Biography
Johnson is from the small town of Ängelholm in the south western part of Sweden, but the surroundings and the media compare her with the biggest stars in the music business. By the age of four, she had decided that she wanted to become an artist. She was highly encouraged by her local choir leader.
She now lives in a hunting lodge in the Western Gothlandic woods of Sweden, but also has a home in Stockholm.
As a 12-year old, she started off as vocalist in a Country & Western band, Tomboola Band, touring in Norway and Denmark. She signed eventually with EMI-Medley in Denmark and recorded an album, produced by top producer Paul Bruun. The title-track, Sugar Tree, became a hit in Denmark. In 1996, she had her first Swedish hit with Kommer tid, kommer vår”, a duet with Jan Johansen.
In 1998, she performed Kärleken är at Melodifestivalen, winning the Swedish finals and going on to represent Sweden in the Eurovision Song Contest. This established Johnson as one of the prime Swedish artists. The success was followed by the hit album När hela världen ser på and a successful tour.
In mid 1999, Johnson went to L.A. to look for material for her second album. At home, she worked with Andreas Carlsson (ASCAP Writer of the Year 2000), who is known for several massive hits, the biggest , so far, being Celine Dion's That's the Way It Is. She also tried out a few local new-comers and the album Daughter of Eve was released in early 2000. It was very well received and Johnson was compared with some of the world's best artists.
In 2000, she received a platinum-record in Denmark for the sound-track Promise To Love from the Danish block-buster, "Eneste Ene". Later that year, Johnson started to collaborate with other songwriters such as Jenny Orenstein, Charlie Stefl, Mary Green [Biem Writer of the Year 2001]. This resulted in her receiving a Publishing contract in Nashville Tennessee. Consequently, in 2002 Johnson's album entitled "Good Girl" came to be with the help of producer Scott Bagget and some of Nashville’s top musicians. This album secured Johnson's artistic sound and style and once again she was extremely well received by the press in their reviews where she was described as an artist of International calibre.
In the Swedish finals of the Eurovision Song Contest 2003 she qualified at fourth place (out of 32 entries) but and her song “Crazy in Love" became a hit and received a great deal of radio play and was followed by a successful tour.
Johnson's collective "Discography" CD was released in late March 2003. It contains the 20 most popular songs since her debut in 1995. This Cd went straight into the sales charts for best selling CDs in Sweden. The single “Crazy in Love” stayed at No 1 in the Swedish Top Charts (Svensktoppen) 12 weeks consecutively and No 2 for 15 weeks. "Discography" sold Gold in Sweden and Johnson also got a Grammy for this album.
The new album "Roots and Wings" was released in November 2003, recorded and produced by Amir Aly in Sweden and by Scott Baggett in Nashville, USA. "Roots and Wings" sold gold in less than two weeks and platinum a few months later. The album "Being who you are" was released in Sweden in late March 2005 and sold gold in only a few weeks. Johnson was the host of the 2005 Swedish finals of the Eurovison Song Contest in Stockholm
Last Thing On My Mind
Jill Johnson Lyrics
Jump to: Overall Meaning ↴ Line by Line Meaning ↴
My minds filled with a thousand thoughts of you
And how you left without warning
But looking back I'm sure you tried to talk it through
Now I see it so clearly
We're together but living separate lives
So I wanna tell you I'm sorry
But if I could, then you know I would
Yeah
No I won't let go, know what we can be
I won't watch my life crashing down on me
Guess I had it all right there before my eyes, yeah
Girl, I'm sorry now we're the last thing on my mind
You carried me like a river
How far we've come still surprises me
And now I look in the mirror (look in the mirror)
Staring back is a man I used to be, with you
How I long for you, yeah
No I won't let go, know what we can be
I won't watch my life crashing down on me
Guess I had it all right there before my eyes, yeah
Girl, I'm sorry now we're the last thing on my mind
Girl, I'm sorry I was wrong
Could have been there
Should have been so strong
So I'm sorry
No I won't let go, know what we can be
I won't watch my life crashing down on me
Guess I had it all right there before my eyes, yeah
Girl, I'm sorry now we're the last thing on my mind
I won't watch my life crashing down on me
Guess I had it all right there before my eyes, yeah
Girl, I'm sorry now, we're the last thing on my mind
On my mind
On my mind
In "Last Thing on My Mind," Jill Johnson reflects on a past relationship that ended abruptly, leaving her overwhelmed with thoughts of what could have been reconciled. She admits that, in hindsight, their relationship was flawed, even though they saw each other every day. Their coexistence had turned into a life of separate paths, and ultimately, led to the relationship's demise. Johnson apologizes for not expressing remorse appropriately and for losing focus on all the potential they had together.
In essence, the song is about accepting responsibility for one's actions and moving on from a failed relationship while also coming to understand that what they had was valuable. She longs for and desires reconciliation and reflects on the relationship's good parts intermittently.
The most notable point in this song is the melody, which powerfully captures the song's sentiment. It is composed of soft yet powerful piano chords that build and diminish, perfectly matching the words' flow. Another interesting fact is that the songwriters behind the song, Tom Douglas and Steve Seskin, also crafted “I Believe,” a hit single for Diamond Rio that charted at No. 24 on the Billboard Hot Country Songs chart.
Line by Line Meaning
Four O'Clock in the morning
It's four in the morning and I can't sleep because I'm thinking about you.
My mind's filled with a thousand thoughts of you
I'm thinking about you constantly, and my mind won't let you go.
And how you left without warning
You left me suddenly, and I was not prepared for it.
But looking back I'm sure you tried to talk it through
Now I realize that you must have tried to communicate, but I didn't listen.
Now I see it so clearly
I understand things better now, and I can see what I did wrong.
We're together but living separate lives
We're still together, but we're not really connecting emotionally.
So I wanna tell you I'm sorry
I want to apologize for my actions.
Baby I can't find the words
It's hard for me to express my feelings in words.
But if I could, then you know I would
If I could find the right words, I would say them to you.
No I won't let go, know what we can be
I won't give up on us, I know what we can achieve.
Guess I had it all right there before my eyes, yeah
I realize now that I had everything I wanted with you, but I didn't appreciate it at the time.
Girl, I'm sorry now we're the last thing on my mind
I'm sorry that I didn't value our relationship more, and now I can't stop thinking about the past.
You carried me like a river
You supported me like a river, and helped me through tough times.
How far we've come still surprises me
I'm amazed at how much we've been through together.
And now I look in the mirror (look in the mirror)
I'm reflecting on myself, and how I contributed to the problems we had.
Staring back is a man I used to be, with you
I see a version of myself who was happy with you, and I miss that.
Girl, I'm sorry I was wrong
I'm sorry for my mistakes and how they hurt you.
Could have been there
I could have been more present and responsive to your needs.
Should have been so strong
I should have been stronger and more supportive of you.
I won't watch my life crashing down on me
I won't let my mistakes destroy my life and our relationship.
On my mind
You're always on my mind.
Contributed by Caden O. Suggest a correction in the comments below.