Music?

Sabaton <3

If anyone likes metal, I highly suggest listening to the Swedish version of Sabaton's album "Carolus Rex," but alas you don't like hard rock.

Movits!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnaeImQ0TSg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8fIVTH0TiM

Many interesting Swedish artists sing in English, you might want to check them out for cultural reasons but anyway...

I have been enjoying Allan Edwall, he does singer/songwritery folk (a bit like Georges Brassens in France). He's mainly an actor so not the greatest voice for singing but he interprets and performs well. And vocals are in the forefront. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DRArn9t9ro

Eva Dahlgren is of course a major artist, one who enjoys popularity also outside Sweden despite singing in Swedish...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-02uHyU-rjs

I have liked some of Kajsa Grytt's solo stuff as well as her earlier band Tant Strul...https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tSu3gXv7Z9E

If you feel like early 60s pop, there's Lill Lindfors: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jMZ2kpXTN88

There was also a potentially interesting punk scene, haven't got into that deeply in it but Ebba Grön is probably the most famous: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ya6z54IHdu0

Sweden hasn't been that big in classical music but they did have Carl Michael Bellman who specialized in songs, and thus is worth checking out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJdclShl1Kw

Ok, here are some ideas

Traditional

Carl Michael Bellman

The national songwriter and poet from the last half of the 18th century.

Cornelis Vreeswijk

Singer songwriter. Interpreter of Bellman.

Sofia Karlsson

Singer and songwriter with very clear voice and good taste in music. Often interprets traditional music such as in the album Svarta balader.

Rock/Pop

Kent

In my opinion the best pop band singing in Swedish during the last several decades. Not so suitable for beginners because the lyrics is poetic and the meaning is far from straight forward even for native speakers.

Ebba Grön

Classic Punk band. Songs like Staten och kapitalet and 800 grader have become classics

Ulf Lundel (early records)

*Rock poet, especially his early records are good. Songs like Öppna Landskap and När jag kysser havet are songs every Swede knows. *

Melissa Horn

*Pop ballads with thoughtful lyrics in clear Swedish. *

Lars Winnerbäck

The male equivalent of Melissa Horn

Oskar Linnros

Soul-pop

Daniel Adams-Ray

*Originally in the same band as Oskar Linnros. A good song is Gubben i Lådan. *

Veronica Maggio

*Popular pop singer/songwriter *

Håkan Hellström

Pop artist and songwriter. He can't really sing well but he makes you happy and his songs are catchy.

Patrik Isaksson

Rap, Hiphop

Ison Fille

Timbuktu

Snook

70s, 80s

Ted Gärdestad

Singer/composer of 80s pop that has aged quite well. Very straight forward language and clear voice. Probably good for beginners.

Lars Winnerbäck, Melissa Horn, Säkert!, Laleh, Veronica Maggio,Petra Marklund(aka September), Håkan Hellström.

and if you are using Spotify then try these two playlists:

Digster Svenskt http://open.spotify.com/user/digster.se/playlist/5KA1DLpTUHSlevFvBegC2Z

Pop på Svenska http://open.spotify.com/user/sonymusicentertainment/playlist/5rMgFNjAfU0zrw5Mau5lvE

Check out Veronica Maggio and Håkan Hellström. Very easy music and very Swedish. http://youtu.be/nPUtRUoW_Qc

I mostly listen to Swedish hip-hop so if anyone is interested in that, feel free to ask.

Here's some progg: https://open.spotify.com/user/digster.se/playlist/2lMDtTJCUaBJnOzz3SDiDZ

Unfortunately he doesn't sing in Swedish very often, but I really like Jens Lekman:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Ne5DxS4oc0 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BRCElt9oSqM

In addition to what has been mentioned already, I love The Deer Tracks and Wintergatan.

The thing that got me interested in learning Swedish is the musical Kristina från Duvemala - written by the Abba guys. It is AMAZING. It has recently been translated and recorded in English but there is something special about the Swedish version.

I like Garmarna for folk/metal...

I really like Dungen. I know a few other Swedish bands... but they don't sing in Swedish.

Basshunter (dance/electronic)

DiscoCrew (dance/electronic/euro-pop)

Movits! (swing/hip-hop/jazz) HIGHLY recommended!

Kent, Jonathan Johansson, Veronica Maggio

I listen to Caramell, make sure you get the original versions and not the sped up versions if you want to be able to understand. smile.dk is technically Swedish, but they rarely perform Swedish songs. Still worth checking out though.

For learning Swedish, I would use Caramell. (Non sped up) It's fun and crazy pop/techno music, it's very lighthearted, and uses basic vocab.

Dom som försvann by Kent

Du ska va president by Imperiet

Luft by Sista mannen på jorden

My favorite Swedish artist is Sonja Alden: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dm2quwhrY4w

If you like pop music, check out Melodifestivalen.

Great post! I just made a similar one. Will check some of these out :)

I also liked Opeth back in my teen days. They're not too helpful for learning being death metal but the lead singer, Mikael Åkerfeldt did a cover of a song by a Marie Fredriksson called "Den ständiga resan" which is highly unusual for him. Surprisingly, he has a beautiful voice and it's a shame he hasn't made more songs in Swedish.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AWfvwyolm7U&list=RDAWfvwyolm7U