Kaleo frontman on the power of music ahead of SA debut

Kaleo front man JJ Júlíusson talks about music, emotion and the magic of live concerts ahead of the band's SA debut in February 2027. Music can make you cry, lift your spirits, transport you somewhere else or simply help you forget about the troubles of everyday life for a few minutes. It’s art that moves mountains, drives culture and gives momentum to social progress, or protests against it. Kaleo frontman JJ Júlíusson reckons that emotional connection is what makes music so extraordinary. And it’s what he wants South African audiences to experience when the Grammy-nominated Icelandic band performs in Cape Town and Johannesburg for the first time in February next year. The man behind the global hit Way Down We Go said that while the music industry has changed almost beyond recognition over the past couple of decades, the ability of a song to touch someone remains its greatest gift. “I’m a romantic and a purist, so I don’t think that I think of music as mathematics,” he said. “Nobody has the explanation. Where do the songs come from? I mean, we really don’t know. It’s like a higher power of some sort.” Júlíusson said music could affect people in ways that other art forms seldom manage, almost as though humans were programmed to respond to it. And while the world seems to be drowning in content, a lot of it a bunch of hogwash, his ambition as a songwriter remains simple. “My goal is to have people feel something, and maybe help them forget about their daily struggles for a couple of minutes, if I can.” Music is a higher power It’s a philosophy that also explains why Kaleo’s live performances move between hard-hitting rock, quieter acoustic arrangements and ballads. A show is not a playlist, and Júlíusson wants audiences to experience the contrasts rather than simply listen to one song after another. “I like to do both up tempo songs as well as ballads and more acoustic things,” he said. It’s the kind of variety he enjoys when attending concerts as a member of the audience. Júlíusson said live music had retained an authenticity that much of the modern entertainment business was struggling to preserve. “One of the last pure art forms in today’s world is the concert. You know, that hasn’t really changed.” The pandemic, he said, reinforced the importance of people gathering to share an experience, while performing in a country for the first time carried its own magic. “Sometimes you have ten thousand people waiting, and they’re singing their songs. You know, and you’ve never been to this place before. This is, to me, that’s magical.” Live concerts can be magical and is music’s purest form right now. Picture: Supplied He is less enthusiastic about the constant bombardment of music in everyday life, and the way social media and artificial intelligence have complicated, or perhaps zombified, the industry. “Things are being forced down people’s throats, and there’s way too much access to everything,” he said. Music constantly playing in shops, gyms and taxis, he suggested, could leave people exhausted by something that should bring pleasure. He said that contemporary culture is going through a low moment, with technological change moving at a pace that was difficult to keep up with. “Social media and AI and everything else. It’s getting very confusing, I think, for both the consumer and the artists.” Popular culture is at a low point Júlíusson prefers making music that sounds raw, natural and not overproduced. It’s an approach that has helped define Kaleo’s sound and one he hopes will endure beyond the band’s commercial success. The band’s South African debut forms part of its Way Down We Go Tour, celebrating ten years since its breakthrough album A/B, which helped propel the Icelandic musicians to international success. Kaleo performs at Kirstenbosch Botanical Gardens in Cape Town on 4 February 2027 and Marks Park in Johannesburg on 6 February, with Kongos and Ross Learmonth among the Johannesburg supporting acts. Tickets are available through Webtickets.