Tove Lo on The Meaning Behind Her 'Lady Wood' Album Title

Since releasing her worldwide hit single "Habits (Stay High)," which hit #1 on charts in Canada, Poland, Romania and the US, along with her debut album Queen of the Clouds in 2014, Tove Lo has captured the hearts of a ton of people around the world. The 28-year-old electropop singer/songwriter has accumulated a large following of fans, including over 1.27 million likes on Facebook and 951k followers on Instagram. Now, in 2016, her success is sure to continue with the upcoming release of her sophomore album Lady Wood, which features her newest single, "Cool Girl." The song was released on August 4th via Island Records and is a smooth electronic dance song with a catchy chorus that will sure to have you nodding your head.

We recently caught up with Tove Lo when she stopped by iHeartRadio HQ during an exclusive interview. She told us about the meaning behind her single "Cool Girl," the traits of a "Cool Girl," what fans can expect from Lady Wood, and more.

On the meaning behind the lyrics in "Cool Girl"

"The song is about the games that we play in a relationship because we are so scared to be vulnerable. It's almost like you stay cold and don't really show your emotions to kind of have the upper hand, in a way. I don't know why it's like that, but I feel like a lot of people do it, and it's like,'Everybody hates the game but we still do it.' So, I'm being pretty sarcastic in the song. It's almost like, 'I can tell that you're trying to play this game with me, so I'll play along, but why, when we really just want something real?'"

The new song was written by Tove Lo herself, and Ludvig Söderberg and Jacob Jerlström of The Struts helped produce it. Tove Lo was inspired to write "Cool Girl" after watching the 2014 film Gone Girl, which is based on the Gillian Flynn novel of the same name. The Swedish singer/songwriter was specifically was influenced by the main character Amy's (played by Rosamund Pike) famous "Cool Girl" monologue, which was adapted from the book for the movie. The monologue says, "He loved a girl who doesn't exist. A girl I was pretending to be. The Cool Girl. Men always use that as the defining compliment, right? She’s a cool girl."

On writing "Cool Girl" after watching Gone Girl

"That monologue just really got to me because she speaks about what a 'Cool Girl' is. It's when she's gone mad, but it still kind of makes sense in a way that a lot of people, not just girls, guys too, change yourself because you've found someone that you're like, 'Oh, this is the person for me!' Or you at least have sort of made up your mind that you're not good enough the way you are, so you try to adapt after them, just to kind of impress them. I mean, we all do that, but it's kind of a strange thing to do because why do you want someone who doesn't want the real you? She says pretty dirty stuff, but she just goes on about how she's just like, 'A cool girl always smiles and she waxes her p***** raw, and she eats pizza and wears a size two, she drinks cold beer, and she likes football.' Very typical, classic things, but it was just interesting to me. It was more the idea of changing yourself so much for someone."

So what exactly are the traits of a "cool girl?" Tove Lo tells us, "A cool girl is honest, and real, and doesn't apologize for who she is, and just doesn't let anyone else affect who she should be."

On why she picked "Cool Girl" as the first single from Lady Wood

After hearing "Cool Girl," the rest of her new album Lady Wood is sure to be amazing. In fact, Tove says she picked "Cool Girl" as the first single from her 2016 record because everything about the song was the perfect introduction to the rest of the album. 

"I think it's a really great introduction to the whole album. Both the new sound of it, which is my same kind of pop melodies and lyrics, which are very personal and raw, mixed with beats that are more minimal and aggressive, kind of like all the techno that I love. I love the mix of the two, the blend. And it was a little bit unexpected for me, I feel like. It's more of a lighter song, it's a little cheeky, and it was fun to come out with something that wasn't a knife-to-the-heart twist like most of last record."

On how she's grown as an artist from Queen of the Clouds to Lady Wood

In the two years since she released Queen of the Clouds, the 28-year-old has accomplished a lot, and no doubt has grown not only personally, but in her music as well. And the main outcome of her growth has been a major boost in confidence. 

"I'm feeling a lot more confident. I've always been very sure of myself in certain aspects, like musically and songwriting-wise. I've been very confident, and I know what's me, and I know what I'm doing, and I love that process. I love being on stage but everything else, like the attention and all eyes on me, all of the sudden it was all these situations where I was just like, 'I don't know.' All these random questions that you get, you kind of star asking who you are a million times around. And I just feel a lot calmer and more ready for round two."

So, why Lady Wood? We asked, and Tove Lo answered. And the answer is AWESOME:

"Well, 'Lady Wood' basically stands for female hard-on, and there isn't really a word for it. So, I just love it because I'm very open about my sexuality, and talking about sex, and I can get a lot of sh** for that just because I'm a woman. And I think that's wrong. So, just kind of reclaiming it, I guess. And on another level, it's kind of when you want someone to be brave or show some courage, you're like, 'Grow some balls.' Then when someone's being a coward, you say, 'Don't be a p****,' which is also wrong in my eyes. So, for me, it's like a girl with balls. A girl who is brave, who stands up for herself. I think it was a challenge for me to write the second record, to dare to be as personal, and kind of really speak my mind. I've made that a big deal now, that I'm not going to adapt to anyone, and just going to say what's on my mind."