Icona Pop's Aino on Their Fans: "They're the F*#king Realest"

Things are going pretty damn well for Icona Pop.

The duo, comprised of Caroline Hjelt and Aino Jawo, just wrapped up their tour with twerking queen Miley Cyrus and are currently in South Florida to perform at the Winter Music Conference. Not to mention, both ladies are still benefiting from the success of their U.S. debut album, This is..., released in September.

Both were smiling and laughing at the W Fort Lauerdale Hotel when they emerged from their black Suburban (not a limo, by the way). You wouldn't be able to tell these ladies flew in from Georgia that day and were most likely running on little to no sleep. "We went swimming in our clothes today," gushed Caroline.

Needless to say, they were a breath of fresh air to the swanky hotel where they both DJed and sang their infectious hit "I Love It." Last night,the W launched their newest event Pop Art Music Series, a combination of local art with music acts presented by Atlantic Records and Y-100, Icona Pop providing the music and Wynwood art providing, well, the art.

After sitting down with Iconic Pop, we can now add them to our list of favorite things from Sweden alongside Swedish Fish and Steig Larson's The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. Don't believe us? Read our interview with them. You'll want to party with them too. 

See also: Icona Pop at The W Fort Lauderdale (Slideshow)

New Times: So you just finished a tour with Miley. How was it, and was there twerking involved?

Aino: I would lie if I said there wasn't! The tour was crazy and her fans are turnt up and ready to party, like we are. It was too much fun. We had too much fun.

Would you tour again with her in the future?

Caroline: Oh, definitely! We're like a big family.

Your album came out in September. Have you been overwhelmed by the popularity?

Aino: it's overwhelming but fun. There so many things going on. It's cool that we get to meet our fans who tweet us, or Facebook us or whatever. People don't realize that Sweden is such a small country and for us to tour and have a selling album, that's huge for us!

Describe the difference between your U.S. and Sweden fan bases.

Aino: Our Swedish fans have been with us for a long time. There, celebrities can walk around and no one really says anything. Here, you have people taking pictures, trying to talk to you... We have to work hard to get our Swedish fans.

Caroline: But our fans are amazing.

Aino: (nods) Yeah.

Caroline: We have fans who will drive 8 hours in a car to see us.

Aino: They're the fucking realest.

I read an article recently where it says you guys first met at a party. How did that go down?

Aino: I was really heartbroken at the time and had a friend, that forced me to get out of bed and go out, meet new people. I went to the party, well, it was her party [motions to Caroline], I met her, and I fell in love.

Like a friend crush?

Aino: Yeah! [Turns to Caroline] And you were heartbroken at the time too, no?

Caroline: I was.

Aino: We just clicked. It was like we were the same person.

This event is called Pop Art Music. How do you guys feel Icona Pop fits in?

Caroline: It's really cool how the meshing of art forms goes hand in hand with music. People are here for different things, but it all ends up coming together because everything is combined.

Aino: it's about expressing yourself, and we're a firm believer in that, we're all about that. We believe it, embrace it.

Your album is called This is.... Finish the sentence.

Aino: We've been working on this album for such a long time. This is is Icona Pop. All of our songs are what we're feeling, what we're experiencing...

Caroline: it's our diary.

Aino: Yeah. We sing about heartbreak and nights out where we live it up and don't care. We are working on our second album too.

How is the second album going to be different than the first?

Aino: We want to keep on growing, we don't want them to sound the same.

You did an interview with the Miami New Times saying you two are feminists and that "every good person on this earth should be." Can you elaborate on that?

Aino: We both grew up with our moms and believe that when it comes to sexes, we are all human beings and we are all the same.

Caroline: Yeah, you know, people shouldn't be paid less just because they're a woman or be talked to a certain way. We believe in equality.

Aino: If I could swear, it's so fucked up.

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