A one-hit wonder who sold 4.5 million copies of her debut single told yesterday how she has bizarrely lived out the lyrics of her only chart-topper.
Swedish-born Emilia Rydberg, 35, shot to fame in 1998 with “Big Big World” but then disappeared from the public eye.
She was just 19 when she was thrust into the limelight and her ballad topped charts across Europe and was a seven-times platinum success.
The song tells of a young girl who is desperately trying not to miss an ex-lover after they break up.
Emilia prophetically sang: “It’s not a big big thing if you leave me, but I do do feel that, I do do will miss you much miss you much…”
And her own life mirrored the hit after she met the man she believed was ‘the one.’
She moved to Berlin to be with him but was left heartbroken when the relationship collapsed.
After picking herself up, Emilia has now relaunched her pop career with a seductive new image in stark contrast to her former girl next door look.
She said: “I think I was a teenager for a long time – I don’t think I became a woman until I was around 26 so I guess in many ways the album reflects how I’ve grown up.
“It is now that I am big, big girl in the world and I feel I am able to sing and offer a little bit more about it, I can sing about love and struggle.
“I spent my university years in Berlin in the early 2000’s and I had so much fun, learning what I liked in terms of creativity and music.
“While I was there I met the person I thought was the love of my life and I suppose I could say he showed me new things and allowed me to learn about heartbreak.
“In many ways it was bizarrely like the lyrics to my first song.
“I wouldn’t say I want to shake off Big, Big World but it was a long time ago. It was a wonderful fame-hungry time in my life but I was just a teenager.
“I’m a woman now – I’m older and my out look on the world has changed – I just hope everyone likes the new more grown up side of my music.”
Emilia, originally from Stockholm, was discovered in 1996 by Lars Anderson, son of ABBA’s manager, Stig Anderson.
She has now released “You’re Not Right For Me” from her new album “I Belong To You”.
