It seems things couldn't happen fast enough for the 22-year-old singer, who first came to New York from Stockholm when she was 19. Rather than wait for record companies to come calling, Lykke Li created her own label before teaming up with Björn Yttling (of Peter Bjorn and John) to record her first album, Youth Novels. And then the big-name companies did start calling. “We already made the album, so after that it was a licensing thing and a matter of finding the right fit.”

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