Victor Crone grew up in Österåker on the very north eastern fringes of Stockholm. It’s the last stop on the Röslagsbanan commuter rail network from the centre of Stockholm; the journey to Central Station takes about 50 minutes. But this little peninsula is a lovely calm piece of Swedish suburbia is a world away from the capital city.
And Victor Crone’s upbringing doesn’t seem to be anything out of the ordinary. As a teenager he was playing plenty of Counter Strike and sports, with ice hockey being the one he took most seriously. For a short while he managed to play as a part of Österåker Viking’s team in Swedish hockey’s third tier.
But off the rink Victor’s other passion was the guitar, and took music classes through his school career. But eventually there came a point when only one of those was possible to pursue. At 18 years of age, Victor had an epic choice to make – sport or music.
The hockey career was put on ice.
The City Of Angels
Where Victor ended up was the kind of place many suburban Swedish teenagers could only dream of, Los Angeles. He managed to get the opportunity to write and sing in songs at Capitol Studios, where the list of alumni is basically a who’s who of worldwide superstars; including Britney Spears, Coldplay and Paul McCartney. Victor even had the pleasure of working in the studio next door to Lady Gaga on one such occasion.
He released his first song recorded at the studio under the stage name Vic Heart, ’Hot Summer Night’, which definitely feels at home in the musical soft rock genres across the pond. Other opportunities took him to another bastion of American music tradition, Nashville, and a swing into country flavoured music.
Yet there was to be no breakout career in the music industry stateside – the American dream full of opportunties but nothing that ever fit together. In 2017 Victor released the song ’California’, that touched on his time in the States. That song touches on many themes about being young and being so far away from home, but also the state of mind one is in when your dreams don’t turn out to be reality.
How he ended up in Melodifestivalen for his big breakthrough into the Swedish market happened fast. After returning from America, Victor was asked by Bosse Lundkvist, the manager of Albin (yes, the same Albin from last week’s Melodifestivalen) to record a vocal on one of Albin’s latest songs.
That song, ’Det Rår Vi Inte För’, was written by Albin together with not-yet-Eurovision-winner Måns Zelmerlöw and Behrang Miri, the rapper who made Andra Chansen in 2013 and wanted another go at Melodifestivalen. Victor had just ninety minutes in the studio to record the song, but that was enough for the track to get SVT’s approval and take up place in Melodifestivalen’s first heat in 2015.
Once more did Behrang Miri, with Victor singing on the chorus, reach Andra Chansen. Yet the doors to the final remained closed as ’Groupie’ by Samir & Viktor was victorious in their duel.
Andra Chansen provided Victor Crone with opportunities to stay visible in the Swedish music industry, adding his voice to songs and recording other tracks, but he never broke through again into Melodifestivalen once more… or in any other parts of the music scene. Instead it was small bar gigs and acoustic sessions that were the bread and butter of his musical career. Once more he was limited to third tier action with the premier league opportunities seeming so far out of sight.
A Storm Across The Baltic
Victor’s breakthrough in recent years comes from meeting Stig Rästa. Stig is a stalwart of the Estonian music scene, a regular contributor to its National Final and one of Estonia’s most cherished performers. I had the pleasure to attend his Eesti Laul victory with Elina Born in 2015 with ’Goodbye to Yesterday’. It was effectively a coronation ceremony for the duet, with 79 percent of the vote in a three song Super Final.
Following that Contest, Stig was over in Stockholm trying to write and record new music. Shortly after, Stig invited Victor to hop across the Baltic Sea to Estonia to record music over there. One trip became another, and another, and three years after his first visit ’Storm’ was written and submitted to Eesti Laul… where it was settled in as favourite from the first day through to its victory.
The Eurovision Song Contest saw Victor record a 19th place in the Grand Final. There was relief at making it through to Saturday night, but also a disappointment with the final result. But there was success at home that did beat his expectations. The Swedish televoters placed ’Storm’ in second place (after KEiiNO) and, even before Victor was even chosen to sing at the Song Contest, ’Storm’ was a hit on radio stations across Sweden.
Now was the opportunity to launch that Swedish career that had never before been possible.
Fighting Through Troubled Waters
After Eurovision 2019, Victor originally wanted to take a break from the limelight, but his record company had other ideas for him. ’Troubled Waters’ was one of a couple of songs that ended up on his managements desk, and he was persuaded to play in a demo. After waiting a couple of months the itch came to make the song into a proper hit. Victor got in touch with the writers (Benjamin Jennebo and Dino Medanhodzic, the latter who is also part of the team responsible for ’Bulletproof’) again to perfect the lyrics and release the song. But then came the idea to send the song into Melodifestivalen, and of course there’s no better place than Melodifestivalen to catapult oneself into Swedish music’s top flight.
This song though is more demanding than ’Storm’. The staging requires millimetre precision through its opening movements and Victor is far more energetic on the stage. Vocally as well this is a tough song with a huge range, and Victor feels he can only sing the song maximum 4 times a day. It also demands emotional storytelling. ’Troubled Waters’ is a positive song, but to get to that positivity you, the listener, must keep going through the tough times first.
”When I perform I hope people feel joy and get energy from the song. The story and concept is always to the listener as I always say but, be on your way, on your way home. You might be going through hard times but, you are on your way, you will get there.”
Come Saturday night Victor Crone will finally be there himself, in the limelight, and ready to front another Melodifestivalen song that’s going to take Sweden by storm.