Swedish pop singer Tove Lo's sleeper hit Habits (Stay High) illustrates the best and worst ways to get over an emotional breakup.
The best way is to distill all that anger, loneliness and heartache into a multi-platinum, chart-topping single to headline your debut album and launch your career as an international recording artist, as Tove (pronounced toh-veh) Lo has done.
Habits was released in Sweden in March 2013 and North America in 2014, and has crept its way up the chart to become the highest-charting song by a Swedish artist since Ace of Base's The Sign in 1994. The song has drawn well-deserved attention to Tove Lo's debut album, Queen of the Clouds, released in September.
But the 27-year-old singer, born Ebba Tove Elsa Nilsson, has said in interviews that much of the song is based on her personal experience.
The worst way (okay, after murder-suicide) to get over a bad breakup is to follow the song's lyrics and drown your sorrow in alcohol, drugs, partying and meaningless casual sex.
The realistic and unglamorous portrayal of the party life in Habits is in sharp contrast to most contemporary pop and rap songs, which glorify hedonistic excess while ignoring the physical and emotional consequences.
For that alone, Habits is worth a listen. But it is also an oddly-catchy little song that will get stuck in your head.
Watch the video online here: http://youtu.be/oh2LWWORoiM.
