THE NORDIC MUSIC PODCAST

Hailing from Värmland, a county to the west of Sweden,  singer-songwriter, Johanna Jansson - better known as Dotter - celebrates a whole decade in the music industry this year. And she does so with close to 110,000,000 streams under her belt (on Spotify alone!). A hit factory? Yep, you could say that.

 

Starting her professional music journey with more of an Indie and, at times, folk-acoustic flavour, Dotter’s sound has changed and added layers over the years. So much so that, by the time she entered Sweden’s Melodifestivalen contest for the second time (in 2020), the enormously pop-fuelled explosion of‘'Bulletproof’ not only showcased her as an electro-queen but also very nearly sent her to Eurovision as Sweden’s representative… but for two small problems: 'Bulletproof’ lost out by 1 tiny point to the Mamas and, in any event, the pandemic brought about the cancellation of that year’s song contest. Mind you, the song still went to number one on Svensktoppen, the weekly Swedish chart on Sveriges Radio. 

 

Returning to Mello the following year with the not-less amazing, 'Little Tot’, really helped secure Dotter as one of Sweden’s leading pop powerhouses.  

 

Johanna’s career as Dotter could be described as interlinked with the career of her fiancée, the writer and producer, Dino Medanhodzic. She has worked with Dino closely for the past ten years and it’s a collaboration that has really brought out the best in both artists and continues to give us massive hits. 

 

In this interview with Johanna, we discuss her work with Dino, including this year’s return to Melodifestivalen with the beautiful 'It’s Not Easy to Write A Love Song’ as well as newest single, 'We’re In This Together’.

 

We also reflect on the hard work Johanna had to put in at the start of her career, in an endeavour to get signed as an artist, and how she was able to bounce back brilliantly when, years later, as she was awaiting the birth of her and Dino’s first child, her record label dropped her.

 

Our conversation explores whether Johanna would consider releasing a full album in future and, she also answers the inevitable question: would she compete in Melodifestivalen for the 5th time?