Browsing Collection are a Swedish alternative rock band, who have been active since 2008. The band consists of Mimi Brander and Moa Lenngren, who are the vocalists and guitarists, Nora Lenngren, the bassist and vocalist, and Carro Karlsson, the drummer.

In 2019, the band won the Music Prize Of The Future and in the same year, they also finished in 2nd place in the final of P4 Nästa. They released several singles and EPs already and all of their work is self-written. In 2020, they released the album “Cyber Space Buffet” with songs like “Break Closed-Minded Bars“, “Sugar Slave” or “Till I Do No More”

This year, Browsing Collection will participate at Melodifestivalen with the song “Face In The Crowd“! They are competing at the second semi-final on February 12th, live in Stockholm. We got the chance to interview them ahead of their performance at Melodifestivalen!

Hello Browsing Collection! Thank you for taking the time to talk to us, we are really glad to have you!
First of all, would you like to tell us a little bit more about who you are?
We are a new thinking and colourful hard rock band from Sweden, founded in 2008, consisting of four young girls who just love to play music. We met in school when we were like 12 years old, and out of nowhere we just knew that we were about to start a rock band. Ever since that we’ve struggled and fought hard to be where we are today. We always give 110% on stage and never leave a gig without a sore throat or an aching neck. Our passion and exploding energy is what drives us forward and after releasing a bunch of albums, produced by ourselves, and touring all over Europe and South Korea there is no way of stopping us. We also work with summer camps to inspire young musicians to start bands along with doing workshops for a more equal music industry.

Speaking of who you are: Where does your band name come from?
Our band name actually comes from one of those old video games where you play along to a song on a plastic guitar, but in this one you play guitar with the computer keyboard. Instead of “loading” it said “browsing collection”. We thought it was cool and made it our band name. We also took inspiration from (well, we stole) the game’s graphics, which had lots of cassette tapes to choose songs from, and made it our very first logo, which basically was a bunch of cassette tapes in different colours, haha. 

While researching, I have seen your music described as Punk, Metal or Hard Rock. What genre would you describe yourself as?
We don’t even know what to call our own music, because we haven’t been actively wanting to play just one specific genre. But as the years have gone by I guess we could call it “alternative rock”. Because that’s the closest we get without mentioning all the influences. Although, we’ve actually also been leaning towards even more genres lately, such as blues, country and rap. We love mixing all the genres! Why stick to one when you can use the best parts from all of them, right?

 And what kind of genre can we expect for Melodifestivalen?
Definitely more kind of pop-rock vibes. The song is incredibly catchy and still has some small parts with hints of more metal guitars. Overall it’s a song with attitude and lots of energy, just the way we like it! 

 This is going to be your first participation at Melodifestivalen! What made you enter the competition?
We have, to be honest, been a bit sceptical about taking part in Melodifestivalen before, because we’ve heard from earlier participants that play in the rock genre that they haven’t been welcome on the rock stage after performing there. Unfortunately some get like a stamp with “Mello” if you are a rock band, and we weren’t sure if it was worth the risk. Also, the previous years when we got the question, we didn’t get the option of writing our own song. This year though, we got to do that, and it just felt right. We also thought about the “not being able to play rock shows again thing” and figured, if we want a change we need to be the ones that make it happen. We can’t just sit and watch. 

Melodifestivalen is an amazing opportunity to reach a new crowd and we also really like to try out new things. We would like to seize this moment to show the world that music is for everyone, no matter what kind of genre you like. The event should be more like a festival where there is something for everyone to enjoy, like a buffet of styles. And then it also happens to be a competition, but we see it more like a great way to share our music and to show who we are. 

 ‘Face In The Crowd’ was also written by you – Do you write all of your music yourselves?
Yes, we’ve always written our own music, ever since we were just kids. This is actually the very first song collaboration we’ve ever done with Browsing Collection. The process was really fun and we would love to do it more after this.

 Can you tell us a little bit more about your song ‘Face In The Crowd’?
The song is about all the people who never believed in us and who criticised us for doing our thing. We constantly get challenged and questioned whether we can play our instrument ourselves or not, whether we are too good looking or not hot enough, if we even like hard rock music, etc. etc. People tend to reject us BEFORE they have even heard us, but then after the show they always come crawling saying “Oh, you were actually really really good”. So, this song is about us doing what we love, and those who always start with prejudice but end up standing in the crowd digging our songs.

 Do you already have plans on what your performance is going to look like?
Yeah, after our first online meeting with the creative team we made a wish list: PYROTECHNICS! But then we’ve also talked about the stage and the lights, but those we’ll keep a secret until you’ll see it for yourself 😉 It’s gonna be a blast!

 Besides Melodifestivalen, do you have any other projects planned for 2022?
It’s been a long time since we could play, or do anything at all, due to Covid… So unfortunately almost all of our plans are cancelled for 2022. But we hope that everyone that can will take the vaccine so we can continue doing what we love – playing music around the world! 

This summer we still have a few bookings left though, for example Sweden Rock Festival, which has been postponed for a few years now. We really have our fingers crossed that it will become reality this year! Besides that, who knows, maybe we will write some more music! It would be awesome.

Is there a personal goal you would like to achieve for Melodifestivalen?
Besides getting the opportunity to reach a wider crowd and hopefully getting more people to listen to our music, we truly hope to begin making a change. With our participacion we hope to raise awareness that anyone is free to play or listen to any music, regardless of your looks, gender, sex, age or whatever. Hard rock has lots of stereotypes that we want to crush. One small step at a time.

Another personal goal is not to puke on the stage because of nervousness, haha. We also have a history of bad balance and falling after headbanging too much. Let’s avoid that too.

And finally, what would it mean to you, to represent Sweden at the Eurovision Song Contest 2022 in Turin?
There are no words for how amazing that would be! I don’t think we’ve even dared to think about it. It would be such a huge honour to get the votes and trust from the Swedes and to represent our country’s music’s future and history at the same time. Beyond imagination.

 Once again, a big thank you for answering our questions. I cannot wait to see you rock the stage in Stockholm on February 12th. In the name of the entire ESCBubble Team, let me wish you the best of luck for Melodifestivalen and all your future projects! Lycka till!

In case you want to find out more about Browsing Collection, you can check out their Facebook and Instagram accounts, as well as their official homepage and of course their YouTube channel. If you are in the mood for a concert with great music and 110% energy on stage, you can even watch their full show at the Sweden Rock Festival 2015 below: