‘We had 2,000 people outside our hotel room in Buenos Aires singing our songs all night. David Coulthard later told me that all the Formula One drivers were staying there and were annoyed because they couldn’t sleep’
In my early 20s, I was in the biggest band in Sweden. But after Gyllene Tider [Golden Times] collapsed, I was depressed for two years. At first, Roxette only got together when Marie Fredriksson, our singer, wasn’t busy with solo stuff. To keep her in the band, I needed to make it successful, so I was very motivated.
Back then, apart from Abba, Sweden were pop underdogs. Our aim was just to get into other Scandinavian countries, or even Germany. But EMI Germany couldn’t get us on the radio, so they suggested I write a Christmas song. I wrote It Must Have Been Love (Christmas for the Broken Hearted), as it was originally titled, on the grand piano at home in Halmstad. I’d already started it as a love song: “It must have been love, but it’s over now.” But after the German label’s request, I added in a solitary reference to Christmas in the second verse. It was spring and I wasn’t feeling very Christmassy.
The demo I made had terrible vocals, because it’s a really tricky song to sing, but Marie was up for the challenge. We recorded it in time for Christmas 1987 and in Sweden it went Top 5. But EMI Germany hated it and didn’t want it.
