Tove Lo: I can show my nipples if I f***ing want to

Swedish singer/songwriter Tove Lo – one of pop's most intriguing and successful recent global exports - is the third of five covers to be revealed for Notion Magazine's Issue 70.

The Habits (Stay High) star talks exclusively to Notion about her meteoric rise to fame, its ups and down, her plans for the future and her desire to continue flashing during performances.

ABOUT FLASHING HER NIPPLES DURING PERFORMANCES
I've been getting a lot of questions, especially in America, about why I've started flashing the audience at my shows and people are wondering if it's just to get more publicity and it's not that. I did it to mess with people a bit I guess. Then all these people started saying 'it's good that you're standing up for things and that you're a feminist, but it gets a little too much'. Why? Because I care about something? Should I just be like 'no I won't have any feelings?' That's the thing, when you get too commercial people just want you to be this happy creature with no emotions or not care about anything that's important.

ON FILMING THE VIDEO FOR NEW SINGLE 'TIMEBOMB'
All these photos of my (Timebomb) video shoot got released and everyone started covering up my nipples and calling me a whore. I can show my nipples if I fucking want to! Why is a woman's body so sexualised all the time? It should be my choice.

ON HER NEAR-CAREER-ENDING VOICE LOSS DURING PERFORMANCE ON JIMMY FALLON'S TALK SHOW
I had three or four more things booked in that week and I went to a doctor and he told me to stop singing immediately. He couldn't believe I was singing on those vocal chords. There was an infection, it was swollen, there was a cyst. On the last night (of supporting Katy Perry's arena tour) I walked off stage and saw my mum and just cried my eyes out. I came back in January and had the surgery and basically it was no talking for five days.

ON NEW MUSIC AND FUTURE PLANS
I'm always writing so I could probably release a new album right now, but I don't want to do the same thing all over again – I want to explore new sounds and melodies and work with new people.

ON POP STARS OF THE CURRENT GENERATION
I think there's this one breed of pop star who are performers, not artists. The dream is never to be famous. It's not about that at all. It's about being able to play your music and do your shows. It's all about getting those feelings out because there's so much going on in your head and your heart. But there are these performers who just want commercial success - that's everything to them - but success to them is only when you're happy and beautiful and everything is going up, up, up. I think that artists who are not just performers can get mixed up with the ones that are only about the success. They live in a very controlled and protective bubble and it's all 'what would this do to my brand?'.

ON THE PRESSURE OF BEING IN THE PUBLIC EYE
If you chose to wear your heart on your sleeve and get emotional about something, the easiest way for people to make fun of you is to be sarcastic or acting like nothing effects them. People say 'well you can't care what people say about you' and I'm like 'how am I not supposed to care?'.

ON GROWING UP
I grew up in a very posh environment, where everything's supposed to be fine and it's like a competition of having a nice life and not being depressed or sad or anything. I had a lot of dark thoughts as a kid and was always wondering about murder and death.

As a family, we never talked about the bad stuff and that sort of music (her music) is all about admitting you're destructive and that being okay. That was a big thing for me. But all the trouble I got in was caused by me. It was never my parents. It was always me looking for something else I guess.