Vårens första dag

"Vårens första dag" (Swedish for "First Day of the Spring") is a song by Swedish singer-songwriter Laleh, taken as the second single from her fourth studio album, Sjung. It was released on 30 April 2012. The indie pop song was written and produced by Laleh, in collaboration with Gustaf Thörn, with whom she had a few production sessions for the album. The single was sent out to radio in mid-March following the success "Some Die Young" had on both Swedish and Norwegian airplay and sales charts, being a number-one hit in Norway for weeks.[1] The single peaked at number nineteen on the Swedish DigiListan.[2]

"Vårens första dag"
Single by Laleh
from the album Sjung
Released30 April 2012
GenreIndie pop
Length4:41
LabelLost Army / Warner Music Sweden
Songwriter(s)Laleh Pourkarim
Producer(s)Laleh Pourkarim, Gustaf Thörn
Laleh singles chronology
"Some Die Young"
(2012)		 "Vårens första dag"
(2012)		 "Elephant"
(2013)
Music video
"Vårens Första Dag" on YouTube

Critical reception
"‘Vårens första dag’ has the same tempo and style that made her cover of ‘Ängeln i rummet’ so popular. And its chorus does that trick of shifting in melody that ‘Some Die Young’ did so appealingly. It's very much the Laleh that Swedish listeners have gotten to know over the last six months. And indeed, love."

—Scandipop's review of the song.[3]

In a review for the accompanying album, Anders Jaderup of Sydsvenskan mentioned that the song was a "real trump card", praising "Vårens första dag" for its "exuberant energy". "[It's] a great pop song, a life-affirming soundtrack for the next few months while waiting for a brighter season. It is also the song that will force everyone who started to associate Laleh with TV4-covers, to think again". Later in the review he picked out the song as the best track on the album.[4] Marcus Grahn wrote for Värmlands Folkblad that the song "is a wonderful, colorful, explosive, flowering... encouraging [and] provoking prayer for life".[5] The music blog Mu$ic i$ the Door gave the song a good review, writing that "it [has] grown to be my fave after some listens". They mentioned that "it's quite a sunny song, if you get what I mean. Things are certainly looking bright for Laleh...".[6]

Dagens Nyheter's Nanushka Yeaman enjoyed the Swedish sensibility of the song, commenting that it "sounds like a Håkan Hellström-hit by ABBA ambitions".[7] A review from Göteborgs-Posten by Johan Lindqvist noted the song's lyrical content as "about both death and the spark of life [placed] into a pop song with the same intensity as Industriepark club. And, with that typical galloping rhythm Laleh apparently likes... great for upcoming concerts, would indeed be a cruel to open with it".[8]

A negative review came from "Nöjesguiden" who wrote that there is "an existential desperation that lies between the lines on Vårens första dag".[9]

Chart performance

Following the release of Sjung on 25 January 2012, "Vårens första dag" managed to chart on the DigiListan, Sweden's digital-only singles chart, at number fifty-six due to strong downloads from the album.[10] Its official release as a single was at the end of April. Following its first full week of official release, the single charted at number fifty-five on the DigiListan, furthering to number forty-three and thirty-nine in the following two weeks.[11][12][13] The single eventually peaked at number nineteen on the DigiListan in July 2012.[2]

Music video

The music video was created by Sacarias Kiusalaas, a director who has previously worked with The Moniker, creating a music video and a short film for the Swedish singer's "Who Wants To Die Alone".[14] It sees Laleh in a mansion house in the Swedish countryside singing and dancing in front of the camera in an upstairs room, whilst children outside play. The video was created to relate directly to the song, hence the use of vivid colours throughout and the playfulness of the clip. Angela Tryggveson was in charge of the make-up and hair direction in the shoot, as we see Laleh wear colourful eyeshadow and lipstick and the children with face paint during the scene in the woods. It was uploaded to YouTube on 25 April 2012 via Lost Army's official page.[15] In addition to this, the Swedish Contemporary Circus company Cirkus Cirkör consulted on the video, with an input on the scene where the children have formed into a marching band and are doing acrobatics as well as playing drums, trumpets and other instruments.[15]

Personnel
  • Laleh Pourkarim – vocals, record producer
  • Gustaf Thörn – assistant producer, music
  • Michael Ilbert – mixing
  • David Hefti – assistant engineer
  • Tom Coyne – mastering

Radio date and release history
Region Date Format Label
Sweden 17 March 2012 Mainstream radio airplay Warner Music Sweden
Sweden[3] 30 April 2012 Digital download
Denmark
Finland
Norway
gollark: It blew up spawn on one server i was on!
gollark: DRACONIC EVOLUTION REALLY QUITE BAD!
gollark: DE BAD!!!!!!
gollark: Fine. I'll put up with the lack of /home and /tpa for now. But soon I shall have my revenge, in the form of a global teleport network.
gollark: We could also just use viaducts for short-range stuff.

References
  1. "Charts EU Airplay Week 9 (p.32)". Music Week (Subscription Required). 1 March 2012. Retrieved 1 March 2012.
  2. "DigiListan 2012-07-08". Sveriges Radio. 8 July 2012. Retrieved 18 July 2012.
  3. "Laleh: 'Vårens första dag'". Scandipop. 9 April 2012. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  4. Jaderup, Anders (25 January 2012). "Sårbar och obändigt stark". Sydsvenskan (in Swedish). Bonnier Group. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  5. Grahn, Marcus (27 January 2012). "Laleh har kontroll". Värmlands Folkblad (in Swedish). Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  6. "Laleh: "Vårens första dag" Music Video". Mu$ic i$ the Door. 27 April 2012. Retrieved 3 April 2012.
  7. Yeaman, Nanushka (25 January 2012). "Laleh: "Sjung"". Dagens Nyheter (in Swedish). Bonnier Group. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  8. Lindqvist, Johan (25 January 2012). "Laleh: Sjung". Göteborgs-Posten. Stampen. Retrieved 27 January 2012.
  9. Ringskog Ferrada-Noli, Nicholas (25 January 2012). "Laleh – Sjung". Nöjesguiden (in Swedish). Nöjesguiden. Retrieved 25 January 2012.
  10. "DigiListan 2012-02-05". Sveriges Radio. 5 February 2012. Retrieved 5 February 2012.
  11. "DigiListan 2012-05-06". Sveriges Radio. 6 May 2012. Retrieved 11 May 2012.
  12. "DigiListan 2012-05-13". Sveriges Radio. 6 May 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  13. "DigiListan 2012-05-20". Sveriges Radio. 20 May 2012. Retrieved 22 May 2012.
  14. Ghasshan (26 November 2011). "New video by The Moniker (NF 2011, 2012)". oikotimes (in Swedish). oikotimes.com. Retrieved 3 May 2012.
  15. "LALEH – Vårens första dag (officiell) – YouTube". Lost Army / Warner Music Group. YouTube. 26 January 2012. Retrieved 29 January 2012.
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