KEIINO
Norwegian Pop Superstars

Beloved in Australia

Release Debut Album

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Norwegian Pop Superstars KEiiNO released their remarkable debut album OKTA on Friday 15th May.  With their mix of dance-pop, Nordic Folk and Sámi Joik enchanting a global audience at Eurovision 2019, Norwegian pop trio KEiiNO, won the global public vote with their now enduring hit ‘Spirit In The Sky’.

Their Norwegian Grammy nominated song about acceptance of minorities reached No. 1 in Norway and charted in multiple European countries.  But KEiiNO was far from a one-hit-wonder. After Eurovision, they would go on to release seven further singles, and tour extensively across Europe and Australia, including sold out shows in London, Melbourne and Sydney and playing the Madrid, Cologne and Stockholm Pride Festivals.

KEiiNO members Alexandra, Fred and Tom come from different parts of Norway and have very different backgrounds. But they share a common core message: ‘Unity in Diversity’, and the message is deeply rooted in the lyrics they pen together with Tom Hugo’s husband Alexander Olsson.  OKTA is diverse in many ways, with talent from 15 nations contributing to the album that was recorded from the far north of Alta in Norway to Adelaide in Australia.

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KEiiNO brought attention to the indigenous Sami culture during ESC 2019, and was appointed ambassadors of UN’s year of Indigenous languages immediately after. Inspired by this, they started their next project; recording music alongside indigenous artists from around the world.

To contribute in the preserving of ancient vocal traditions, they wanted to include these languages in modern pop songs aimed for a young, streaming audience. OKTA includes four such collaborations, together with First Nations Australian ARIA-award winners Electric Fields, Maori Haka-band Te Hau Tawhiti (Australia/ NZ) Native American rapper Dresuz and Inuk throat-singer Charlotte Qamainq (Canada).

45 million Spotify streams later, KEiiNO proudly remain an unsigned act with Tom, Fred and Alexandra independently operating the whole operation from songwriting to recording to marketing with the support of like-minded friends and family around the world, enabling KEiiNO to follow their hearts and keep on releasing music when major labels would have already shifted focus on the next Eurovision artists.

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Tom Hugo says, “Not to be able to travel for interviews or promo-concerts is far from ideal, and I understand why a lot of artists just put their releases on hold because of COVID-19. But we feel a certain responsibility to try to make these challenging times easier for our fans, so we decided to release OKTA on May 15. There will definitely be other chances to perform the new songs live. And, due to the cancellation of Eurovision 2020, we are still the reigning ESC televote-winners, so we felt an obligation to continue to fly the flag for the wonderful Eurovision family around the world.”

And Australia?

“We’d very much like to return to Australia, and it is on top of our wish-list for the “post-Covid19-age’, says Tom Hugo. The feedback from the audiences in all the cities was unbelievable, and we definitely hope to be able to perform together with our friends and collaborators Electric Fields and Te Hau Tahiti, for our Australian audience.”

For the former pre-school teacher, nursing student and Kpop-writer, their debut album OKTA is just another milestone on their journey together, that has a long time yet to run.

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AMNPLIFY – DB