Somehow the peaceful, peace-preaching and flowery Di Leva was seen as a controversial artist in the Swedish '80s. Listening to his albums and his statements more than ten years later, that can be very hard to understand. On the contrary, you may instead have to listen through the seemingly ordinary pop songs a number of times to understand the other, more important side of Di Leva: his unusual songwriting skills. Because if the production was startling in the late '80s -- with airy and mystic synthesizer harmonies, a slight ethnic touch, and pop melodies with a beat -- these elements became more common later on and it can be hard to see the difference between Di Leva's music and standard late-'80s pop. But it is worth taking that time and the extra time it takes to get into the lyrics (if you know Swedish), because Di Leva manages the very hard task of merging pop music with new age themes. And even harder: making the spiritual clichés relevant in an everyday context. If until this point Di Leva has seemed like an esoteric mystic in pop guises, nothing can be more wrong. His message has always been very extroverted and his greatest skill is definitely his basic talent as a hitmaker. The best example here is "Vi Har Bara Varandra," a great hit in 1989 despite, or thanks to, its revelation-like lyrics and singalong chorus.
© Lars Lovén /TiVo