At just 22, Lykke Li has made one of our favourite albums of the year. Youth Novels, out next month, is sweet, bitter, inventive, fresh, full of heart and packed with ambition, and we had to meet the Swede behind it before she explodes into superstardom. In person she's a smart and intense lady who is at times shy and insecure, at others passionate and full of conviction. We talked to her about the demands of performance, being a dreamer, how fame terrifies her, self-doubt and Pedro Almodovar movies...

Congratulations on Youth Novels. It’s already one of my favourite albums this year.

Oh, thank you.

How does it feel for you at this stage? Are you apprehensive about people hearing it?

Well I released the album in January in Sweden so I’m already over that kind of thing, the feeling scared bit. So now I’m getting it out there and I just need to get on with it and get it done. I’m really proud of it but I feel I’ve become a better singer… but for me it’s a really nice capture of that time, you know?

Are you already finding faults ?

I’m already moving on, I think. It’s not frustrating to dwell on it, because people pick up on different stuff. Like in Sweden, they don’t really speak English so they don’t pick up on the lyrics, so it’s nice to come here and answer questions about the lyrics. It’s always nice to talk about.

It’s called Youth Novels and you’ve said before that you’re singing about teenage experiences, like your first broken heart… is it just storytelling, or are you talking about personal experiences?

No, it’s very personal. It’s kinda all about me. I’m, how do you say, self-centered (laughs). Myself, I love singers who know what they’re talking about, because that makes the craft so much more, I dunno, real. I have to be honest.

What was your relationship with music when you were younger?

Music was, I think for most people, somewhere that I could escape to, you know, where I could be someone that I’m not. Also like the album, I can be totally honest and sing out my deepest feelings. If you’re the one I’m in love with then I can’t tell it because I’m really really shy, so. When I felt bad I would put on songs and lay on the floor and dream away. I’m very cinematic about everything and I feel like I’m always in this movie so the music has always been the soundtrack for my life.

It’s funny that you say you’re shy and yet you can expose your deepest feelings to thousands of people.

Yeah. I’m a very complex person if you know me. It’s like I have 10 persons in me. So that’s one of my sides, and another is really shy, you know.

Do you let yourself go in the performance of it?

Yeah, totally. The show is everything. I give it my all. It’s really serious for me, it’s like life or death. I have to give it everything I have and be shaking and sweating afterwards. If I’m not shaking or sweating that means I wasn’t good enough, you know? My sister, in social situations she’s the star, she’s crazy and like, “bah!” And I’m the quiet one. And then on-stage I just give everything that I don’t give in real life. And she would die if she went on stage. It’s give and take – you can’t be a star everywhere.

Do you find it difficult to talk to people after the show?

Yeah, because I don’t trust people. If people come up to me and say, 'Good show', I’m like, yeah, whatever, they hated it, and oh my god, I have to be so much better. And I feel kind of empty because I give so much of myself, I feel drained, and I just want to go back to sleep. I want to go away. I’m quite boring. When I’m not performing, then I want to be crazy and go out all night. But when I’m performing I just want to be quiet, you know?

You’ve mentioned Madonna in the past, but could you be that famous? She's surrounded by people after every show, but it seems to reassure her.

I could never be that famous. She was my idol when I was six or seven, and then I thought she was so cool. She’s very theatrical on stage and I love her styles, and she is on the male side of performance, you know? She doesn’t give a fuck about anything and she’ll go wild in the videos… but now it’s different, I mean she’s not what she used to be. It’s different now.

And that fame would be your worst nightmare?

Look at all the famous people, you know. They’re all crazy. They shave off their heads. I don’t know why I would want to be famous.

But what if that happens to you by accident?

That’s my fear. That’s why I can’t sleep at night. You have to choose. You don’t have to surround yourself with people that you don’t trust and I think that’s the problem with a lot of people. They don’t work with people that tell them the truth. They’re just like, ‘Oh fabulous, oh darling, you're gorgeous, please put on only panties when you perform.’ So I think you need to surround yourself with real people and you have to not let your ego... you have to connect with people. You have to be able to smile to people on the street and have a chat. You can’t just not talk to regular people, you know? I’ll have my small apartment and hang out with my friends and do regular stuff, so it won’t be a problem.

You have your own label. Does that help?

Yes, because I have control. I won’t be seeing myself on billboards because I’m the one who makes those choices, so of course I have the creative and business control.

What if McDonald’s say, we’d like to use I’m Good, I’m Gone on an advert?

I’ve already had offers that I’ve turned down, but if the right thing comes along I’ll say yes. But so far the right thing hasn’t come along. Since the business is changing, you don’t sell any CDs, so you have to sell the music somehow. You have to. How else do you make the money? It’s not for free. It costs to make an album and it costs to tour. This whole thing of people talking about, yeah, she got distributed by blah blah… but it’s like, are you fucking crazy? Yeah I’ve got this tiny label but I need the money from somewhere, so of course I’m gonna work with other people. Everybody does that. It’s stupid. Right now I have to pay money to go on tour. People are just ignorant.

What inspires you outside of music?

I’m very visual so great photographs inspire me, and books, and meeting people who are so alive, that really inspires me. People who push boundaries and genres and who create something that people won’t necessarily understand just because they love it. Sally Mann photos, I really love. And I like the Richard Avedon photos as well, and there are so many movies I like. The Pedro Almodovar movies… they just show that life is that way if you just see it like that. They are tragic but also very funny. You have to have a sense of humour about life. And I love that every female character is a lesbian on the inside.

Your musical influences seem to be older – Kate Bush, the Shangri-Las, Velvet Underground. What do you take from modern music?

I love hip-hop. Like Dizzee Rascal is really good. A Tribe Called Quest is one of my favourite ever bands. I think Amy Winehouse is really good. I love Clipse. I need to get that record.

How easy was it for you to get that initial attention?

Once it happened it was easy, but it took me a whole lifetime to get there you know. I’ve been playing in bands, doing demos, I went to New York and did open mic nights, and just like hounded people for three years and emailed everybody I know. But now it’s very easy, because once it happens, everything happens. You just have to work hard. Everybody who’s successful has to work hard. The album’s not going to do itself. It was one of the hardest things I’ve ever done. I’m pleased with it at some points but there’s always things you want to change. That’s life. You’re not perfect.

That’s the nature of a record. It captures a moment.

Exactly. That it’s not perfect. I think I’m going to look back on it in five years and be really proud of it and think it’s great. But right now I’m like, ‘I sing so bad on that song’…

How do you handle all the extra work around music? The interviews, the photoshoots...

Sometimes I hate it, sometimes it’s OK. It feels like all I’ve been doing for the last half a year is playing shows and talking about myself. It’s not good in the end. It takes away a lot of yourself, your own private areas. Also, it’s very different being a girl and being a boy in this business. You need to look good at all times and that really annoys me as well.

Are you treated differently as a female performer? Are you asked stupid questions?

In Sweden they ask me stupid questions. And they always want to compare me to other female artists as well, and sometimes they want to talk about style instead of my music. I mean it is what it is, and you can always say, I don’t want to talk about it…

It seems like a different game.

For sure. Sometimes I want to dress up but sometimes I don’t, you know?

It shouldn’t be the focus.

Exactly. It’s crazy.