Margrete questions the ethics of society’s obsession with true crime on “Voyeur”

Norwegian artist Margrete couldn’t have predicted the backlash against the Netflix true-crime series Dahmer when she set the date for her newest track "Voyeur", but her timing couldn’t have been better.

Inspired by people’s reactions to a real-life event that occurred close to her hometown in Norway, the song digs into the questionable ethics of our culture’s thirst for consuming other people’s trauma. “When I listen to it, I imagine someone driving through a desert-like landscape while fantasising about making a fancy drink with a grieving person’s tears,” she says, perfectly nailing how empathy so easily falls by the wayside in the rush to get the grisly details.

Her subject matter may be serious but there’s a playfulness to Margrete’s songwriting and self-production. “I just want a little map of your sorrow / I just want a little taste of your tragedy,” she sings over skittering beats, swooning pedal steel and piano notes that hang unresolved in the air. Then comes the sting in the tail: “I would like it on my desk by tomorrow / consider it charity.”

Mixing synth-pop production with live instrumentation, "Voyeur" continues the forward momentum that Margrete has been building since her 2017 debut single, "Teen". When Best Fit spoke to her in 2018, she had recently started studying for a bachelor’s degree in improvised music and jazz at the Norwegian Academy of Music in Oslo. Now graduated and supported by Talent Norway’s ArtEx mentorship programme, Margrete is ready to make a bigger mark.