Industry Talk: Anders Frøen

Mood Melodies is the moniker of Anders Frøen, who is a Norwegian music producer and songwriter. Originally from Bærum, a suburb of Oslo, Mood Melodies has been a part of the Norwegian music industry for the past decade.

Since his beginning, he has worked with artists such as Jessie J, Alan Walker, Alessia Cara, Zedd, Brandy, Karmin, and others. To date, his work has gained more than 3 billion streams on music streaming services such as Spotify, YouTube and more. Anders is currently based in both Oslo, Norway and Los Angeles, United States. Since 2016, he has been signed to a joint venture publishing setup with Sony/ATV and Stellar Songs, the publishing company established by renowned and critically acclaimed Norwegian music production pioneers Tor Erik Hermansen and Mikkel Eriksen, also known as Stargate.

What has been your focus lately? My focus has pretty much been the same as it has always been. I want to write bigger songs, become better at my craft, as well as build my network further.

The most important piece of advice you have ever received? The most important piece of advice that I received, would probably be that I should always try to do the work of ten people, and build a team around me. In this industry, the right management, co-writers, publishers, lawyers, mentors, and others can be extremely important. And obviously, what’s “right” depends on yourself.

Your best industry-tip?The best industry-tip I’ve received is that your collaborators won’t be Rihanna or Max Martin over night. Therefore, one should always work with whoever wants to work with you. Also, you should also reach out to people for collaborations, and not be discouraged when people say no or don’t respond. People have been saying no to me for more than ten years.

What’s your golden moment to share with the rest of us?I feel like I can highlight quite a few golden moments throughout my career. The first one would probably be when I had the chance to participate in the Rihanna songwriting camp in 2012. Another one might have been when I wrote a song that ended up being cut by Jessie J.

I also remember meeting Gunnar Greve, who is now my manager and close partner. We quickly realized that we both shared a crazy mindset, and were thinking way beyond just Norway. And of course, one of my biggest moments was when Alan Walker’s breakthrough single Faded was released, and it ended up becoming a massive hit. Lastly, signing to Stargate’s publishing company Stellar Songs and going #1 on the radio in America was a huge moment for me.

Why Norway, why now? I believe part of it is due to a shift in the mentality of young writers, artists, and producers for the past decade. Writing commercial pop music also seems to be “cooler” now, compared to what it was like before. Door-openers such as Stargate showed Norway that anything is possible. I’m certain that their impact on Norwegian songwriters and producers has been way bigger than most people understand. As a result, there are more and more ambitious people who aim for greatness, which becomes the start of a new wave. It’s also quite visible in the way Norwegians have a significant impact on the sales charts, radio plays and ticket sales around the world. People such as Kygo and Nico & Vinz, and more recently other acts such as Alan Walker, Astrid S, Matoma, to name a few. They all keep inspiring new artists, songwriters, and producers to make great pop music with a commercial appeal that could work beyond the borders of Norway.Who in the Norwegian music industry deserves a high five? I’ve already name-dropped a few of them earlier, but there are a bunch of people in the Norwegian music industry who deserves a high five. Tor Erik and Mikkel have both served as huge inspirations for more than ten years. My manager and partner Gunnar Greve, who shares the same drive and ambition as I do. Alan Walker, who continues to achieve great things at the age of 19. Jesper Borgen, a great songwriter who I’ve been working closely with for a couple years now. Also Kygo, Ina Wroldsen and Axident are huge inspirations. The list goes on!