- Source: Extreme (Molly Nilsson album)
Extreme is the ninth studio album by Swedish singer-songwriter Molly Nilsson, released on 15 January 2022.
Background
Regarding the album's title, Nilsson gave the following explanation:
I was thinking about the title Extreme right after I'd made Twenty Twenty. At the time, I just thought that it was kind of a fun title—a good working title to [remind myself to] be playful and not hold myself back. It turned into thinking of 'extremes' in this black-and-white, polarized society, and the struggles between all the different sides and all these different ways of thinking.
Production
After the release of her previous album 2020, Nilsson went through a period of "creative depression". Extreme was then "largely written" in 2019 and "mainly recorded" in 2020.
Themes
Power has been noted as the central topic on Extreme. In the album's promotional material, label Night School Records wrote: "It's a record about power. About how to fight it, how to take it and how to share it."
Promotion
"Absolute Power" was released as the album's first single on 12 October 2021, along with a music video. "Pompeii" was released as the album's second music video on 22 November 2021.
Release
The album was released on vinyl, CD, and as a digital download.
Critical reception
Extreme received critical acclaim. In a positive review, Tim Sendra of AllMusic called Extreme "both Nilsson's most interesting album and a striking reboot", citing her experimentation with "new moods" and "new genres". Jana-Maria Mayer of German Musikexpress characterized the album as a "romantic indictment of the Anthropocene" and praised Nilsson's songwriting.
Sophia McDonald of Loud and Quiet, in a mixed-to-positive review, considered Extreme "an LP that is generally surprising in its trajectory" and noted its "nostalgic fun", but criticized it for a lack of "closeness" and "intimacy" to Nilsson in comparison with earlier works.
The closing track "Pompeii" was highlighted by Raphael Helfand of The Fader as a "happy-sad classic" that serves as a "rallying cry for resilience in the face of impossible odds". The track was also praised by German Musikexpress.