Cover Photo:
Anna Maggý.

Icelandic singer and songwriter Kristin Sesselja has finally released her sophomore EP, titled Breakup Blues.

Written by Kristin Sesselja herself, the record is more mature and personal than anything she’s released so far — it explores finding happiness through all the sadness and heartbreak in your life.

“I’ve been ready for everyone to hear it for a long time,” Kristin says, admitting that she’s extremely proud of the way her EP turned out to be. She’s been working on Breakup Blues since last year and she’s excited to share it with everybody.

Although the EP is very personal, Sesselja doesn’t shy away from being vulnerable and uses lyrics to open up to her audience. “I honestly find it quite fun,” she tells me.

The singer then continues by saying that writing the EP was a “really cathartic” experience for her. She also reveals that there’s been lots of speculation about her songs from people at her old school, and she loves it.

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Releasing an EP mostly about heartbreak feels a bit strange when I’m very much the opposite of heartbroken. When I wrote this album all I wanted was for the world to hear what I was thinking and feeling exactly in those moments. I wrote most of the songs during a 2 month period almost exactly one year ago which was the most cathartic experience of my life. We could’ve made about 10 Breakup Blues albums just from the songs I wrote in that period. I would write a song and immediately post it on my instagram story, maybe to feel a little less alone or just to get some sort of validation that I was at least doing something productive with all of the hurt. I could not have made this EP without @baldvinhlynsson It was amazing to me to be able to send him songs I wrote and recieve a version of them, exactly how they were intended to sound, without really having to communicate it. He produced most of the record on his kitchen table with a guitar someone left at a party which I think shows in the feeling of the music. He made the productions feel intimate and personal which really made the songs come together. Thanks to the musicians that played on this EP, @bergur8 for drums on Earthquake 😎 and @asta.music @sverrirarnors & @ragnheiduringunn for strings on Eyes Open 🤩 Thank you to @skrambul for making a BEAUTIFUL spotify video for Earthquake Also thanks to my sisters, @katrinsunnevae for helping me film videos for the release and @snaedismall for creating the artworks of my dreams and using up soo much of her time and effort to do it 🥰 Thanks to my mom and dad, mom for telling me to go to LungA which is where I met Baldvin and dad for encouraging me to go the unpaved road and do music. Thank you to my friends for always supporting me and sharing my music and finally thank you all for listening 🥰 This might be the longest instagram caption ever, thanks for reading, thanks for listening ❤️ now you can go stream Breakup Blues, out everywhere 🥺

A post shared by Kristin Sesselja (@kristinsesselja) on Oct 23, 2020 at 5:34am PDT

“My vocals and writing skills have improved a lot in the last three years,” Kristin Sesselja tells me, comparing Breakup Blues to her debut EP Freckles, released back in 2017.

According to the singer, she hadn’t gone through heartbreak up until before she started working on new songs last year, which makes Breakup Blues feel honest and impactful. In fact, that’s what Sesselja’s lyricism is supposed to do — leave an impact and inspire.

“In order to get over something you need to go through the journey — appreciate the people around you, try to focus on finding happiness again,” Kristin Sesselja says. “But you can’t just ignore your feelings, you have to go through them.”

Breakup Blues is a beautifully crafted story of self-acceptance and healing. Each track — out of the six in total — portrays a different approach to getting over someone.

BREAKUP BLUES IS OUT NOW.