Single reviewsThe Other Side Reviews

Mats Dernánd – Everybody Has A Story (2022)

Everybody has a story – plain, simple and true. We all have stories in our pasts, and stories waiting to be experienced in our future. We live, we learn (hopefully), and we share ourselves through these tales. This is what Mats Dernánd and Emma Nilsdotter hoped to achieve in their track ‘Everybody Has A Story’.

Alright, grand, so we know the pair wrote a song, but who are Mats Dernánd and Emma Nilsdotter? Along with his multi-instrumentalist skills, Dernánd is a Swedish singer-songwriter and producer; Nilsdotter is a singer-songwriter who has worked with artists like Sophie Ellis-Bexter, Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue and has been a regular singer on the Swedish edition of Dancing with the Stars. Rather highly skilled and intriguing artists, these two talented people chose to bring their skills, passion and love of music together in ‘Everybody Has A Story’.



Following his track ‘We’ll be together’, Dernánd and Nilsdotter weave old-school folk tones with modern-day pop sentiments. Interestingly enough, while the song lies between an indie-folk and folk-pop style, an insertion of rock-influenced instrumentation and soulful piano adds another dimension to the track. The dulcet sounds wrap around the flowing melody bringing a heart-soaring, no, a soul-soaring texture to ‘Everybody Has A Story’.

Inspired by the quote “everyone you meet is fighting a battle you know nothing about. Be kind, always”, ‘Everybody Has A Story’ is filled with vulnerability and human fragility woven through a kaleidoscopic soundscape. When speaking about the track, Dernánd shares that “we all carry around a lot of stuff that we tend to keep to ourselves. We find it easy to judge each other, but we rarely know what’s behind it. We need to be able to forgive people who have treated us badly for us to be free ourselves…”

For more from Mats Dernánd check out his Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Spotify.

This artist was discovered via Musosoup #sustainablecurator