"Josefin" () is a song performed by Swedish singer and songwriter Albin Lee Meldau, who wrote it with the song's producer . It was released on 23 April 2021 as the lead single from Meldau's EP, (2021), through Mayfly and Sony. Two years after its release, it saw a resurgence in popularity thanks to a sped-up version on TikTok, and "Josefin" peaked at number eight on the Swedish singles chart. It has become Meldau's most successful song and has been certified sextuple platinum by IFPI Sverige.
The song also became a hit in Norway in 2023, where three different versions of the song all charted in the top ten of the singles chart: a Norwegian-language version by Delara, a version by influencer created with AI and Meldau's original. In 2024, "Josephine", an English-language translation featuring American singer-songwriter Lissie, was released as a single from Meldau's second English-language studio album, Discomforts.
Composition Written during the COVID-19 pandemic, "Josefin" was intended as a pastiche of the works by Dutch–Swedish singer-songwriter Cornelis Vreeswijk, and a tribute to the Swedish ballad tradition. Meldau's friend Louise Hoffsten informed him about the , which he entered with "Josefin", a love song to a woman named Josefin. Hoffsten and provide background vocals on the song, with Hoffsten also playing the harmonica.
Due to people's efforts to identify the song's subject, Meldau clarified that "Josefin" is a fictional person and not based on anyone specifically. Meldau looked up popular female baby names in Stockholm during the 1980s and narrowed his choices down to three: Sara, Emma and Josefin. He decided against using Sara, due to its rhymes with ("to snare") and ("mortal danger"), while for Emma, Meldau immediately thought of (slang referring to cannabis) due to his past experiences with substance abuse. The song uses the name Josefin due to its ease of rhyming and also its use as a near-homophone of ("yes, so pretty").
Personnel Albin Lee Meldau – vocals, songwriting – production, songwriting, recording, mixing – background vocals Louise Hoffsten – background vocals, harmonica – drums Hoffe Stanow – mastering
Charts
Weekly charts + 2021–2025 weekly chart performance for "Josefin" Chart (2021–2025) Peakposition
Year-end charts + Year-end chart performance for "Josefin" Chart Year Position Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) 2021 41 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) 2022 31 Norway (VG-lista) 2023 27 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) 9 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) 2024 58 Sweden (Sverigetopplistan) 2025 64
Certifications
Cover versions Anna Ternheim version Swedish singer Anna Ternheim covered "Josefin" for the Swedish reality television series in 2022. + 2022 weekly chart performance for "Josefin" Chart (2022) Peakposition
Delara version Norwegian singer Delara released a Norwegian-language version of "Josefin" after a clip of her covering the song went viral on TikTok in June 2023, prompting her to record a studio version. The song would go on to chart at number two in Norway and number thirty in Sweden.
+ 2023 weekly chart performance for "Josefin" Chart (2023–2024) Peakposition
+ Year-end chart performance for "Josefin" Chart (2023) Position Norway (VG-lista) 22
Oskar Westerlin version In June 2023, Norwegian influencer released a version of "Josefin" created using artificial intelligence (AI), which layers his vocals over Meldau's. Produced by Ballinciaga and PandaPanda, the recording reportedly took five minutes to make. It received negative reviews from critics, with calling it a "stupid gimmick". Kvint, one of the song's co-writers, also criticised the cover. It charted at number four in Norway and became the first hit song in the country made with the help of AI. + 2023 weekly chart performance for "Josefin" Chart (2023) Peakposition
References