With over 20 million streams to her credit already and 7 Top 15 New Music Friday placements on Spotify, Lilla Vargen is Ireland’s fastest rising new artist. Having recently released her current song ‘Cold’, which has over quarter million streams already, Lilla continues what looks set to be a breakthrough year by sharing the track’s official video.
The ‘Cold’ video depicts a young woman trapped in a controlling and abusive relationship, struggling with the conflicting emotions that come with this situation. The award-winning Irish director Locky has crafted a powerful and intimate interpretation of Lilla’s lyrics, which features a revealing yet vulnerable performance from Jordanne Jones. The young actress was chosen by Screen Daily as one of their Stars of Tomorrow 2019. She has starred in the films ‘Metal Heart’ and ‘I Used To Live Here’ and will feature in the upcoming American TV series ‘The Angel of Darkness’.
“I wanted the video for ‘Cold’ to tell the story of abuse in relationships. This is a story that thousands of women are living every day. I’ve had similar experiences and wished that I could have looked at that relationship more objectively. Even if things look okay on the surface, it doesn’t mean they are” says Lilla.
“As soon as I heard the track I knew I wanted to focus on the minutiae of an abusive relationship. I wanted this to be an exploration of a toxic relationship; an introspective where we clearly see one person in a dominant and controlling role over the other. Jordanne and Ben really carry us through this story beautifully. There’s an interesting dynamic between their characters… I wanted to do this without every showing any of the actual abuse. Abuse comes in all shapes and sizes” adds Locky.
Hailing from Ballymena, Lilla Vargen left for London to follow her calling in music. She writes songs rich with emotion and empathy, a quality that builds a connection with a following that suffered or survived the issues that she explores. Full of poise and passion yet never overstated, her vocal illuminates the heart of those stories.
With a big year ahead of her and rising international streaming stats, Lilla is already making quite the impression. Early tracks such as ‘Why Wait’,Solitary, and ‘Downtown’ have accumulated millions of streams, while a major European tour as guest to Dermot Kennedy included two huge Dublin shows at the 3Arena plus two nights at London’s Eventim Apollo.
Her headline dates are:
APRIL
14th – Brighton, Komedia
15th – London, Omeara
17th – Edinburgh, The Mash House
19th – Dublin, The Grand Social (upgraded venue)
Tickets are available from https://www.lillavargen.co.uk/tour.
For anyone that needs more information about domestic abuse please visit https://www.womensaid.org.uk/