K: Let me switch topics, just like us guys do… When one of your artists says he would like to do a new album, what’s the process of it? Do they come to you first or does the record company call and demand the next release because your contract says so?
D: It’s different for each artist. But usually I work quite closely with both the artist and the label. It’s a team work.
K: So if Per says, “I have songs written for a certain project”, what does he do? Is he going to the studio or asks you first?

D: No, with Per it’s different. He pretty much decides for himself if he writes for a new solo album or for a new Roxette album. So he writes, then he makes his demos, then he calls Clarence and Christoffer and decides what to do. We don’t really talk to the label before we’ve decided what to do. He owns his own masters and then we present it to the label.
K: Are you involved in the creative process?
D: Not in the early stages, no.
K: But later they ask you for your opinion?
D: Yes. But it’s a group thing again. You know, we choose songs, we choose singles. But in the very early stages like “are we going to record this or this or this”, that’s more him and the musicians.
J: Who actually chooses the songs that later appear on the album? The label?
D: No. it’s the team.
K: The singles are chosen by… ?
D: The team. Usually not by Per. He’s very open with his music and actually not a great single picker…
K: How much is Marie Fredriksson involved? My feeling is that she is a bit in the shadow, we only see and hear Per everywhere…
D: Well, she doesn’t write for Roxette. She loves to be on stage, she has always loved to be on stage. Now more than ever! She has to focus on the energy for the things that she can do. She’s writing in Swedish and it takes longer than it used to. But she is very much involved. Per sends her the demos, if it’s a Roxette project. She listens to all of them and then she says, “No, I can’t sing this one” or “This one is for you” like they’ve always done. So musically, she is involved. It’s just that she is not as “outgoing” as Per is.
K: My feeling is that she is happy that Per is doing this sort of job for her.
D: Well, they’re doing their job together, but Per likes to be on the Internet, he likes to be on Facebook and Twitter. They have different roles.
K: How much time does it need for Per to complete an album from the idea to the release?
D: I don’t know, you have to ask Per. I don’t know when he gets the idea and how long he has had the idea in his head before he talks to us.
J: I have some questions out of the business talk. Do you still have time for yourself, and if you do so, what do you like doing then?
D: If I turn to myself, I like to see my friends. Some of them are in the business, and some of them are not in the business. I like to travel. I travel a lot with my work but I like to travel private as well.
J: Do you have some favorite places you like to go to?
D: Yes, I like Australia a lot. So I spent some time in Byron Bay after the Roxette concert was finished. I like Africa. I’d like to go back to Africa. I’ve been to India, to Goa, I like that a lot as well. I like to go to London, see friends and to shop. And I like to see films. Theatre, I don’t see as often as I should. I try to read when I have time. I have nieces and nephews that I like to hang with. One of them is playing ice hockey. Yeah, that’s what I like to do.
J: We found out that you like soccer.
D: Yes, I like sports! I like soccer, I like handball and I like ice hockey. And track and field I like, the Olympic games.
J: Is there a team you favor?
D: Football not so much. I like football when it’s a national match or a Euro or World cup. I like Chelsea because I lived there. Handball, I also like the national team. Ice hockey, the team from my home town Jönköping, HV71.
K: You stick to your roots, it seems.
D: Only in ice hockey. In a small town like that when something big happens with the team, it affects the whole city and also because my nephew is playing hockey. So hockey I have from my home town. And handball. There were a lot of good handball players. My uncle was a very good one. Germany has a lot of good handball teams, a lot of Swedish players there.
K: Are you active in sports yourself?
D: I used to be. But never on an elite level. When I was at school and stuff like that but not so much now, no. I did everything, you know, football, handball, swimming…
K: …trying out things…
D: Yeah, just like you do when you’re at that age.
K: Do you have talents music-wise?
D: No. I play the piano, I was I in choirs when I was at school, but I have never had the ambition to be a pop star.

In this moment, Dita comes in and says that Agnes, one of the artists we talked about just a few minutes ago, has arrived. We figure out that we have overrun our time by half an hour and start taking a couple of photos with Marie that would be needed for this article. There is no rush, it all goes smoothly. We shake hands, wish each other a good time at wherever we go to now.
Down on the street, we realize that the meeting was really nice. Marie Dimberg has left a good impression on us. In most situations you will meet her, she may be a little stressed, simply because the circumstances she has to work in are rarely to be called relaxing. They have tight time schedules, many different things depend on the right persons being at the right place in the right time. So please be nice to Marie Dimberg. She is nice too. Really.

Tomorrow on TDR: Face to face with Pelle Alsing. pt.1 : “I’ve been walking the dog two times and now I’m here”