WORTH A LOOK?: *****

Tracklist: Interlude; Beautiful Madness; Trigger; Got Any?; Milk; Focus; Wake Up; Balenciaga Covered Eyes; Not Capable; Ego; Masterpiece; Sign It; Pre; Lovesongs; Uterus & Universe

‘Life is a beautiful madness, and it’s when we stop chasing perfection that the truly interesting things happen,’ says Agnes as she releases this new album and prepares to headline London’s KOKO next week where we join her.

• Read on for reasons including why this is the 1st great album of 2026

It’s a sentiment the Release Me star has previously explored but never with such forensic precision as she does here.

The Swedish pop icon won our 2021 Best Song monsta for Here Comes The Night. It was from the brilliant but unstructured LP Magic Still Exists, an album of the month for us in October 2021 of which we said: ‘The Agnes of yesteryear was always blessed with an impressive live singing voice and a pop sensibility but we would liken this album to the moment when fellow Swede Robyn graduated from Show Me Love to Dancing On My Own.’

It’s a sentiment best realised on this new longplayer in 11pm gospel number Lovesongs when Agnes can’t help but break your heart with a self care slowie boasting a: ‘Lately I’ve been singing love songs by myself, by myself’ hook.

She says: ‘I’ve tried to write Lovesongs for so many years. This kind of song nature. I’m so grateful that it now exists outside my head – and there for others to listen to. All songs on the album are about just that: embracing your whole self, letting everything take space.’

Beautiful Madness is based on sturdy foundations around the pillars of 4 fine club classic singles including debut Balenciaga Covered Eyes, a tears on the dancefloor anthem.

Says Agnes: ‘It all started with an image in my mind: a person amid chaos of luxury, parties, mess, and gazes. Someone appearing confident and glittery on the surface, but experiencing something else inside – behind those Balenciaga covered eyes. The song also came from wanting to write something I myself would want to hear when going out on weekends.’

On Ego the contradiction of the importance of a pop star doing without 1 is explored.

Wake Up a rallying call about all that’s wrong with the world infused by the the possibilities of change.

Milk is a Daft Punk-esque banger with a simplistic commentary about manufacturing success and its inanity.

Agnes says: ‘Letting the lyrics take the lead opened up new worlds and allowed new types of songs to emerge. I’ve really enjoyed digging into the words, and it has enabled me to experiment more with my voice than ever before.’

Elsewhere there are new songs topped by the jagged ABBA-isms of Trigger. 

Agnes says: ‘I’ve realized that it’s precisely in the contradictions, in the madness and the unfinished, that life actually feels alive. You can be selfish and loving at the same time. Ugly and beautiful. Have hubris and be humble. Everything fits within the same person – it lives and operates there simultaneously. That’s what Beautiful Madness is.’

It’s an ethos that informs the best of Prince and the scandipop genre enjoying a moment currently with Zara Larsson’s Lush Life back in the UK top 10, Robyn and Loreen making comebacks with upcoming albums and fine singles by Cazzi Opeia and Stormby.

Welcome to the 1st great new album of 2026. We can’t wait to see Agnes live for the 1st time in London next week.

• Main pictures via Facebook courtesy Agnes Tickets
• Have you seen Agnes before and what did you think of her? Let us know what you thought in the comments below
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