STOCKHOLM - Jonas Åkerlund is referred to as Roxette's third member in Sunday's edition of the Swedish tabloid newspaper Aftonbladet because when Per and Marie release a new album, Jonas seems to always somehow be involved.

  Along with this interview with Jonas, the newspaper published several photographs taken during the video shoot in Stockholm this past week.

Click on "more" to read TDR's translation of the entire article.

• Aftonbladet's article (In Swedish - with photos)

Here's a translation of the entire article:

ROXETTE FILMS THEIR NEW VIDEO HERE



By Tore S. Börjesson, Aftonbladet

(Translated by Judith Seuma)


Roxette's third member: Jonas Åkerlund

  When Per and Marie release a new album, he's always involved somehow.

  I've already done 15 videos with them," says Jonas.

  The latest is called "A Thing About You", a newly written song to be released on October 14th, to help create interest as on November 4th, Roxette releases "The Ballad Hits" collection. Aftonbladet can today publish exclusive pictures from the video shoot.
  "It's a small love story between a guy and a girl. It is visually narrated, in symbols, with situations one can hopefully identify with if one has ever been in love," says Jonas.

  Per and Marie are the narrators. Two hired actors are the couple-in-love.

  It is just the last example of a long and successful collaboration between Jonas and Roxette, which doesn't seem to have an end in sight.

Will make more videos

"I'm doing the cover design for "The Ballad Hits" with Per and Marie and in the spring, "The Pop Hits" is out. So there are some more new songs to be recorded on video," says Jonas.

  Everything started in 1992 with Marie's solo album "Den Ständiga Resan". Jonas directed a television report about the singer which contained two videos and was sold to many countries. From there, the step wasn't long to Roxette.

  Jonas' first video for the band was "Fingertips" from "Tourism" (1992).

  "I said early on, that if I'm going to do music videos, they've got to be seen. It's meaningless to waste energy and ideas to do videos in Sweden that nobody sees and there wasn't any other band besides Roxette to work with then. Luckily enough, Per and Marie trusted in me.

  A personal favorite from the long cooperation is the video for Gessle's solo single "Kix".

Hard to get new ideas

  "It attracted a lot of attention from abroad. A lot of people liked it. That was important. But it's not just a video that helps you settle down in the business, it's when you do a lot of things that maintain high-quality.

  One thing lead to another: Prodigy, Madonna, Metallica, Cardigans, U2.." Åkerlund has directed videos for them all and even more. It was a hard job from the beginning and it hasn't become easier.

  "One doesn't want to twist himself and recycle old ideas without coming up with new. And that's hard."