Må din själ flyga så högt som din röst, Marie Fredriksson

E. de Escarlata. 

A few hours ago, I read Roxette's singer Marie Fredriksson had died. That new has been like a  punch on my face. The young people of the “millennial generation” probably do not know the musical background of this artist who, in his sixties and one years, after fighting more than a decade has been overcome by cancer. Fredrikson was one of Sweden's most popular sopranos and best known worldwide.

Marie Fredriksson (1958-2019)     

            

Roxette marked a before and an after in the history of 1980s and 1990s music for continuing Abba's great legacy whose pop had disco tones. Roxette introduced a pop-rock genre that catapulted the band to stardom. That voice bristles  anyone's soul. Those chords, worthy of a heavenly path, transfer you to another reality. All the rhythms combined with sweet melodies manage to project the person to a magical place. This music has helped me in very hard moments perhaps because of the strength of his lyrics, see, "Listen to your Heart" that encourages you to fight and rise up against all the adversities.

[…]

I don't know where you're going and I don't know why,

But listen to your heart before you tell him goodbye

Sometimes you wonder if this fight is worthwhile

The precious moments are all lost in the tide, yea

They're swept away and nothing is what is seems,

The feeling of belonging to your dreams

[…]

Roxette wasn't just love and sweetness. It has also been survival and fighting vehemently without fear of the world as it appears in “Look Sharp!” 

[…]

Tell me that this world is no place for the weak

Then you can look me in the eye and tell me if you see a trace of fear

You gotta look sharp

You gotta look sharp

And you gotta have no illusions

[…]

Apart from her lyrics in Swedish and English the group composed in Spanish “un día sin ti” that is so beautiful that it makes my tears fall out.

[…]

Un día sin tí

Es una eternidad

Es un adiós

Que duele por dos

Sólo esperar

La soledad

Un día sin tí

[...]

May your soul fly as high as your voice, Marie Fredriksson.

“The look” (1988)