Move Over, Greta: Sweden’s Most Melancholic Pop Icon Just Rocked an Athens Tiki Bar
Three decades after his debut, Jay-Jay Johanson proved to an intimate Athenian crowd that his silky vocals haven't aged a day.
ATHENS — Move over Greta Thunberg, there’s a much cooler Swede in town.
Why would Sweden’s soulful preeminent trip hop pop star be doing a pop-up performance at a tiki bar in the middle of Athens at the end of touristy May?
Well, why wouldn't he be?
Jay-Jay Johanson, one of Sweden’s best pop culture exports since I don't know what, was in Athens on May 28 to celebrate the thirtieth anniversary of his debut studio album Whiskey.
He sang tracks from that album and others at the atmospheric Tiki Bar in the Koukaki neighborhood — not far from the Acropolis Museum.
We were first seduced by Mr. Johanson’s silky voice years ago in Paris. He did the soundtrack for one of our favorite contemporary French movies, La Confusion des Genres (based on the novel by Ilan Duran Cohen).
Moody. Melancholic. Electro-jazzy and supremely Swedish. Yearning, dreaming, disillusioned, but always with a drink in hand and a sense of maybe one, just one thin ray of light piercing those dark Swedish clouds. Jay-Jay Johanson’s quirky music and velvety vocals may actually be the perfect soundtrack not just for Stockholm but for the brooding Paris itself.
Before the show we chatted about Paris and some of our favorite albums from years gone by and not surprisingly our musical tastes overlap. From Alain Bashung’s Fantaisie Militaire to Boy George/Jesus Loves You by way of many other things, it felt like old friends reuniting. As for his own oeuvre, well, I practically know his albums Tattoo, Poison, and Antenna by heart.
Johanson’s version of Automatic Lover, by the way, could break your heart:
(Never mind the haircut).
Johanson sang for an appreciative Athenian crowd that skewed Gen X, with a few younger people along for the acoustic ride that culminated in loud cheers.
