Do we like Tove Lo?
Our score: 9 out of 10. Years of open support for queer and trans people and a clean record, with only a thin trail of charity work to mark her down.
Tove Lo is the stage name of Swedish singer-songwriter Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson. She started out in a band before turning to pop and writing songs for other artists, and then broke through as a solo act with a raw, unfiltered take on sex, heartbreak and mess. Her whole brand is saying the quiet part out loud.
On the harm test, there's not much to find, which is the good news. She has said in her own words that “Trans rights are human rights”, and called it “really painful” to see ignorance continue to harm the trans community. She has also said she hopes trans youth can grow up somewhere safer and more accepting.
She's been like this for a while. In 2017 she told Time Out that Trump's and Pence's way of speaking about women amazed her, and she called Trump's rhetoric toward Muslims “really fucking dangerous”. She said speaking out might make people “react and think”. We found no sign of her pushing conspiracy theories, anti-vax claims or culture-war grievance, and the searches turned up nothing on her work with anyone dodgy.
For queer fans she's been something close to an ally-slash-family member. She headlined NYC Pride and LA Pride in 2018, and she's called it her proudest moment as a member of the LGBTQ+ community. Her 2017 advice to fans was “Be you, don't be ashamed and don't apologize.” Gay Times gave her its International Excellence in Music honour in 2022.
On the good-person side, the record is quiet in a good way: our searches found no lawsuits, convictions or credible allegations against her. In 2020 she raised money for the MusiCares charity, which helps music workers hit by the pandemic, first with merch bundles and then a collection of upcycled tour merch with all proceeds going to the charity. That's a real kindness, but it's a small trail, and we couldn't find much on how she treats crew and staff.
The recent news is a creative one. Estrus is her first album on her own label, and she told TV4 she has stopped running from hard feelings and is more willing to own her past destructive behaviour. She describes the record as “sexy, twisted, dark and full of contradictions”. She also says she'll keep singing about sex as an adult woman, even with some backlash to women's sexuality.