so sad so sexy is the fourth studio album by Swedish singer-songwritter Lykke Li, released on June 8, 2018. The new record followed her 2014 album I Never Learn. In 2016, Lykke Li gave birth to her first son. Three weeks later, her mother became ill and later passed away. She told FADER getting through these events felt like “a metamorphosis.” Sadness is a dominant theme in Li’s discography. She told EW: It’s more [prominent], especially at this point in my life where I’ve had a lot of personal problems going on… but I feel like I’ve come out the other side… it’s almost like watching an old Italian movie where [the character] is crying because she’s so beautiful. At the same time I guess I find beauty in sadness. On April 19, 2018, Li shared the album’s first two singles, “hard rain” and “deep end”. Sonically, the tracks were a big departure from the sound she approached on her first three albums. In an interview, Li pointed out her evolution: Obviously my influences have changed tremendously and after 10 years I’m hopefully a better writer and singer but the approach has always been the same, to capture my feelings as honestly as possible. And I still have the same underdog mentally. Everything was different about this album. Some life events that had happened had changed me completely as a person but as an artist I felt like I was very much how I felt in the beginning. I had lost so much already so really felt like I had nothing more to lose and then just decided to do whatever I felt in the moment and make a reflection of my time and life in LA. But yes there were a whole bunch of acoustic love songs that I tossed in the trash. I wanted to make something sonically I hadn’t before so it took me some time to find the new wave.