2005–2007: "Idol" and commercial success In the spring of 2005, a 17-year-old Agnes auditioned for the
second season of popular Swedish singing competition
Idol in
Gothenburg, singing "Varje Gång Jag Ser Dig" by
Lisa Nilsson. Immediately after winning
Idol, Agnes signed a recording contract with
Sony BMG and her debut single, "
Right Here Right Now (My Heart Belongs to You)" was released. On 22 August 2006, only eight months after her
Idol win, Agnes's third single "
Kick Back Relax" premiered on the TV-show "Sommarkrysset". The song marked a change in Agnes' music style, going towards a more dance and club style, while moving away from her original pop and R&B. The single spent four consecutive weeks at its peak of number 8 on the Swedish singles chart and hit the top spot on the club chart, gaining a gold certification. Agnes later confirmed this in an interview in the Swedish newspaper
Göteborgsposten, and it was further confirmed on 2 December 2008 by
SVT. The song "
Love Love Love" was chosen as her official entry song. The song was written by Anders Hansson, who had previously worked with Agnes on her third studio album, co-writing almost all of the record's tracks, including the first two singles,
On and On and "Release Me". On 28 February 2009, Agnes advanced to the final round of
Melodifestivalen 2009 and eventually achieved 8th place with 40 points. On 28 February, she officially released "
Love Love Love" as the third single from
Dance Love Pop, peaking at number four on the Swedish charts. The song was included on the two-disc re-release of her third studio album, released on 1 April 2009. where it peaked at number six selling over 25,000 copies, but most of all, "Release Me" gained massive remarks in the UK, and Agnes was signed to the small independent record company 3Beat, where the song received its official UK release on 31 May 2009, proving to be a big hit, being picked up by most music channels, also with Agnes performing the song and a few others at
G-A-Y, the UK's biggest gay nightclub venue and also a live performance on GMTV, one of the UK's biggest breakfast shows. Release Me hit the top of Radio 1's A-list playlist, and eventually debuted at number three in the
UK Singles Chart, and continued to ride high in the top ten for many weeks. After eight weeks, it managed to get a Silver certification with over 300,000 copies sold. In Ireland, the song debuted at thirty-eight and later peaked at ten. "Release Me" continued to reign in European charts during the summer and autumn, being released in most European countries, and becoming a success in
France,
Belgium,
Italy, and
Germany. Agnes made her first appearance outside of Europe in late July after being signed by
Warner Music in Australia with "Release Me" as her first Australian entering the Australian chart at number eleven in its first week of release. Agnes' second international single was "On and On" which was first released in the Netherlands where it peaked at number fourteen. Later that year, "On and On" started to climb the charts in the francophone areas of Europe due to digital downloads from
Dance Love Pop. It debuted at number twenty-seven in the
Belgian-(Wallon) Singles Chart and after its release, peaked at seventeen. In the
Belgian (Flemish) Singles Chart, it peaked at eight, making it the second top-ten hit in Belgium. but even before it was released as a single, it peaked at number fourteen on the
French Download Chart and thirty-seven in the
Swiss Singles Chart. "On and On" was released as the second single in
Germany,
Austria,
Switzerland and
Hungary in May 2010, and as the third single for the UK in June. In the UK, the second single was "
I Need You Now", which was rerecorded from the previous version on
Dance Love Pop. "I Need You Now" was officially released in the UK on 16 November 2009 and peaked at 40 in the
UK Singles Chart. But fared better in the dance chart at 5. "I Need You Now" was then released in Sweden on 23 November 2009 as an iTunes exclusive single. Later the same week, it was released to other digital markets and despite no promotion and little airplay, it entered the
Swedish Singles Chart at number ten and later peaked at number eight, making it Agnes' seventh top-ten hit in Sweden. The song was also released in a few other countries such as Italy, The Netherlands, Norway, and Australia but failed to enter any charts. In February 2010, it was confirmed that Agnes's third French single would be "
Sometimes I Forget" and would serve as the follow-up to the massive success of "Release Me" and "On and On", which combined had sold over 160,000 copies in France. In July 2009, the major American record company
Geffen Records announced that they had signed Agnes and would release "
Release Me" in the U.S. on 18 August 2009. She also received a signing bonus of 1 million dollars ($1,000,000). Agnes made her first appearance in the U.S. on 27 August 2009 at a release party for her single "Release Me". Among the guests was the CEO of Interscope Records, Ron Fair, and he made a comment about their new signing "She has it all. She is an amazing singer, looks good, is fearless and humble." The launch of Agnes in the U.S. and Canada continued during the spring of 2010 and in the summer of 2010 "Release Me" was added to mainstream radio. On 19 June 2010, Agnes and
Björn Skifs performed at the
Wedding of Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden, and Daniel Westling. The song
When You Tell the World You're Mine was the official wedding song, written especially for this occasion. The lyrics were written by
Jörgen Elofsson, who has worked with Agnes before, and the music was written by
Jörgen Elofsson & John Lundvik. As a tribute to
Victoria, Crown Princess of Sweden,
Prince Daniel, Duke of Västergötland engaged Elofsson to compose a song that expresses what people feel when they fall in love. The song entered the
Sweden Top 60 Singles at fourteen and peaked at one the week after. It also peaked at 19 in
Finland.
2011–2013: Veritas and Collection Agnes's fourth album
Veritas, was released in September 2012. The first official single was "
Don't Go Breaking My Heart," which premiered on 5 August 2011 on the show
Mr. Gay Sweden. The single failed to chart on the official Swedish singles chart, though through high digital sales, it peaked at three on the digital chart. This was due to low streams on Spotify, which of the official single chart consists of since 2010. On 28 May 2012 Agnes released the lead single, "
One Last Time", from
Veritas. The single was, unlike her previous singles, released in Sweden only. Earlier in May, the single had leaked onto the Swedish Spotify, and was later dispersed. During its first day of release, the single quickly reached the top ten iTunes chart. In an interview Agnes also said that her goal with the album was to be involved with all the songs. Her American record company Interscope wanted her to move to the U.S. and record the album there, but Agnes didn't feel "at home" and couldn't find the people that she wanted to work with. Therefore, she decided to go back to Sweden and record her album there. In a press release from the record company Agnes commented on the album name; "I like how the word 'Veritas' sounds, how it looks and especially what it stands for. The word fits very well with the whole idea behind this album." On 31 August 2012, the song "
All I Want Is You" was released as the second single in Sweden and promoted with a performance at Swedish television show
Sommarkrysset. A few days before, on 29 August, American
blogger
Perez Hilton premiered the song together with a lyric video exclusively on his website, remarking that "Agnes Doesn't Want Much… All She Wants Is You! And all WE want it more Agnes! Seems like a fair trade to us!" Agnes has described "All I Want Is You" as feverish and ambiguous, perhaps a declaration of love, but equally a story of obsession. The song did not chart as well as her previous single "One Last Time" however, failing to reach the Swedish charts, although it did manage to peak at number nine on the official download chart. In June 2013, the third single from
Veritas, "
Got Me Good", remixed by Bassflow, was released. Agnes and singer
Darin Zanyar both appeared as the interval act
Swedish Pop Voices during the second semifinal of the
Eurovision Song Contest 2013 in
Malmö on 16 May. In late 2013, Agnes appeared as one of the singers featured on the
TV4 show
Så mycket bättre. Her first greatest hits album was released on 27 December 2013, titled
Collection.
2019–present: Return to music, Magic Still Exists and Beautiful Madness Seven years after her last release, on 8 May 2019, Agnes revealed on her Instagram page that she would be featured on the posthumous
Avicii single "
Tough Love". Before his death, Avicii had sent a message to
Vincent Pontare and
Salem Al Fakir of
Vargas & Lagola stating that he wanted the song to be a duet by a "real couple" or a couple that have worked together enough to be almost considered a "couple". "Tough Love" was described by
DJ Mag as featuring Indian influences in a melodic passage that was inspired by Avicii studying the music of northwest India, which he had played for Pontare and Al Fakir before his death. Following her return to music, Agnes also founded her own record label, Senga. Agnes stated that "Fingers Crossed" was "inspired by the sense that nothing is impossible, because nothing is impossible! It's a song that can lift you up to new dimensions and like a peaceful tank it crushes everything in its way. The song does not excuse itself and I don't excuse myself. I welcome you now to my party, and it's my party so… I can do what I want to."
Magic Still Exists was released on 22 October 2021 to critical acclaim alongside promotional single
Here Comes The Night.
The Guardian called the album a "pop miracle" and a "soothing balm perfect for fleeting dancefloor moments". It was listed in ''The Guardian's'' top 50 albums of 2021, with journalist Laura Snapes relating the music to that of
Lady Gaga,
Donna Summer and
Queen, whilst avoiding "pastiche on the strength of [the] songwriting". Commercially, the album reached #7 in Sweden and had the highest amount of vinyl sellings in its debuting week. Agnes herself called her new signature style "Spiritual Disco", with the idea of incorporating esoteric and motivational spoken mantras taking inspiration by
gospel and
queer underground culture into pulsating disco synth-pop beats and vivid orchestral palettes. The third and final single
Love And Appreciation was sent to Swedish radios in summer 2022. The single was sponsored in the advertisement for
Antonio Banderas's fragrance THE ICON. Agnes kept her new signature style for subsequent releases anticipating her sixth album in studio. These subsequent releases include electro-funk midtempo "Twisted Mind" (2023), co-produced with
Purple Disco Machine and later included in his album
Exotica; the ethereal runway anthem "Balenciaga Covered Eyes" (2024), co-written with Hannah Wilson; and the pounding waacking earworm "Milk" (2025), inspired by
Daft Punk and co-written with Danny Yxilon. A trailer for the album was released on 18 May 2025, suggesting its title to be
Beautiful Madness. Agnes mentioned visual artist
Mark Rothko for the inspiration behind the creative process of her sixth studio album. "To me art is an adventure into an unknown world, which can be explored only by those willing to take the risk. Use less elements and give these every element more space. This is what I'm looking for the sounds of my upcoming project." ==Musical style and influences==