Jessica Pilnas - Bitter and Sweet (2011)

Her voice is soulful, luminous and warm, yet reserved and capable of the finest nuances – as heard on Swedish singer Jessica Pilnäs’ new album “Bitter And Sweet”. The seemingly endless pool of fine Scandinavian singers naturally comes to mind but this time the comparison is not quite so simple. Some career paths aren’t so straightforward, even in Sweden, and Jessica Pilnäs is such a case.
The 31-year-old grew up with music, and has been singing all her life: her father played the keyboard in Sweden’s favourite pop group, the “Sven-Ingvars”. In 1995, when Pilnäs was only 16-years-old, she ended up in the pre-selection of the Eurovision Song Contest, one of her country’s most popular television shows. She came third and was immediately offered a record contract. But Jessica had other things in mind at the time, aside from a career as a pop starlet: “I was so young and had just started college which I wanted to finish properly.” So instead of signing the record deal she concentrated on her studies, went to school and then to the renowned Fridhem Jazz School at which many of Sweden’s modern jazz greats also studied.
With a sound education, 20-year-old Pilnäs then became a member of the internationally successful R&B band “Robyn”. Once again she caught the attention of the pop producers and this time she couldn’t resist the temptation. She recorded the album “Pretender” under the pseudonym “Isa” - her label, Sony, had given her the name because “there were too many Jessica’s around at the time,” she explains. The album sold particularly well in Japan but Pilnäs soon realised that being told what to do by others, geared towards promotions and singing on playback was far removed from doing what she really wanted to. “That wasn’t me. I no longer felt comfortable dancing around like other pop singers in music videos. I was so disappointed with the music industry and tired of all the pressure which killed off the fun.” She quit the music business and put her back-up plan into action which was to complete her medical studies at Sweden’s most renowned university – the Nobel Prize institution, the Karolinska Institute.