You only get one debut album, so you might as well make a statement. For most artists, bold displays of sexual liberation and blush-inducing retellings of past dalliances would certainly scratch that itch. But Cobrah isn’t most artists.
The Swedish singer and producer, who got her start in the Berlin music scene circa 2018, has been making pearl-clutching club hits since she uttered the words “F*cked my head until I got sore / Lost it, punched him down on the floor” on her inaugural single, “IDFKA.” It was this raucous, scandalous attitude that would shape the next three EPs and five years of her career. But by time she got to work on her debut in 2023, Cobrah was ready to shed her provocateur persona and take a more personal approach. “I just felt like it wasn’t exciting anymore to say ‘Suck my cl*t,’” the artist, 29, tells NYLON.
From this metamorphosis came Torn, Cobrah’s latest offering and first LP. Easily her most introspective work to date, the album strips Cobrah of her incendiary mask to reveal the vulnerable interiority of a woman exploring a new side of herself — one who loves hard, desires long-term commitment, and fears heartbreak. “[In the past,] I’ve presented myself as a vessel,” she says. “I portrayed characters to make myself as a fantasy come alive. This whole album is about not pretending.” Of course, there’s still plenty of raunchy, sultriness for Day-One Cobrah fans to enjoy (minus the wigs and hair extensions), resulting in a body of work that is uniquely complex, avant-garde, and multidimensional as the woman who made it.
To celebrate Torn’s long-awaited arrival March 6, we caught up with Cobrah over Zoom to discuss her love of TikTok edits, upcoming Coachella debut, and dream Paris Hilton collab.
Your debut album is right around the corner. How are you feeling?
I’m feeling really good. Very, very, very, very excited. I’ve wanted to do an album for a very long time, and I can’t really kind of believe that it’s happening. I thought I would do an album like five years ago or something, but the opportunity or the stars didn’t really align at the time, and now they do, so it kind of feels like a dream come true. It sounds really cringy to say it, but I’ve been an artist for sometime, and I’ve done cool shows and fun things, but I’ve never done an album. So, it’s nice to have a new first. That’s a pretty big thing.
You’ve been releasing music for so long. Why wait so long to drop your debut album?
Well, if you asked me, I would’ve dropped my debut seven years ago if I could. But in the beginning when I was making music, nobody was interested in signing me. So, I created my own label, Gag Ball, and then I put up my music through my label, [an] independent release. After I did that — my first EP — the pandemic hit, so the world was very still. As it was opening up, I was like, “OK, well, my EP is old now.” All of a sudden, I didn’t get to tour it or live it, so I might as well just do a second EP and try again. That’s why I wrote “Good Puss” and “Brand New B*tch” and those songs.
So, after that, people listened to my music, and I signed with a label, and the label said, “Well, Cobrah, wouldn’t you be into making an EP?” I was like, “No, I don’t want to make my EPs,” but I did it because I was like, “OK, cool, of course, why not?” Now I finally get to do an album, but it’s just like, how hard can it be to make an album? It’s much, much harder than I thought when I was an artist. I didn’t even think I would be doing more than one EP. But you get what you get, I guess, in life, and you try to make the best of it.
How long have you been working on this album?
I wrote the first song, “Torn,” before the Succubus EP was released, so that is three years ago. When I got back from touring in 2024, I was in Paris and I wrote the skeleton of the album, and then we finished it up in 2025. It’s been kind of a long process, but when you do a debut, I think it’s worth to take the time it takes. No one’s waiting for the next one — everyone’s just waiting for the first one. Maybe in the future I won’t have as much time to really be as delicate with it.
How has your songwriting evolved over the three years from when you first wrote “Torn”?
When I got back from tour and I was in Paris writing these songs, on the first day, we wrote a club song that was repetitive with a lyric hook in the chorus and [other] things that I’ve developed into my sound. And it didn’t excite me anymore. It was just not as thrilling. I felt like the world was kind of catching up a little bit to the sound that I have, and I was like, “This doesn’t feel new; this doesn’t feel like I’m reinventing anything.” When you make an EP, you have to be very to the point. People have to understand who you are in a very short amount of songs. When you get to do an album, you get to do double or [triple] as much of songs as you get to do on an EP. You have time to be more complicated or more in depth.
I wanted to work on my songwriting and tell more and be more complex. I told my producers, “Let’s not write music for the album. Let’s just write music and think of it like we’re just trying to open our minds to whatever inspiration is going to give us this week and see what happens.” And that’s what we did. That’s kind of where I tried to develop this new sound. We wrote songs like “Excusez Moi” because we were in Paris, obviously, but we also wrote songs like “Snow White” [and] “Hit Girl” as well. We wrote a little bit of “Platinum,” and we just kind of started diving more into other tempos and melodies.
What are, or who are, some of your biggest inspirations when making music? It doesn’t necessarily have to be an artist. Is there a subculture that you’re really influenced by?
I’m going to be honest and say something that you probably wouldn’t think, but I, like everyone, [am] scrolling on TikTok all the time. It’s not like I wanted to make TikTok music, but there [is] this genre of TikTok where they make edits, like they make [an] edit of a movie, and then they put this really emotional song behind it. I love those edits. They started popping up more and more, people driving cars with cool themes in the background, and I was like, “Oh, my God, this is such a vibe.” Maybe that’s part of the reason why the album is very cinematic and why I wanted to make videos that felt like a whole movie because I was just really in love with that vibe. Obviously, you make the music you want to make. I didn’t make the music where it’s like “oh, it has to fit into a TikTok edit,” but it was with that kind of emotion I went into the studio.
Your creative direction is very latex focused. What is it about latex that speaks to you so much?
It makes me feel so cool. The first time we tried it on, I was like, “Oh, my God, I’m the baddest b*tch in the world. Nothing compares to me.” It’s not like putting on a normal thong and a bra or a leotard or anything, it’s just it makes your body look amazing no matter what you look like, and it makes you look really sexy, but also very dominant. It’s also very niche, which I’ve always been really into niche things. It just ticks all my boxes.
You’re set to make your Coachella debut this year. How are you feeling? Are you excited, nervous, scared?
I feel very excited. I’ve never been at Coachella, so I don’t know what to expect, really. I don’t try to expect too much. When I think about Coachella, I think about the show that we’re going to make because I don’t know anything about it apart from that it’s a really big deal, but I think the most important thing that you do is your work. The show we’re doing at Coachella is going to be [as] wonderful as all of the other shows that we’re doing on tour. We’re putting on the same show for Coachella as I’m doing in Dallas or New York. I try to prep and think of it as just do the best tour, including Coachella, if that makes sense.
Is there a song that you’re really excited for people to hear on the album?
I’m really excited to play one of the songs that is not a single, “Hit Girl.” That’s the song that I really, really like. I feel like it’s a musical theater number, but in the most Cobrah way possible, where it’s like it starts with a rap and it’s cool, and then it goes to this really a thorough little pre-chorus melody, and then the hook is like a club hook. Then, the second verse sounds like you’re in a jazz club, and I think it’s going to be very, very fun to play live, just because it has so many different elements.
Is there a song that you’re nervous to put out?
I think “Charming” is the odd one out because it’s the ballad, and it’s probably the most personal one. It’s about being in a relationship, which is a very, very complex and emotional thing. I’ve never really written a ballad like that before. It’s just really, really honest. The scariest thing is when you’re as close to the truth as possible and you’re the most vulnerable and also sonically [doing] something very, very new. I’m slightly nervous, but also I’ve always wanted to write a song where people put up their phones and put the flashlight on and kind of wave it from side to side. I really hope that that will happen.
Would you say this is your most personal work to date?
Yeah, for sure. This is a big step.
What made you want to go in that direction?
I’m always into the extremes of things. For the last tour, I was upside down on a cross with my legs spread open, singing “Suck my cl*t,” and I was full-frontal naked in a music video. I’m into the thrill of being a creative and [an] artist and putting myself out there. I’m always in the highest of heels and the tightest of corsets and latex, and I’m sweating and I’m cold, and it’s always awful and really fun at the same time.
But I felt like I pushed it. I was like, “I cannot say anything more grotesque than this.” I didn’t think it at the time, but I’m always chasing the thrill of my artistry. This is incredibly thrilling to be so exposed, but in a completely different way, in a way where you can be much, much, much more hurt if it’s not received well. It’s really exciting and fun and scary at the same time to open up myself to the inner things rather than the outer things. It’s a new extreme for me.
You just put a lot of emphasis on excitement and being excited by things. Who or what are you excited by right now?
I hope I get to work with more artists for the next songs that I’m putting out. I hope to do more collaborations. I feel like this album is expanding my world, and hopefully I’ll get to do more wider things. Also, what excites me is that… Well, this is not even going to happen, but I am potentially future excited to do a little bit more acting in movies. I’m manifesting it through all the edits that I’ve been so inspired by. Oh, and I’ve recently been watching the Fallout series. That’s really good.
You mentioned working with other artists. Is there anyone that you’re dying to work with?
There’s two ways to think about it. I feel like some artists, I know that we’re going to work together one day. I just see it in the stars. [Other] artists, I’m wishing so hard for because it’s so far out. I’m dying to do a thing with Paris Hilton or a living icon. I’m excited by doing things with people [who do] not do music but [do] it for fun. I feel like that’s a more fun approach to collaborations rather than picking the most famous one or the coolest one. I’m really into characters, and I think Paris Hilton is one of them. Every song she puts out I like to play before I go on stage. I think she’s just a very, very funny icon.
Photographs by Axel Ahlgren.
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
