Icona Pop, Sammy Adams to perform at Lawnparties

Swedish electropop duo Icona Pop will be headlining the Fall 2016 Lawnparties, Undergraduate Student Government president Aleksandra Czulak ’17 announced in the Lawnparties website Wednesday.

American hip-hop artist Sammy Adams will be performing the opening act.

Icona Pop formed in 2009. The duo of Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo is best known for its 2012 song “I Love It.”

Hjelt and Jawo met at a party in their music school in Stockholm, and began writing their songs and performing as a duo for weeks later. Since then, Icona Pop won two SESAC Pop Awards in 2014 for ‘"Song of the Year" and "Songwriter of the Year" and two Grammis for Newcomer of the Year in 2013 and Electronic/Dance of the Year in 2014.

According to an interviewwith the Miami New Times, both Hjelt and Jawo label themselves as feminists and advocates of LGBT rights.

Adams, also known as “Boston’s Baby,” began his musical career in Trinity College by creating and recording songs on his laptop in his dorm room in 2008. He rose to fame with the release of his hit single “I Hate College” in 2009.

Since then, he has been recognized and showcased by Lollapalooza, Billboard, Conan O’Brien, AT&T, Teen Vogue, and Entertainment Weekly, and is currently signed to RCA Records with Sony. His debut album, “The Long Way,” was released in March 2016. This fall, Adams is on "The Long Way Tour."

Czulak explained that the USG Social Committee worked with an agent to choose performers based on the artists’ availability and whether they were in the USG’s price range.

Czulak noted that the overall budget for fall 2016 Lawnparties is $60,000. In the spring, the USG spent $82,000 on Lawnparties, including food vendors.

“I’m really excited. I think it’s going to be a big show. I think a lot of people are going to come up,” she said.Czulak noted that the Social Committee wanted to have hip-hop artists this year.

“We had two great options on the table … and we were lucky enough to get this one come and perform,” she said.

She declined to comment on other candidates that were placed on the shortlist for the performance.

USG Social Committee Chair Rachel Park ’18 was not available for comment at the time of publishing.

Get the best of ‘the Prince’ delivered straight to your inbox. Subscribe now »

Czulak noted that unlike in the spring, the fall's Lawnparties will not focus on student participation. She said that because the planning is done within a shorter time frame, there typically isn’t as much time to reach out to student groups to get them involved as there is in spring.

“I think it’s going to be great. I hope that the weather’s great and not raining like it was last year,” Czulak added.

Lawnparties will take place on Sept. 18.