- Source: Eyeye
Eyeye (pronounced "Eye") is the fifth studio album by Swedish singer Lykke Li, and her first since So Sad So Sexy (2018). Released on 20 May 2022, the album reunites Li with her longtime collaborator Björn Yttling, producer of her first three albums. It was preceded by the release of the singles "No Hotel" and "Highway to Your Heart".
Described as "an immersive audiovisual album", Theo Lindquist directed the visual component of the record, starring Li opposite Jeff Wilbusch. The seven minute-long visual loops were shot by cinematographer Eduard Grau on 16-millimeter film.
Background and recording
In a July 2019 interview with NME, Li stated: "I think, maybe to everyone's disappointment, I'm going to really scale it down and back and slow it down. [...] It'll be more like soul music. It'll still be sad, and still be sexy." In a March 2022 interview for Vogue, Li described the making of the album as "cathartic", with it "charting the emotional fallout from the end of a relationship" and approaching "love and heartbreak on a more conceptual level".
The album was entirely recorded in Li's bedroom in Los Angeles. The vocals were recorded on a handheld $70 drum mic, with the album mixed to tape by Shawn Everett.
Release and promotion
"No Hotel" was released as the first single from the record on 23 March 2022. The album was announced a day later, alongside a trailer featuring a snippet of "Carousel". On 20 April, Li released the single "Highway to Your Heart".
Li embarked on an international tour in support of the album, which started on 26 September 2022 in San Diego.
Critical reception
At Metacritic, which assigns a normalised rating out of 100 to reviews from mainstream publications, the album received an average score of 76 based on 11 reviews, indicating "generally favorable reviews".
