2007–2010: Career beginnings and Youth Novels Lykke Li released her first
EP,
Little Bit, in 2007.
Stereogum named her an artist to watch in October 2007 and described her music as a mix of
soul,
electro and "powdered-sugar pop". Lykke Li's debut album,
Youth Novels, was released on LL Recordings in the
Nordic region on 30January 2008 and received a wider European release in June 2008. The album was produced by
Björn Yttling of
Peter Bjorn and John and Lasse Mårtén and was reportedly inspired by a previous relationship of three years.
Youth Novels was placed on many of the year's Best Of lists and saw Lykke Li sell out tours, including sets at festivals
Glastonbury,
Coachella and
Lollapalooza. She appeared on ''
Late Night with Conan O'Brien''. She appeared on Swedish musician
Kleerup's
self-titled album, contributing vocals to the track "Until We Bleed". She also worked with Norwegian electronic duo
Röyksopp on their 2009 album
Junior, contributing vocals to "Miss It So Much" and "Were You Ever Wanted". Lykke Li appeared on
Last Call with Carson Daly on 18February 2009. She covered "Knocked Up", originally recorded by
Kings of Leon who had approached Lykke to cover a song of her choice, and "Gifted" in which she performs with
Kanye West. Lykke Li performed at the 2009 Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival on 19April and the 2009 Lollapalooza festival on 8August as part of the promotional tour for
Youth Novels. Her song "I'm Good, I'm Gone" featured in the game
FIFA 09, whilst a remixed version was featured in the 2009 horror film
Sorority Row. The song "
Possibility" was written for the 2009 film
The Twilight Saga: New Moon. Lykke Li had been asked to write a song to the film soundtrack but was reluctant to commit to the project. It was after she had seen an early screening of the film that she decided she wanted to contribute to the soundtrack. The soundtrack was released on 16October 2009.
2011–2013: Wounded Rhymes The song "
Get Some" was featured in the 15th episode of the first season of
Hawaii Five-0 titled "Kai e'e" which aired 23January 2011. The song was also used in
ABC Family's drama
Pretty Little Liars in the 18th episode of the second season which was titled "A Kiss Before Lying" which aired 30January 2012. The song was also used in the 19th episode of
the second season of
The CW's
The Vampire Diaries, titled "Klaus" and originally aired 21April 2011, and in the show ''
Don't Trust the B---- in Apartment 23 as well as the sixth episode of the first season of Teen Wolf, titled "Heart Monitor" and originally aired 4July 2011. The song was also used in the film Premium Rush as one of its soundtracks. The song "Unrequited Love" was used in episode 19 ("The Wheels of Justice"), season four of The Good Wife''. in Amsterdam, December 2008 Lykke Li's song "Melodies and Desires" was featured in the 2010 Australian film
Griff the Invisible and an edited version of "Get Some" was featured in the
Catwoman trailer for the video game,
Batman: Arkham City. She collaborated with singer Kleerup on the song "Until We Bleed", which was featured on an episode of UK TV series
Misfits and an episode of the television series
Ringer. Her second album
Wounded Rhymes was released in 2011. The album was featured on several lists of 2011's best albums, including
Q,
Mojo,
The Observer,
The New York Times,
The Huffington Post and
Rolling Stone. The 19April 2011 episode of
Glee (titled "A Night of Neglect") featured student Tina singing a version of Lykke Li's "
I Follow Rivers". On 30April 2011, she performed on
Later... with Jools Holland in the UK, playing "Get Some", "Sadness Is a Blessing" and "I Follow Rivers". Lykke Li played at the 2011
Latitude Festival, held between 14 and 18July 2011 at
Henham Park in Suffolk, England. She appeared with her band on US late night talk show
The Tonight Show with Jay Leno in August 2011 and on the
Late Show with David Letterman in November 2011. Belgian DJ/producer The Magician's remix of "I Follow Rivers" is featured in
Jacques Audiard's 2012 film
Rust and Bone and the 2013
Palme d'Or-winning
Blue Is the Warmest Colour. Lykke contributed to the 2012 compilation "Volym 1" with the track "Come Near" released by the Swedish artist collective and record label
INGRID where she is a founding member. She also contributed a cover of "
Silver Springs" to a 2012
Fleetwood Mac tribute album, which included renditions from
Best Coast,
Marianne Faithfull, and
MGMT. In 2013, she was featured as a guest musician on
David Lynch's third studio album,
The Big Dream, performing vocals on the lead single, "
I'm Waiting Here".
2014–2017: I Never Learn, acting debut and Liv On 27February 2014, Lykke Li released the video for the title track of her third studio album,
I Never Learn. Following the release, Lykke Li released the video for the single "Love Me Like I'm Not Made of Stone" on 4March 2014. On 10April 2014, she released a video for the
lead single, "
No Rest for the Wicked". On 15 July 2014, she also released a video for the single "Gunshot". Lykke Li officially released
I Never Learn on 2May 2014. Once again her album was featured on several lists of 2014's best albums, including
Billboard,
Complex, and
Pitchfork, among others. In United States,
I Never Learn debuted at number 29 on the
Billboard 200, making it Lykke Li's highest-peaking album on the chart. Prior to the release, Lykke Li released a remix of "No Rest for the Wicked", featuring
ASAP Rocky, on 21 April 2014. On 30 May 2014, Lykke Li released a remix EP of "No Rest for the Wicked". German electronic DJ
Robin Schulz remixed "No Rest for the Wicked" and the edit was featured in Schulz's debut album
Prayer. Lykke Li made her acting debut in the 2014 Swedish crime film
Tommy, directed by
Tarik Saleh, and recorded a song for the film, "Du är den ende". She wrote "No One Ever Loved" for the
soundtrack to
The Fault in Our Stars, which was released on 19May 2014. Lykke Li was also featured as a guest musician on
U2's album
Songs of Innocence, performing vocals on the last track "The Troubles". On 14November 2014, Lykke Li gained considerable attention from Internet music publications regarding her cover of Drake's "
Hold On, We're Going Home", performed the night prior at London's
Eventim Apollo. On 5January 2015, Lykke Li posted a picture on her
Instagram account, in which she announced her temporary retirement. In 2015, Lykke Li was featured on
Emile Haynie's debut album
We Fall on the track "Come Find Me", which also features
Romy Madley Croft from
the xx. She also teamed up with
Woodkid to create a song for the
Divergent Series: Insurgent – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack. The song, "Never Let You Down", was released as a single on 9March 2015. On 6April 2015, she released a video for "Never Gonna Love Again", directed by Philippe Tempelman. In September 2016, supergroup
Liv, featuring Lykke Li, released their first single "
Wings of Love". The music video was directed by Lykke Li.
2018–2019: So Sad So Sexy Lykke Li released her fourth studio album,
So Sad So Sexy, on 8 June 2018 through
RCA. Along with the announcement, Lykke Li released the first two singles, "Deep End" and "Hard Rain".
2020–2022: Eyeye In a 2019 interview speaking about her fifth studio album, Lykke Li told
NME: "I think, maybe to everyone's disappointment, I'm going to really scale it down and back and slow it down. [...] It'll be more like soul music. It'll still be sad, and still be sexy." Lykke Li made her return to music releasing "BRON", a song sung entirely in Swedish, in October 2020. Lykke Li released "No Hotel", the lead single from her fifth studio album,
Eyeye, on 23 March 2022. The album was released on 20 May 2022. In July 2022, it was announced that Lykke Li would partner with creative director Theo Lindquist and artist Nick Verstandpresent to present an immersive installation, entitled
Ü & EYEYE, at
Los Angeles'
The Broad Museum. The project intends "to transform the Broad’s Oculus Hall into a hyper-sensory cathedral of female romantic fantasy", says a statement released about the installation. The opening night will feature a special performance by Lykke Li and her band in the Broad's lobby and third floor galleries.
2023–present: The Afterparty In March 2024, Lykke Li performed the
June Carter Cash song "
Ring of Fire" during the end credits of the Netflix film
Damsel. Lykke Li began work on her next album,
The Afterparty, following the release of her 2022 album
Eyeye and a 2025 covers EP. She released the album's lead single "Lucky Again" in February 2026. ==Other ventures==