You may not recognize the name Lukas Graham, but you’ve no doubt heard the Danish artist’s catchy single “7 Years”, either on the radio during a late-night ride home, or in the background at the local supermarket.
His song may be mainstream, but the 27-year-old musician was born and still lives in the hippie commune of Christiania, an abandoned air force base nestled alongside a small lake in Copenhagen, Denmark. He comes off relaxed and unassuming, but very passionate about his beliefs. When asked if he considers himself a political person, he pauses, really mulling over the question.
“Yeah, I do. In certain spheres, I will refrain from debating politics though,” he told CNN recently in Austin, Texas. “I don’t like the whole ‘slander, slander’ conversation that most political debates are these days. So I tend to keep my political standpoint not to myself, but just relatively private.”
Graham’s music can be considered a pop/soul hybrid, a genre that seems to work in his favor. As of writing, the song currently sits at just under 50 million views on YouTube, and is #3 on the Billboard Top 100.
He provides an account of life in a self-governing society, and why Denmark is the “liberal little brother” of Europe.