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  • 5 days ago
For many, working — let alone living — with your best friend is a recipe for disaster. For Caroline and Aino of Icona Pop, however, it's a blessing and a collaborative dream.

Last week, Aino proudly proclaimed: "Fuck guys. We have fans." But, this week's I AM ICON episode is all about the BFF. Since 2008, Caroline and Aino have stuck together through dropped singles, terrible breakups, and many a late night/early morning. Call it what you will (fate, destiny, coincidence), but there's no denying the unique spark that's buzzing between them. It's rare. It's infectious. It's something to be coveted.

There are three big F's in this world: friends, fame, and failure. By Icona Pop's standards, if you have the first, you never have to worry about the other two.
Transcript
00:00My eyes are...
00:04My birthday on November 8
00:09Yes, we in Petition
00:11So, I'm gonna explain my feeling right now
00:14I'm in love, hanging with my best friend
00:19I think that was it
00:41I'm in love
00:42How many of y'all tonight are here with your best friend?
00:53I'm my best friend, I know you're ready
00:56I'm ready, I'm ready, I'm ready
00:59All I need in this life to send
01:02Is me and my girlfriend
01:06Me and my girlfriend, we borrowed a bit from a Tupac song
01:11He sings about his gun, but we sing about our relationship
01:16Tupac was one of our heroes in the 90s
01:19We actually wrote a letter to Tupac's mama
01:21And asked her if we could use that
01:24She liked the song, so that means a lot to us
01:28What would I do?
01:30Do without you?
01:32We'll never know now
01:35Back up!
01:36What were you guys doing before you met in, what was it, 2009?
01:402008
01:40I was mainly producing music
01:43I was doing a lot of...
01:45I was searching
01:47I was trying
01:48A lot of...
01:49Went abroad
01:50I was trying to write with different producers
01:52I was writing myself
01:54And it was just hard to find the thing that I felt for 100%
01:58And it's also hard when you don't really know what it is you're looking for
02:22I started getting very frustrated because nothing was really going my way
02:25And I had a party at my place
02:30I was going through my first real heartbreak
02:34My first real love
02:36Just dumped me out of nowhere
02:38And I saw a whole life in front of me with this man
02:42With this boy
02:43At that time
02:45I got depressed and just laid in a bed for weeks
02:49One of our mutual friends forced me to join her to a party
02:54And then the first person I met who opened the door was Caroline
03:01And it was just love at first sight
03:04I felt inspired for the first time in a long time
03:09Just being around her gave me so much energy
03:12Who is more likely to be running late?
03:21Who's the better cook?
03:27Who's the better dresser?
03:34Who's more grumpy in the morning?
03:37I think you definitely agree with that
03:49I remember we were kind of cocky in the beginning
03:53We felt right away that we had something special
03:58So we started to go to Paris
04:00And then to London
04:03No money nowhere to live
04:05We got signed with a major label, but it didn't really work out.
04:09All that time and effort, and soon it's gonna happen, soon we're gonna release a single,
04:14and then it didn't happen.
04:15And then suddenly, no one believes in you.
04:20Except our record company in Sweden, and we were like, okay, let's go back to who we
04:25are.
04:25Let's do it our way.
04:27And then we released I Love It.
04:33And then things started to roll.
04:42My question comes, who's the most selfish?
04:46Who's the best?
04:47Okay.
04:47I should just throw away your humor.
04:51We know each other so well, so we don't even have to talk.
04:55What are your favorite parts about Anna?
04:57That she's 100% I know all the time.
05:00She can't, like, she can't fake it.
05:03It's so obvious and honest what she likes and what she doesn't like.
05:09You can get her turned up, like, in one second.
05:14You can call her in the middle of the night and be like, hey, Caroline, we should go out
05:18and dance.
05:19And she's like, okay, let's do it.
05:22We're just doing this 24-7 and we're best friends and we're working together.
05:26And in some weird way, it works.
05:28We started that kind of pop when we both absolutely had nothing and we created our own little world.
05:35And it's amazing to be able to find one of those friends in your lifetime.
05:41And finally, who was your best friend?
05:45Aww.
05:49Yeah, that was fun.
05:50I have to save myself.
05:52Oh, no!
06:12This is the scariest festival we've ever been to.
06:16This is gonna fall down.
06:18Seriously.
06:19I think everybody's tripping on drugs.
06:23Welcome to Mexico.