Lillie Venn - New Music

LILLE VENN Announces Debut EP Whatever, Together Released 24th March 2023 via Little Friend Big World Norwegian Pop Rock Newcomer Reveals New Single ‘Mourning Sickness’ Released 10th February 2023

Norwegian pop rock newcomer Lille Venn (aka Helene Brunæs) is delighted to announce that her debut EP Whatever, Together will be released on 24th March 2023 via Little Friend Big World. To celebrate the news, the songwriter has today revealed the visualiser for her new single ‘Mourning Sickness’ which is released on 10th February 2023 and follows on from Lille Venn’s storming, teen-nostalgia driven previous single ‘Sleepover Song’, with both tracks featuring on the forthcoming EP (see below for full listings). Commenting on the new track, Brunæs says: “I wrote ‘Mourning Sickness’ when I moved to Norway after living abroad my entire life. My grandfather had passed a few weeks before I arrived and I felt sick to my stomach with regret over not having made it to his funeral. The song became a cry for help, after trying to deflect blame and processing the fact that I had done something I’d probably regret for the rest of my life. It’s also a cry for my grandfather that ultimately ends in the words I think we would’ve shared if I saw him again: ‘I know you’d want me to be so happy, and carefree. Be careful, if you wanna leave, I’ll be with you, through all of the uncertainty.I wish I knew what you would think.’” 

With the track title being a play on words, Brunæs decided she just had to do the same for the single artwork—an ode to the many times she retreated to the safe haven of the high school bathroom when she would feel sick with her emotions, whatever they may have been. The visualizer for the track is another family effort from the creative bunch, as Brunæs collaborated with her partner, Justin, and dad, Jan, drawing inspiration from the lyric ‘I missed out on putting a rose on your casket’. “My brother, CK, and my mum, Karin, slowly throw more and more roses into the frame as the song goes on,” she explains. “Of course, my dog, Leica, cameos in the outro to bring some relief to the scene as that part of the song does for the listener.” Born in Norway, a young Lille Venn and her family moved to Singapore when she was just 2 years old. Confused and overwhelmed by the starkly different cultural climate, it was an experience that would see her stop talking for an entire year. Eventually, she learned to love her new home, before the family upped-sticks all over again and moved to Sydney, Australia. It was there, aged 9, that an early encounter with Canadian pop-rock icon Avril Lavigne set Brunæs on the path to becoming a songwriter. “My brother CK bought me tickets to see her for my 9th birthday,” she reminisces, “and I remember thinking so clearly that she waved right at me. I think I might have had an early God Complex, but whatever happened it sparked a fire in me: ‘I want to be her!’” 

Lille Venn began writing music at 13 in her bedroom after school, “desperate to play guitar and be half as cool as my brother”, she laughs. She makes no secret of the fact that a large part of her musical influences come from her older brother, and spent her early teens both wearing his clothes and steeping herself in music from his favourite bands like Blink 182, The Cure, and The Shins. Several years later and it’s safe to say that her dream of pop-stardom looks increasingly likely to become a reality, with Lille Venn peddling an infectious, radio-friendly brand of arena-ready pop punk/rock that blurs the lines between the music of Blink 182 and Say Anything, and her love of mainstream pop artists like Taylor Swift, Hilary Duff, and The 1975. Lille Venn will be playing select Norwegian live dates over the coming months, with plans for UK appearances in the near future.