You need to prepare for a successful career as an artist in the same way you would for a long mountain hike. That's the view of singer, songwriter and entrepreneur Natalie Carrion. After a few successful but also tough years, she is now on her way to new heights. Here she shares her most important lessons learnt so far.
”I am then ready.”
She says it several times during our conversation at Nybro konditori, where we have a coffee in late November. Outside, the promising new snow is falling and Natalie Carrion has a new album in the works: The Brokens which comes out on 30 January. She is ready for the launch and to face her audience, with her emotions all on the outside.
”I am then ready.”
That's what she said to her fiancé on the bus on the way to the Karlstad arena during a Mello 2024 competition, where she performed the song Northern Lights (Goeksegh) in front of a huge audience in the middle act. She has also sung at Skansen's National Day celebrations and hosted the Sámi Grand Prix music festival. But it is not the individual peaks that have shaped her, but the long road there.
Because Natalie doesn't claim she was born ready. She has become one by finding the courage time and time again, even when it felt scary and nervous.
"My dreams are bigger than my fears," she says.
She played her first gigs on shaky legs as a street musician outside the MVG shopping centre in Umeå. A twenty or five hundred kronor in her guitar case was an immediate response to the new songs she had written. But what meant the most was the temporary community she felt with the audience. Even then, she dreamed of recreating that feeling on a large scale - on a world stage. Imagine, a glittering sea of people singing along to the songs...
But for Natalie, it's not just about songwriting and connecting with audiences. She sees her career as an adventurous entrepreneurial journey. A mountain hike. Here's her top advice for anyone running a creative business:
- Decide on a peak to aim for
- Which mountain do you want to climb? If you don't know where you want to go, it's hard to know where to go. - Take the right equipment with you
- What do you need along the way? Get what you need in terms of knowledge, contacts and support.
- Standing by a bog, you might realise that you chose the wrong shoes after all. That's okay, it's not a failure. Next time, take different shoes, or find a different route. - Don't give up when the terrain is difficult
- You just have to keep going and have faith. You don't always see the top, but that doesn't mean it's not there, right? That's life, the most important thing is that we keep moving forward.
Natalie has faced steep uphill climbs several times. The pandemic put the brakes on an international venture, while she lost her father. She gave her all to enter Melodifestivalen, but was rejected. The autumn of 2024 was also unexpectedly quiet. The emails that used to pour in failed to materialise and her self-confidence faltered.
It later turned out that she had indeed received requests, but they had landed in the wrong mailbox due to a technical change at her web host...
Yet today she is grateful for what she learnt from the setbacks. When the terrain seemed most difficult, she met someone who had a big impact: the legendary music producer Neil Dorfsman (Dire Straits, Sting and others). They met at a party organised by Umeå-based Toontrack. Afterwards, they stayed in touch and in November 2024 Neil wrote in a text message:
”Natalie, I believe that the person who succeeds and perseveres in their journey is the one who is most true to themselves.”
Strengthened by his words, she finalised her upcoming album, The Brokens.
- It's a celebration of everything that is a bit broken and fragile in us humans. I want to encourage everyone listening to choose life's perspective, to see what you have and live life to the fullest," she says.
Behind her, on the wall of the patisserie, is a large mountain landscape in oil.
She doesn't know exactly what to expect from the new year. But Natalie Carrion is ready for anything.
Natalie Carrion's discography:
The Brokens, album (2026)
Live a Life, single (2025)
Sunday, single (2025)
Satellite, single (2024)
Summer Love, single (2023)
Daelviejïjje, single (2022)
Banana River, EP (2019)
A song about life, album (2017)
Text: Hanna Kangassalo
Image: Bea Holmberg
