Elina Comes Face-to-Face with Her Reflections on ‘Remember’

“It starts in this sort of abyss then slowly moves towards a place of acceptance,” says Elina.

In piecing together her new EP Remember, the Swedish singer and songwriter first needed to face several things that were holding her back—heartbreak, confronting some memories that leaves one paralyzed, and ultimately change.

“There’s almost this gratitude towards the lessons you’ve learned along the way and to how much you’ve found within yourself,” Elina tells American Songwriter. “It’s very much how I experience love when I’m moving on from it. The great thing you learn is that you will be happy again. Both you and this other person, which is the core message of the whole thing.”

Following up her 2019 debut In Hindsight, Remember is a collection of tender moving reflections on a broken heart, struggles with nostalgia, a sense of mental and emotional stagnation, and finding the lessons learned. 

From the start, Elina meditates on How is this supposed to feel, because I don’t feel a thing on “How,” opening the floodgates of her deeper emotions on Remember. Delivering stories of desperation and clouded thoughts, everything is lighted with a glimmer of hope through eloquent instrumentals and moving lyrics.

All through Remember, Elina turns a page on her life, dissecting different elements, track by track. Singing Sometimes I wish someone would find me and break me out of here on “Free,” Elina touches on why its hard to break free from a toxic situation. “Another Round” faces loneliness and unravels the dual ache of missing someone and the acceptance of letting go on “Paper Planes” and “Blue.” The delicate close of “Remember” finds Elina exploring mental health—and searching for the right words to bring hope into the lives of the ones we love—and reveals other fragments in its meaning.

“It’s also about wanting the best for someone you’re walking away from,” Elina shares. “Lately, I’ve seen people close to me making the difficult decision to go separate ways after so many years together but still being completely selfless and wishing all the love and happiness in the world for one another. I’ve been very touched by it.”

Initially, Remember started piecing together after Elina wrote “Paper Planes,” one of the most personal songs she says she has ever released, tying everything together. 

“Every song on the EP has been very meaningful in one way or another, but that song sort of pushed the whole project in a direction that felt most honest for me,” says Elina. “I’ve had a lot to process personally during this period and I’ve grown a little bit more accepting of the fact that change is inevitable in life. A place that once made you happy maybe isn’t the right place for you anymore.”

In threading together the EP, Elina wrote the tracklist down on a piece of paper then chose a word that she thought described each song best.

“Even though they [the songs] tell a story on their own, it made sense for me for them to represent different stages on a journey of moving on from something,” says Elina.

Through Remember, Elina says she also found peace with calling herself an artist after writing for other artists artists, including Astrid S, Zara Larsson, NEIKED, for so long. “It was a struggle for me in the beginning, and I had a hard time identifying myself with it,” she says. “It was a big step. Being in the spotlight instead of behind the scenes, as a songwriter for other people, was very uncomfortable for me for a long time. It’s been healing in many ways.”

She admits that aside from writing and releasing music, she still has a long way to go in finding her way and embraces the musical, and life, journey. On Remember, Elina has caught all the hangups, doubts, and past experiences and released them into a new chapter.

“To me, one of the most life-changing things I’ll probably learn, and I’m still learning, is to let go of things—of people, of places,” says Elina. “I believe it’s extremely common to stay in places where we don’t feel happy, loved, or whole, because we fear change. I’ve done it. I still do. I work with overcoming this fear every day and being true to myself.”

She adds, “It’s scary, but I think it’s so important to encourage one another to help each other pursue happiness. I’ve also realized that the fear of the fall is often so much worse than the actual fall if that makes sense. I hope that these songs can spark some kind of hope for people that things will be alright.” 

Elina shared a track-by-track reflections on each song, their meaning, and how it all came together on Remember:

“How“

While making this EP, I stumbled upon a voice note of “How” from almost a year ago. We went into the studio and started playing around with ideas for it. It was played on piano originally, and we tried a bunch of stuff for it before ending up with the stripped guitar version it is now. I remember trying to describe the feeling of hollowness after breaking up with someone you love, thinking you’ll never get to a point where you can feel as close to someone again as you did before. You think of the endless work, the conversations, the tears it took to feel safe and now you’re standing in front of someone else who doesn’t know a thing about you, your dreams, what makes you laugh and what makes you feel loved. The song kind of describes the doubts of ever being able to be truly happy again.

“Free”

I loved writing this song, it’s one of my favourites on the EP. It was the first song I released after In Hindsight and it allowed me to break new ground musically. We wrote it about the search for happiness and how you’re often too busy looking for it in all places but right in front of you. I believe it’s a very common challenge for a lot of people – to cherish the present moment and everything we’ve been given. As part of the concept for the EP, which is about letting go and moving on, “Free” is very much about the stage where you doubt your decision of going separate ways with someone, and you blame yourself for letting someone you cared a lot about slip away.

“Another Round”

I rewrote this one so many times before we ended up with the version it is today. I’m very good at romanticising the past and it’s basically what this song is about to me. You go through so many stages when you’re moving on from something that has meant a lot to you, and one of them is obviously wanting everything to go back to normal. Personally I’ve found it very easy to persuade myself into staying in a place where, deep down, I’m not happy, only because it’s comfortable and familiar. It’s simply more painful to face change. And sometimes you just miss someone. You feel alone, and you make that hasty phone call. It’s important for me that people allow themselves to interpret the lyrics in their own way. These songs mean a lot to me on a personal level and I hope they can to others too, regardless of what their journey may be.

“Paper Planes”

“Paper Planes” is my own little declaration of love for two people I love with all my heart, who decided to walk their separate ways some time ago. I couldn’t admire them more for their selflessness, strength and how they always wanted the best for each other even if it meant they weren’t going to stay together. True love also means letting each other go, if that’s the right thing to do.

“Blue”

Acceptance is something that’s been very central for me during the writing of the EP. A lot has been going on in my personal life this past year that I’ve just had to start accepting. There’s a certain calmness in acceptance, which I’ve started to understand and appreciate. I’m good at being upset and resisting change, like it’s something I can always do something about, which I can’t. Instead I’ve tried to accept that everything’s transient and make peace with that. As a result, it somehow becomes a bit easier to still cherish the things you’ve let go of and to embrace change. “Blue” is about just that. Even though something’s not a part of my life anymore, it’s still a part of who I am and I can learn to appreciate what it has taught me and how it has shaped me.

“Remember”

This is the last song on the EP and it’s probably the one most meaningful to me. It’s about the powerlessness in seeing someone you love hurt. Since I started releasing music I’ve been wanting to shed light on mental health issues. I’ve tried to encourage the conversation about it on my social media and through my music since the beginning. It’s something I want to continue acknowledging, write and talk about. I wrote this song to a very special person in my life as a way of saying “whatever happens, wherever life takes you, you are always worthy of love and happiness.” I truly believe that self-worth is where the relationship to ourselves begins and how important and life-changing those words can be to someone. The meaning of the song also sort of transits into becoming the framework for the whole EP—wishing someone you love happiness, in times of change.