Jakob Hellman - Antligen Borta (2021)

One record was all it took for Jakob Hellman to be seen as the best pop
singer of the 80's and 90's; it was all it took to create the norm by which
every pop singer, singing in Swedish, had to be judged, and it was all he
released. After playing with some obscure bands in Falun, Hellman released
"Och Det Stora Havet" in 1989, which included the big hit "Bara Vara
Vanner". The album won him a Swedish Grammy award as Best Male Rock artist
and a place in the pop history. The album was followed by a tour, and that
was followed by nothing, or very close to nothing.

Because even though Hellman appeared on one track of Svenska Hjartan by the
folk-rock band Perssons Pack and on two tribute albums, he did not record
any new material and did not tour. And this, of course, was the source of a
lot of rumors about the reason for his absence, blaming it on a nervous
breakdown, drug use, or just disappointment with the pop star life. And
meanwhile, the critics and the record companies started looking for the new
Jakob Hellman, making the actual Hellman more and more mythic.

In the late 90's, "Och Det Stora Havet" was elected the Best Swedish Album
of all times, by a jury of critics and musicians. And still, young male
artists with personal lyrics, like Hakan Hellstr and Love Olzon, had to
be compared to him at their debuts, none of them having much to do with
Hellman or each other. What gave him this mythic position naturally was not
only his sudden disappearance, but also very gifted lyrics, catchy melodies
and his cautious, vulnerable appearance, which seemed inseparable from the
songs.

But not only looking for the new Hellman, the critics also hoped for
Hellman's return. And the day before Christmas 1998, it actually happened,
when he, together with the temporary constellation Sk蚣ingarna, played at a
party in Stockholm. The next year saw Hellman touring under his own name,
playing covers and songs from his now ten-year-old album. This was the
first time he had been on the road since the debut, but no new album
followed on his return. So in 2001, he was still the biggest one-hit wonder
(though he actually had more than one hit) of the Swedish pop history.

32 years after his 1989 debut, Hellman now returns in 2021 with his
sophomore album "Antligen Borta".