Bingkai Karya – Swedish experimental pop musician and producer Thea Gustafsson, known by her moniker Becky and the Birds, released her self-produced debut album Only Music Makes Me Cry Now in November 2024.
Fresh off her recent win as Best Producer at the 2025 Swedish Grammy Awards, Gustafsson returns with a powerful new single titled Should’ve Known Better (Choices) — a thematic companion to the track I Look at the Choices I Made from her debut album. The new release showcases Gustafsson’s signature boundary-pushing production style, blending 90s alt-R&B elements, gritty Timbaland-inspired beats, and bright accordion flourishes performed by her father. The single is accompanied by a cinematic music video directed by Swedish creative duo ph-any (Patricia Aliaga Devall & Hedvig Moberg).
In addition to the new single, Gustafsson has announced a limited international tour across the UK, Europe, and the US, where she will perform her latest material live for the very first time.
About Becky and the Birds
Thea Gustafsson, a classically trained musician, studied songwriting at Sweden’s prestigious Musikmakarna Academy and was mentored by Avicii. A lifelong violinist, her perfectionist drive and diverse musical education laid the foundation for her solo project Becky and the Birds, which emerged in 2016 as a direct response to frustrating, unproductive collaborations with male producers and songwriters.
Her self-released debut EP in 2018 set the tone for a new, independent artistic voice. With Trasslig (Swedish for “messy” or “complicated”), released through 4AD in 2020, Gustafsson used Becky and the Birds as a space to tell stories about complex women — strong yet vulnerable, independent yet romantic, empowered yet tangled in emotion.
She was later nominated for Newcomer of the Year at the Swedish Music Publishers’ Awards — the country’s GRAMMY-equivalent for songwriters and composers — and has collaborated with artists like Dijon, Seinabo Sey, and Låpsley. In 2021, she released the single With You exclusively via Spotify’s Studio Oyster.
Her long-awaited debut album Only Music Makes Me Cry Now, released in fall 2024, features lush sonic layers, emotional depth, and stunning production detail. The record merges Gustafsson’s signature bird-like vocal manipulations with ambient urban soundscapes recorded in Stockholm and London. From the intimate indie-pop of When She Holds Me, the dreamy textures of Anymore, the surprise mix of electric guitar and 808s in To Trust You, to the heartbreaking breakup ballad I Made My Baby Cry (praised by Elton John on his Rocket Hour show on Apple Music 1), the album delivers Becky and the Birds’ most compelling work to date. It’s a musical journey that promises to translate into captivating and unforgettable live performances.
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