HELH bubbles up on "Fluid"

A track dedicated to the melting of winter into spring and a whole lot more, "Fluid" is pop music carbonated, bubbly and zingy with a healthy dose of influence from the PC Music family. Lyrically, HELH has always been an out-loud thinker, someone who uses their music as a place to toss their questions around, and "Fluid" is a track that sticks to that style.



"Isn't it embarrassing to exist?", they ask, and wrap it up in bouncing synths to make a peppy, springy sugar-pop song. Check out HELH's thoughts on the song below.

BEST FIT: Hey HELH! Tell us about "Fluid".

HELH: "With pleasure! In brief, I’d say it is a song about spring."

What drew you to the song’s topics: flux and change, emotional uncertainly, the transition from winter to spring etc?

"I wrote 'Fluid' almost exactly one year ago, after not having written much through winter and fall, so I think it came out as a meditation on everything I had been thinking and feeling during that time. I sort of like it when life is not very eventful, and for years I had tried to make sure no dramatic emotions would hit me, staying away from romantic relationships, making very safe choices — for my feelings, not my future, mind — about what to study next semester, and so on. And then I didn’t. Because although it’s comfortable, it doesn’t make sense to never change. Last spring felt very much like spring. Spring is waking up, softening, daring. I thought about the feeling of showing who you are to someone new. It’s awkward, and sometimes even boring, since I feel having conversations is interesting when you have insight to the nuances of the other person, and before the nuances it is difficult to get beyond the mere performance of identity. The awkwardness is trying to make the multifaceted, contradictory people we are into something we can present easily. In the chorus I wonder if not having to define anything, just being and experiencing, would make it more simple. But then again, maybe life should be a bit embarrassing."

Tell us about the writing process. This is one of the first songs you produced yourself right?

"Yes! I still haven’t dared to let [producer and artist] Linnéa go completely. She produced my previous songs, but the co-production was quite minimal and just at the very end of the process, so it still feels like I’ve made a song from start to finish. Usually I start with the lyrics, but since I wanted to focus on production I think I began with the beats, then I manipulated some water and bubble sounds for fun and incorporated them into the beats. Then the synths, and then I started to write the lyrics. I feel like I’m normally not very… music-oriented when I write, because I’m more focused on what I want to say and how to phrase it than how I want it to sound. This feels like a more proper way of doing it, haha, even though I haven’t been able to repeat it yet."

It’s your most up-tempo and bubbly song to date. Did you want to go for a different style on this one?

"Oh, I haven’t thought that much about how it differs from the other singles. In part, I think the change of style is due to me being the main producer and not having a lot of experience. When Linnéa isn’t as involved, the sounds and genres become more random. I definitely have stranger songs, though. I am always a sucker for ambiguousness and conflicting themes in songs, but yes, I think I wanted this one to be a bit less complicated and more straightforwardly happy."

This is your third single, what’s up next in your plans?

"It feels like three is the maximum amount before having to release something bigger, no? Right now I am just hoping that I will be hard-working enough to finish my bachelor’s thesis in theoretical philosophy, but after that, I have no clue what I will do. I would love to put together an EP, and I think I am slowly getting there. I’m hoping to play some shows this summer as well! See you on the roof terraces and outdoor clubs? Winter is gone!"