Winona Oak
“Hope,” Winona Oak’s 2018 collaborative single with the Chainsmokers, may have propelled her towards the bright lights of LA, but home has never been far from her thoughts. Born and raised in the Nordic forests of Sweden on a small crop of land called Sollerön – known as the Island of the Sun, Oak spent her childhood and adolescence riding horses through the open forests that formed the backdrop for her acclaimed 2022 debut album Island of the Sun.After moving to Stockholm to pursue her passion for music, Winona honed her craft and landed a deal with Atlantic/Neon Gold Records. Soon after, the budding songstress met Australian electronic maestro What So Not and the two co-wrote his singles "Better," "Stuck In Orbit" and "Beautiful," which highlighted Winona as the track’s featured artist. She then went on to collaborate with The Chainsmokers on their RIAA-certified gold hit single, “Hope” and soon followed with her debut solo single “He Don’t Love Me”, which proved to be a runaway success. In 2020, Winona released her first EP Closure and her critically acclaimed sophomore EP, SHE, which received praise from the likes of PAPER who declared, “Winona Oak is a name you should know.” Winona celebrated SHE with a stirring live performance of the title track as part of CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s #PLAYATHOME series. 2021 saw Winona collaborate with breakout bedroom pop star ELIO on “Nobody Loves Me,” and also saw her share the graceful and intimate track “Old Insecurities.”After signing with indie label Nettwerk, Oak’s upcoming new music carries an even deeper sense of intimacy. Her upcoming new EP and debut Nettwerk release was written around the death of her mother, who passed away from cancer in May 2023 following 15 years of illness. For this heart-wrenching release, the award-winning singer-songwriter peeled back the layers and turned a deluge of raw, unfiltered thoughts into a close-up collection of songs. “I just let go of all of the expectations and allowed myself to write more as a form of therapy, to just create what I needed to create,” she says.