Agnes (SE)

About

Also known as: Agnes (German), Agnes Carlsson, Agnes Emilia Carlsson

Agnes Carlsson has one of those careers that pivots sharply and pays off for it. After winning Swedish Idol in 2005 at seventeen, she put out two chart topping albums on Sony BMG that sold well at home, then took a sharp left turn when she split from the label in 2008 over creative differences. Signing to indie label Roxy Recordings turned out to be the right move: her third album Dance Love Pop sold 200,000 copies worldwide and cracked the top ten across Europe and beyond. The singles off it were genuine global hits, with "Release Me" topping the Billboard Hot Dance Club Songs, peaking at number three in the UK, and moving over four million copies. She cites Stevie Wonder, Whitney Houston and Janet Jackson as her main inspirations, and those influences land clearly in her glossy, club ready sound that sits somewhere between electropop and house inflected dance pop. "On and On" and "Release Me" remain her signature moments, though she has kept releasing music in the years since, including the single "One Last Time" in 2012 and a revisited version of "On and On" in 2015.