In the spring of 2005, a 17-year-old Carlsson auditioned for the second series of phenomenally popular Swedish singing competition Idol in Göteborg, singing "Varje Gång Jag Ser Dig" by Lisa Nilsson. The four judges were all hugely impressed by the strong power of her voice and she successfully passed through to the theatre rounds of the contest. Her vocals continued to impress, and she made it to the semi-finals. To the dismay of the judges, Carlsson did not get a place in the final eleven contestants, and when she again failed to grab a place through the special 'wildcard' round, they decided to pass her through to the finals as the judges' choice contestant. Despite this setback, Carlsson wowed both the judges and the public during every week of the finals, and after making it to the grand finale nine weeks later, she defeated runner-up Sebastian Karlsson and was crowned as the second Swedish Idol. Throughout the finals, Carlsson had never landed in the bottom 2 or 3, and she is currently one of only 4 wildcard contestants to win an Idol competition anywhere in the world. She was preceded in 2004 by Canada's Ryan Malcolm and Kazakhstan's Almas Kishkenbayev, and followed in 2007 by Australia's Natalie Gauci.
Immediately after winning Idol, Carlsson signed a recording contract with Sony BMG and her debut single, "Right Here Right Now" was released. A week later, the song debuted at number one on the Swedish singles chart, a position it held for six weeks. It was quickly certified double platinum for the sale of 40,000 copies in Sweden. Just one week later, on December 19, 2005, her debut album Agnes was released to positive reviews and massive opening week sales. It shot into the albums chart a week later at number one, a position it held for two consecutive weeks.
In March 2006, whilst touring in support of her debut album, Carlsson released her second single, "Stranded". Although it received positive critical reviews, the single did not gain commercial success and stalled in the singles chart at number twenty-seven. Despite this however, Carlsson's debut album continued to enjoy huge sales success, selling over 90,000 copies in Sweden alone. It was certified double platinum and to date holds the record for being the highest-selling album by any Idol contestant.
On August 22, 2006, only eight months after her Idol win, Carlsson's third single "Kick Back Relax" premiered on the TV-show "Sommarkrysset". The song, which would serve as the lead single from her much anticipated sophomore album, was released on September 7 and narrowly missed the top spot on the Swedish singles chart, peaking at number two. Her second album, Stronger was released on October 11, less than a year after the release of her debut. Like its predecessor, Stronger debuted at number one on the albums chart, and went on to sell 50,000 copies, certifying it platinum. One of the album's tracks, "Love Is All Around" has since been covered by numerous singers in three continents, the most notable being by Australian Idol alumni Ricki Lee Coulter, which peaked at number two in Australia and became one of the country's biggest hits in 2007.
On November 15, Carlsson released "Champion", the second single from her sophomore album. The song peaked at number nineteen, seemingly setting a pattern of high-low chart positions for Carlsson, which had also occurred with the two singles from her first album. In early 2007, Carlsson embarked upon her second national tour in just over one year. In December, Carlsson and her former Idol fellow contestant Måns Zelmerlöw joined forces for a huge Christmas campaign for clothing store MQ. In order to promote the company, they released a cover of the Mariah Carey song "All I Want For Christmas Is You", which peaked at number three on the Swedish singles chart.
In early 2008, it was announced that Carlsson had parted ways with her record label Sony BMG, citing creative differences as the reason behind the split. She quickly signed to record company Roxy Records, who stated that after taking a short break from the music industry, Carlsson would return with her third studio album, the first with her new label. On August 11, Carlsson's fifth single "On And On" was passed to radio stations and released as a digital download. Geared towards the dance and club genre, the single was a clear change of artistic direction for Carlsson's music, which had previously consisted of pop and RnB. The first public performance of the single was on August 16 during the Swedeish TV-show "Sommarkrysset". The single debuted at number twenty-seven, but following its physical release it surged up the chart and spent three weeks at its peak of number 8, as well as charting at the top spot of the dance and club charts.
On September 13, Kaj Kindvall, the host of the radioshow "Tracks" announced that Carlsson's highly anticipated third studio album would be called "Dance Love Pop" and then went on to explain the reason behind the record's name: "Dance Love Pop covers the three things that the music is all about on this album; dance-music that has a twist of pop and is about love". Roxy Records confirmed the album's title four days later, and also stated that the release date of the album would be October 29, 2008.
In an interview with Swedish radio channel P3 the song "Love Me Senseless" was played, and although it was confirmed as a track on Carlsson's third album, it was not confirmed whether it would be released as the second single. The album Dance! Love! Pop! was released on October 28 and debuted on the Swedish albums chart at number 5 with sales of 10,000 copies. On November 24, "Release Me" was released as the second single from the album. It debuted on the Swedish singles chart at number 60 based on digital downloads alone, whilst the album was certified gold for the sale of 20,000 copies since its release.
LOVE LOVE LOVE
Agnes Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
That I need patience
Fools rush in, better slow down
They keep talkin' about good things come
But I don't wanna wait
My heart is aching
I'm not mistaken
The moment I saw you
You could be what I've been lookin' for
I come back for more
And I want you to know
I wanna feel love love love
Lift me up to the sky
Oh give me love love love
Take me higher than high
I will show you heaven
When I get you alone
I don't wanna wait anymore
You see right through me
Can't hide it for you
You read my mind
But I refuse to feel shame
It's not a crime to want love and more
It's happened before
And I want you to know
I wanna feel love love love
Lift me up to the sky
Oh give me love love love
Take me higher than high
I will show you heaven
When I get you alone
I don't wanna wait anymore
I'm waiting for a sign
That you made up your mind
Don't keep me hanging on forever
Don't waste another night
I don't wanna wait no more
I wanna feel love love love
Lift me up to the sky (Don't wanna wait)
Oh give me love love love
Take me higher than high
I will show you heaven
When I get you alone
I don't wanna wait anymore
I wanna feel love love love (Oh! ooo Oh!)
Lift me up to the sky
Oh give me love love love (Give me love, give me love)
Take me higher than high
I will show you heaven
When I get you alone
I don't wanna wait anymore
love love love
I don't wanna wait
I don't wanna wait
anymore
The song "Love Love Love" by Agnes is about the desire for love and the impatience that comes with it. The singer of the song is tired of waiting for the right person to come along and is willing to take a chance with someone she believes could be the one. She acknowledges the risks of rushing into a relationship, but her heartache and the thrill of newfound love make her feel like it's worth it. The lyrics also indicate that the person she's interested in already has an understanding of her and what she wants, and the singer is eager to show him the depths of her devotion. The song's overall message is about taking a chance on love and not letting fear hold you back.
Line by Line Meaning
My friends keep saying
People around me have been advising me
That I need patience
I must learn to be patient
Fools rush in, better slow down
It's best to take things slowly without making hasty decisions
They keep talkin' about good things come
The people around me believe that good things come to those who wait
But I don't wanna wait
I don't want to wait
My heart is aching
My heart hurts
I'm not mistaken
I am sure of what I am feeling
The moment I saw you
Right from the first time I met you
My whole world started to change
My life started to transform
You could be what I've been lookin' for
You could be the answer to my search for love
I come back for more
I keep wanting more of you
And I want you to know
I want to express how I feel to you
I wanna feel love love love
I desire to experience love deeply
Lift me up to the sky
Make me feel ecstatic
Oh give me love love love
I want love intensely
Take me higher than high
Take me to new heights of love
I will show you heaven
I will make you see how wonderful love can be
When I get you alone
When we are together, just the two of us
You see right through me
You understand me deeply
Can't hide it for you
I cannot hide my feelings from you
You read my mind
You know what I am thinking
But I refuse to feel shame
I am not ashamed of how I feel
It's not a crime to want love and more
It's okay to desire more in love
It's happened before
I have wanted love intensely in the past
I'm waiting for a sign
I am looking for a sign from you
That you made up your mind
That you have made a decision
Don't keep me hanging on forever
Don't keep me waiting indefinitely
Don't waste another night
Let's not waste any more time
I don't wanna wait no more
I am tired of waiting
love love love
The love that I desire
I don't wanna wait
I cannot wait any longer
I don't wanna wait
My patience has run out
anymore
I need to have you now
Contributed by Skyler E. Suggest a correction in the comments below.