Support Women Artists Sunday: Ida Maria

Like the Norse warrior maiden Freya, 24-year-old Norwegian rocker Ida (eee-da) Maria is a force of nature, a goddess of love, fertility and sexual desire who led the Valkyries into battle, a fearless fighter who, paradoxically, has a passion for romantic music and flowers. Mirroring the weather in the tiny university town of Nesna in Norway, where she grew up, Ida Maria is a raging storm one moment, a blinding ray of sunshine the next.

That dichotomy is perfectly captured on Fortress Round My Heart, her debut album for Mercury Records, and a description of the armor she takes into war--the songs which form her defense against the world, but also reveal the raw, honest emotions that she put into creating them. It forms the kind of full-bodied attack Ida and her powerful Swedish band--guitarist Stefan Tornby, bassist Johannes Lindberg and drummer Olle Lundin--exhibit on the U.K. hit single, "I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked," which catapulted the critically acclaimed Fortress straight into the British Top 40, prompting comparisons to female vocal sirens like Janis Joplin, Nico and Chrissie Hynde.

"I hoped that song was going to be for the alternative kids while I wrote it," she says of "Naked." . I wanted to see how catchy I could make all the songs. I hadn't really grown up on anything but rock music, so I tried to see if I could do that." About the song's unusual lyric, Ida says: "It's very much a shout-out to all those who objectify women. I wanted to turn it around and make the male body an object. I think I succeeded and I'm very happy about this."

It's all part of Ida Maria's discovery of "the inner beast that was hiding in my vocal chords," the incredible yowl that turns order into chaos, then picks up the pieces and attempts to put them together again.

via Island Def Jam

I Like You So Much Better When You're Naked

Oh My God

Ida Maria on iTunes: