frtyfve Records Alumni bby ivy Releases New Bop ‘Losing Sleep’
Vibrant, catchy but also emotionally intune, the new single ‘Losing Sleep’ from Nordic-pop sensation bby ivy is a breath of fresh air.
In many ways, a display of pop perfection, the track’s reliability and immediacy are at the heart of what makes it great. From ivy’s silky vocals to the track’s warm yet impactful production, there’s a lot of quality on display.
Speaking on the meaning behind the track’s lyrics, bby ivy explains: “I was going through a very difficult time of really missing someone who I had broken up with. When the time came and I wanted them back they had already moved on. I couldn’t sleep or even go on with my day without thinking about them. I guess in some ways I got what I deserved for letting them go, but I’ll never forget those restless nights. ‘Losing Sleep’ is the perfect depiction of that.”
Despite her huge Instagram following and apparent confidence as an artist, ivy had experienced anxiety and self-doubt from a young age. Originally from Norway, where she grew up just outside Oslo, ivy also lived in Spain for a year, before spending another five years in London and eventually moving to LA. For her, the opportunity to start again — and again, and again — was welcome. “Maybe I seemed like a social person on the outside, but on the inside I’d overthink everything,” she reflects. “I’d pretend to be confident at school, then I’d come home and be like: ‘What did I say? How did I walk? How did I look?’” The anxiety led to sleeplessness, which led to medication. “But each time I moved, I could change my identity,” she says. “I’d reinvent myself.” She adds, with a sigh, that this would only work to a point. “After a while, you always go back to how you actually are.” It would be some years before ivy could accept that who she was — something of an outsider, but fiercely independent and with a determination and inner strength far beyond that of the peers against whom she unfairly measured herself — was her secret weapon. Far from being a hindrance, her true self would eventually be the key to unlocking the creative, unfiltered world she now inhabits as bby ivy.
Listen to the new single ‘Losing Sleep’ below:
