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READER’S DIGEST How do you deal with the constant ups and downs in popularity? Is it part and parcel of a career in music to have dry spells before things sud- denly take off again? I’m not a surfer, but surfing is a good analogy. There’s a lot of paddling. And you ask yourself: “Will I be able to catch a wave? Does that look like one? By the time it gets here, is it still going to be one?” Right now, I am simply en- joying success, which feels very good. At the same time, I am very aware that this is nothing but a moment [in time]. Most of the songs on Tension II , your latest album, are about love, and part ying. How much of you is in them? You know, there’s defi- nitely a wink. What the songs are saying is, it’s playtime, time to have fun, time to do crazy things. So, all that is slipping into roles and getting to be anyone you want to be, if only for a song? Yeah, there’s some escapism and playing with characters that come to mind when I’m recording or per- forming. I’ll think about the visuals even if there isn’t going to be a video for the song in question. Might I ever make a video where I place myself in the delivery of this song? I ask myself how I could best stage myself and what I need to do so, for ‘Kiss Bang Bang’, I imagined a kind of comic – as if you were kissing a cut-out, graphic character and leaving lots of lipstick marks in the process. And what is it like on stage? Sometimes I have to remind myself that it’s playtime when my feet hurt, I am tired, it’s too cold, or too hot. [Chuckles.] But being on stage is like ‘Lights, Camera, Action’. When action is called, all the worries you have, all the doubt, you let them go and just do it. It’s like: ‘And we’re rolling – Action.’ As for that song called ‘Diamonds’, are you still clubbing a lot, or are you mostly staying at home these days? I definitely don’t go out as much as I used to. Those clubbing years were amazing, they stay with you. My experiences back then – in the 1990s – were im- portant and shaped me so much. That was before there were smartphones and social media. I felt it was just so liberating to go and truly lose myself and experience all the things that can happen in a club. So, yeah, honestly: today I go out a lot less, but at least I still like to sing about it. [Chuckles.] A song like ‘Someone For Me’ seems to hint that being a superstar can feel very lonely? Naturally I would like to be in a “RIGHT NOW, I AM SIMPLY ENJOYING SUCCESS, WHICH FEELS VERY GOOD” 6 June/July 2025