Join us as we introduce you to the ten acts we think will be illuminating the pop world with their brilliant music, stunning performances and huge debut albums in 2012. Number six in our list is Icona Pop - aka Swedish pop Queens Aino and Caroline.

PopDash: Taking things back to the very start, can you explain how you got together and how things formed?

Aino: Well I love music and I had just broken up, actually just got dumped by my boyfriend and one of our mutual friends forced me to go to a party and this party was hosted by the lovely Caroline.  

Caroline: I lived in this apartment with a bunch of girls and we're always having the best parties and having a really good time and my friend was like 'I invited my friend Aina  because she really needs to have a good time. Then Aina came to my house and we fell in love with each other and couldn't stop talking to each other. The day after we called each other and decided that we should write something. The funny thing is we both were kind of nervous because we liked each other so much that we wanted it to work out but we never talked about 'what do you listen to? what kind of music to you want to do?' we just started. We wrote a song that day and we just thought it was the best song in the world.

PopDash: So it was easy for you to write together?

Aino: Yeah, it was very natural.

PopDash: Where was this party?

Caroline: It was in Stockholm, back in Sweden.

PopDash: Do you remember what you were talking about when you first met each other?

Caroline: I think it was music - we didn't know each other but we knew each others friends and I knew that Aino had a band and I was doing my thing with my music.



PopDash: Was the stuff you were doing before different from what you're doing now or is it similar?

Aino: Well it's kind of different in a way but i think we were both searching for what we wanted to do and before we met each other it didn't feel right. I mean i tried so many different stuff just trying to find my way but when we got together everything came really naturally. We're always going into the studio and having a lot of fun and i think if you listen to our records we can know each others feelings and call it pop.

PopDash: Who are the musicians you look up to between the two of you?

Aino: Bjork, The Knife, Queen, Prince - there's so many!

PopDash: How far along are you with making your debut album?

Caroline: We're almost done and it feels weird because I don't know if we're ever going to feel like we're completely done, it feels like you can always do better. We have so many songs and we've been working on it for a long time now and it's time let the world into the Icona Pop world.

PopDash: The EP you release earlier this year, will the songs from that be on the album or some of them and is it a good indicator for what the album is going to sound like?

Aino: Some of them will be on the album and on the album there definitely is some similar stuff but also we don't have twelve tracks that sound totally the same; it's very spread. We've been through a big journey developing what we want to do and having a lot of fun.

PopDash: Would you say it's an album to put on when you're at a party?

Caroline: Oh yeah, definitely. Some of the songs are kind of bitter sweet so i think you and both party to them and you can listen to them and you can cry to them. That's the best mix!

PopDash: When is it likely to be released?

Aino: We want it to be early next year. We're doing a single first in February and then the album will come.



PopDash: Are you living in London now or have you just been based here recently?

Aino: We're living here now and we've been living here for three months and we'd been moving a lot back and forth so it's nice to have somewhere you can call your home. We love London. You can always find something to do. If you have a lack on inspiration you can go out and just see a band or something everyday in the week. I like the music scene here also because it's huge compared to Sweden. I really like London and the whole vibe and people expressing themselves. The only bad thing is the lack of water and the nature. Although you do have beautiful parks here.

PopDash: What's the best thing you've done since you moved here?

Caroline: There's been so many things going on. I was thinking about the other night when we were with a bunch of friends and we just decided we should go to that Christmas market (Winter Wonderland) in Hyde Park and we took the wrong way and got locked into the the park and we had to jump over the fence. We found this rollercoaster and it was a bar at the same time. They played a lot of fun, good music and we just couldn't stop dancing. We stood there and danced for maybe three or four hours. People were just watching us and filming us with their iPhones and thinking 'what's going on?' because we were going totally mental. We didn't expect to dance we were just going for a glass of mulled wine, have a coffee and get into the Christmas spirit but it turned into something completely different. We've had so  many good nights here. It feels so good to live here, we go out a lot and we love it.

PopDash: What would you like to have achieved by this time next year?

Aino: Hopefully our album is going great and we've been out on tours. Hopefully next year at this time we will just be back from a really big tour.

PopDash: Away from your own career is there anything else you're looking forward to in 2012?

Caroline: We'd like to go to Burning Man and Coachella. We're looking forward to the summer. We have been working for two years and I think now we're going to be working even more but we might have one day off to feel the summer and go to the park.

Check out the rest of our Big In 2012 series now...

1. Lana Del Rey
2. Frank Ocean
3. Emeli Sande
4. Stooshe
5. Yasmin
6. Icona Pop
7. Labrinth
8. Dot Rotten
9. Delilah
10. Oh My!