She’s the stunning female vocalist in power metal band Amaranthe and a veteran of Melodifestivalen 2015. And, in case you hadn’t guessed it, Elize Ryd is also a big Eurovision fan.
She recently proved the point on Instagram where she uploaded a cover of Montaigne’s Eurovision 2020 song “Don’t Break Me” while in quarantine in Denmark.
The Värnamo-born star traveled to Denmark earlier this week with her band to record their new album. But they got stuck in the country after the borders were closed to help slow the spread of coronavirus.
“It’s me and my co-writer/friend and band mate Olof Mörck here now,” she tells us. “We were supposed to travel back to Sweden and record the guitars in two weeks, and then come back to record the vocals, but we were forced to reschedule everything now, since we don’t know when Denmark is gonna open their borders again.”
Our girl doesn’t want to break while in isolation, so she turned to her song-of-the-moment for strength: “Don’t Break Me”.
“I discovered her thanks to Eurovision and I’ve been listening to both her albums constantly since,” Elize tells us. “She’s an incredible artist. And the song ‘Don’t Break Me’ is so fantastic — I love it.”
“I like it because it speaks to me on a personal level — it touches my heart. And because her voice is so emotional and strong at the same time. The lyrics, the melody, the music, the overall vibe, and of course her stage persona and personality. She is totally unique and bad ass.”
Fans recently saw Elize serve as the Swedish spokesperson during Finland’s UMK 2020. That’s got a lot of fans wondering if she’s planning a return to the world of Eurovision — whether that’s as a songwriter or performer.
“I am a huge fan, always have been,” she says. “Besides participating on stage in 2015 with the lovely Richard Söderberg, I wrote ‘Delirium’ together with Jonas Thunder, performed by Swedish-Polish artist Isabell Otrebus in the Polish finals back in 2018. Jonas had John Lundvik’s ‘My Turn’ in the Swedish selection the same year.”
“We have lots of great songwriters here in Sweden so the competition is HUGE. I’m very grateful to have been a part of this big event twice already. Or three times (if we count the jury). So, the answer is yes: I would love to do it again! Feel free to hook me up!”
Thanks, Elize! We’re sending you love while in isolation. Keep those covers coming!
Wowser! I love Elize Ryd, really wanna see her return to Melfest soon and Amaranthe are an awesome fun band. I know she loves Eurovision, she once said her earliest ESC memory was the 1993 Swedish entry “Eloise”
“Don’t Break Me” was one of my favourite entries this year and I’m gutted we won’t see Montaigne grace the Eurovision stage with her wicked one-shot performance(a trendsetter we saw a few times in this NF season, including long shots thanks to the WW1 epic film 1917)
Would love to see Elise at ESC someday!
I love Elize Ryd! When I used to listen Metal, she was my favourite singer with her band Amaranthe. Just listen to Amaranthine. It is amazing. Hope to see her in Eurovision next year!