Scan Magazine
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Culture
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Columns
Fresh Scandipop sounds for a fresher Scandipop playlist Party-starting anthems and motivational music are the flavour of the month this August! By Karl Batterbee
FARLIGT is a hot new tune that’s just come bouncing out of Denmark courtesy of the increasingly popular Mille. Taken from her new EP VÆRD AT ELSKE, the song is an emotional outcry set to a ferociously fastpaced beat for maximum drama. It could well turn out to be this generation’s Kun For Mig by Medina! Dagny gets philosophical on us via her latest smash C’est La Vie, a song which also serves as the high point of the Norwegian superstar’s new Dancefloor Erotica album. Granted it’s difficult to go wrong with disco strings, but on C’est La Vie this pop queen swirls them to her advantage like she’s
been conducting them professionally since the ’70s. It’s a future Dagny classic that you must not sleep on. Fresh from giving Denmark its best result at the Eurovision Song Contest since the nation’s win over a decade ago, Søren Torpegaard Lund is now out with the muchanticipated follow up. Festen Stopper Aldrig is the appropriately titled saviour of parties across Denmark this summer, with a brilliant break-down before the final chorus that will really take you by surprise. Never has saying ‘NO’ sounded so satisfying! Yes Girl is a brand-new pop bop
from Norway’s NESTA. It’s the ultimate anthem of self-care, character growth and teaching yourself the underrated art of politely declining. Because sometimes the party actually does have to stop! www.scandipop.co.uk
Monthly Illustration
Scheduling
By Gabi Froden
Scheduling should be pretty straightforward. Let’s meet 25 July or 14 October. But no, Swedes have their own way of counting time. In weeks! Ask a Swede when school holidays begin and you’ll hear “week 23”. Need to schedule a meeting? Someone will suggest “week 39” without a second thought. To a Swede, this is perfectly normal. To almost everyone else, it sounds like you’ve accidentally misunderstood everything. By the time they’ve worked it out, the school holidays are over and the meeting has already moved on to week 44.
since most of the world doesn’t instinctively know what week 19 or week 35 corresponds to, the efficiency disappears the moment someone from anywhere outside of Sweden joins in the planning. Then, you’re not just translating the language, but a whole calendar year, one confused week at a time.
Outside Sweden, people generally think in dates or months. If someone says, “see you in early October,” everyone understands. It’s clear, it makes sense.
plan meet ups with friends on visits back home, they insist on talking in weeks and I pretend I know what dates they’re referring to, which leads to some extreme confusion when I show up on the wrong day, in the wrong month.
Having left Sweden, I’ve also left this odd way of counting behind. However, when I
If you live inside the system, it’s practical. It makes long-term planning efficient. But
82
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Issue 193
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August 2026
Gabi Froden is a Swedish illustrator and writer, living in Glasgow with her husband and two children. Her children’s and YA books are published in Sweden by Bonnier Carlsen and Natur&Kultur. www.gabifroden.com