Icona Pop Wants You to Dance Like a Maniac

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Swedish duo Icona Pop—yep, the ladies of "I Love It"—are coming to town. Their agenda includes an in-store appearance at ULTA on State Street tomorrow, where they'll be talking all things TIGI and posing for pics from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. Then, they head to the Metro for an evening show. And if you want to find singers Aino Jawo and Caroline Hjelt between gigs, we'd suggest searching your local pool hall.

We caught up with the friendly rockers yesterday, and had a chance to talk leather jackets, Swedish design, and of course, Chicago. Here's what they had to say.

Hello, Icona Pop!
Aino & Caroline (in unison): Hiiii, hello, hello!

So, you're coming back to Chicago this week, and you were here in August for Lollapalooza. Any favorite things to do here?
Caroline: [In August] we were just in town for one or two days, so we didn't have much time to do all the fun stuff. But I mean—just the vibe in the city! That was so great. And we did go to a couple of amazing bars where there was live music, and we played pool. We had a really good time.

So you play pool together, and do just about everything else together. This must include shopping. How have you influenced each other's style?
Caroline: I don't know how we influence each other, but I know we inspire each other a lot. What is cool about Aino is that she can put on anything, and look expensive and fashionable.
Aino: That's how I roll!
Caroline: [Laughs] Yeah. We do share stuff—like we share a coat—but one thing can look totally different on Aino than on me, so it's a fun thing that we can share.
Aino: And I think Caroline can put something on [that wouldn't work for me], and pull it off and look like a million dollars. We pull off such different looks, but we definitely inspire each other a lot.

Does your onstage style differ a lot from your everyday style?
Caroline: We're not the best for following trends. But we love the whole thing of expressing ourselves, and of course we do that in our everyday lives as well. I think it's important to have a few pieces you really like, like maybe a leather jacket and a pair of shoes that you feel totally comfortable in. But then onstage you just do it ten times more.

Who are your favorite designers?
Aino: There are a lot of very good Swedish designers, like ACNE, that we just totally adore. We also like some of the big brands.
Caroline: Yeah, like Alexander Wang, maybe, or Givenchy or Balenciaga. There are so many brands that usually put out really cool collections. But we also love the up-and-coming designers. I think it's very beautiful, that thing when you don't have anything but manage to create a collection.

Right! So, how about beauty products? What are your must-haves?
Aino: Both me and Caroline love the Giorgio Armani foundation. That's what we always use when we want to look fresh—it looks like you're not wearing makeup at all. It's also good to have a night cream, and a day cream. I especially love the brand Fresh. We love natural-looking products.

That's the way to do it. Well, I know you're in the middle of a soundcheck, so I'll let you go soon. But first, we have to talk Girls. I first heard your song "I Love It" on that show.
Aino & Caroline: Yayy!

Do you watch it?
Caroline: Yes, we watch the show, of course! We think it's great. We were super pumped when we heard they were going to use our song.

So, which Girls girl are you most like?
Aino: I think me and Caroline [together] are a mix of all of them. Yeah, we mix them all up.

Indeed, there's a little Shoshanna and Marni in all of us. Well, thanks so much for your time, and I'll see you in Chicago!
Aino: Thank you! We really hope you come out to our show. We want to see you dancing like a maniac.
· Icona Pop [Official Site]
· Ulta [Official Site]