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Not all Swedish belles fit the mold set by blonde bombshell Anita Ekberg. Take AnnaMelina, the head-turning 22-year-old artist who releases her third EP, Katarsis, today, for example. Without question she’s a raving beauty, and a natural one who marches to the beat of her own drummer. Critics have described her atmospheric, Auto-Tuned sound alternatively as dream pop, R&B, and electronica, but the singer is wary of being pigeonholed: “I don’t know if I would try to explain it,” she says. “It’s my sound.” And, at least for now, that sound is communicated in Swedish, though her theme, love—“but not so much about a love story between two people,” she explains, “more like how it can be complicated and how it can be the best way to feel”—is universal. Molds, musical or otherwise, don’t fit AnnaMelina, who says on the phone from Stockholm that Katarsis “is about being free and how to get there in different ways.”
It’s a philosophy AnnaMelina extends to the rest of her career: Though she has posed for Swedish brands Eytys and Minimarket, the country-loving songstress, who has been singing and playing piano and guitar since childhood, is resistant to the idea of modeling for a living. “I did that a little bit when I was younger, but I don’t feel that it suited me. [I like] expressing myself in art more,” she says. “It wasn’t good for my connection to my own beauty. I think when I feel most beautiful is when I don’t really think about the way I look so much, which is something that I’ve figured out now, later on, when I’ve gotten older. It’s not like I have to think about it less, but to just accept the way you look and not trying to change it that much. When I’m happy from the inside, I feel happy on the outside and, like, beautiful—it doesn’t really matter if I gain or lose weight or if I get a pimple or not get a pimple. I think it doesn’t matter, actually.”
Clothing, however, does matter to AnnaMelina, who admits that it “takes up a lot of time in my life.” Asked to define her style, she says: “In Sweden we have a word called skogsmulle, which means like forest troll. I like down-to-earth colors; also, I think I am a bit punk in my style.” She likes her beauty products natural as well. The singer, who has curly hair she likes to dye (“I think it’s a nice way to have fun with your appearance,” she says), uses non-toxic products like John Masters Organics or Mastey Frehair Daily Conditioner as conditioner. She also repurposes Dr. Organic Moroccan Argan Oil Body Wash or Bipha Ayurveda Coconut Hair Wash as shampoo.
And what about the rest of AnnaMelina’s beauty routine? “I am really bad at these kind of things,” says the singer. “I just started about a year ago. I said, ‘Okay, I’m going to start moisturizing my face because it’s so dry.’ I’ve actually gotten better at feeling that it’s fun to take care of yourself. I also moved in with my sister and she’s really into makeup and products, and so I’ve gotten inspired by her.” Her go-to tools are a sisal brush for smooth skin and a soft honeycomb sea sponge for face washing.
AnnaMelina is also drawn to products with a scent: On her face, she uses a cream she bought on a visit to India, Bipha Ayurveda Sandalwood Cream. “I think I love it so much because it smells really nice, and also my face is not dry anymore.” Almond oil is another favorite. “If you put a little bit of it in your foundation, it’s so much better for your skin,” she says. “And sometimes when I don’t want to wear mascara, which is not good for me to wear because I always put my fingers in my face, I just bend [my lashes] and put some almond oil on them and it looks like you have darker eyelashes.” The technique may be unconventional, but then, so is AnnaMelina.