Swedish pop icon Agnes is back, and she’s not just bringing new music, she’s delivering an entire surrealist fantasy.
The beloved artist behind global dance anthem “Release Me” just dropped the highly anticipated video for “Balenciaga Covered Eyes,” the lead single off her forthcoming album. The song, released in late May, has already made waves with its sleek house beats, emotionally rich lyrics, and yes, a title that name-drops high fashion while diving deep into the soul.
A Runway Into the Psyche
Directed by Fredrik Hvass of Swim Club, the video is a visual fever dream. Set against a surreal catwalk, Agnes performs in a dimension that feels both icy and intimate. Every detail is deliberate: symmetrical staging, clinical lighting, and Agnes embodying tension with the poise of someone who knows exactly what she’s doing, even when unraveling.
“We wanted to highlight the contradictions inside us,” Agnes says. “The beauty, the madness, the control, and the letting go. It’s about identity, sexuality, the gaze we direct at others—and at ourselves.”
In true Agnes fashion, there’s a layer of chic weirdness running through the whole thing. “I always want to break up the beauty with some kind of weirdness or madness to make it interesting,” she adds.
New Album, New Dimensions
While her last album, Magic Still Exists, swept Swedish Grammys and earned international acclaim from Pitchfork, The Guardian, and Billboard, Agnes’s next record takes an even bolder step: inward.
“It all started with an image in my mind,” she explains. “Someone in chaos, glamour, parties, and mess, looking confident, but hiding something behind those ‘Balenciaga covered eyes.’”
The album embraces contradiction: confidence and fragility, hubris and humility, chaos and calm. Where Magic Still Exists was spiritual and cinematic, this one is stripped-back and raw. Lyrics lead the way. Feelings aren’t just hinted at, they’re placed under the spotlight and invited to stay awhile.
An All-Star Swedish Team
To shape this era, Agnes surrounded herself with a team of Sweden’s most acclaimed musical minds: Kerstin Ljungström, Vincent Pontare, Salem Al Fakir, Magnus Lidehäll, and Hanna Wilson. She also brought in house producer Frans Bryngel, whose credits include work with Lady Gaga, Sia, The Weeknd, and Swedish House Mafia.
“We wanted to preserve the nerve of the original songs,” Agnes says. “Everything had to feel alive and a bit undone, like it could burst open at any moment.”
Layers of Influence and the Chant of “MILK”
Drawing inspiration from the raw power of artist Mark Rothko and the avant-pop brilliance of Róisín Murphy, Agnes’s latest project is full of surprises. Take “MILK,” a confident, chant-heavy bop built from a single line that spirals into self-made empowerment.
“I turn milk into butter and butter into money,” she declares. “And with the money, honey, I create the life that I like.”
It’s cheeky, it’s affirming, and it’s pure Agnes—balancing glam with grit.
Always Evolving, Always Herself
From her explosive debut at 16 to her evolution into a sophisticated pop auteur, Agnes has never stopped reinventing herself. With nearly half a billion streams and a voice that moves between silky restraint and bold proclamation, her two-decade career continues to evolve—with a beating heart at its center.
“That naive joy I felt at the beginning of my career, just being able to sing, is still everything to me,” she says. “Being in the creative process, that’s where I belong. That’s where it never ends.”
Agnes’s upcoming album doesn’t have an official release date yet, but if “Balenciaga Covered Eyes” is any indication, expect something deeply personal, artfully chaotic, and exquisitely Swedish.
