin with another fin, Joonas Parkkonen and “Still Angry” that comes on the album. So three fins have contributed here and the rest of us are Norwegian. My main band with Jan Ole Kristensen, Ruben Fredheim Oma and Alf Magne Hillestad, producer Martin Selen and engineer Hans Petter Heggli and I did the ground tracks together and then I’ve sprinkled with some guest artists along the way like Sivert Høyem from Madrugada, Tommy Aakerholt and Benny Borg. The writing and recording took 9 days altogether with my band and additional musicians. This album is my comment on the current state of things in the world and in myself. Trying to not project my sins onto the world but more just have a fun discussion about it. Great project, great team. Contributing team of musicians and studio on the album: Martin Selen, Morgan Nicolaysen, Christer Cederberg, Hans Petter Heggli, Alf Magne Hillestad, Ruben Fredheim Oma, Eirik Naess, Jan Ole Kristensen, Tommy Akerhold, Tarjei Kristoffersen, Kristian Liljan, Dave Krusen, Joonas Parkkonen, Petter Waldemar Nohr Unstad, Kristoffer Magnus Nohr Unsta, Sivert Høyem, Benny Borg
Lucy
You grew up in northern Norway, a quiet place far from the spotlight. How did that shape the kind of artist and storyteller you became?
Ida Maria
I think growing up there strengthened my creativity and belief that I can only have as much fun as me and my friends we make ourselves – and that’s what you gotta do in life is make a good life for yourself and I guess that’s how you end up playing in a rock band and eating dinner with friends cause that’s the best thing in the world to do.
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