Daniel Kvammen opens up about partying and loneliness – VG

In a VG article titled “Someone Lies About Our Hero”, artist and composer Daniel Kvammen (32) takes a firm stand against Petter Northug’s support apparatus.

– It’s really about something much bigger than Petter Northug as an individual, Kvammen tells VG.

VG meets the artist for a cup of tea at Youngs restaurant in Oslo.

– What I have perhaps reacted to the most in recent weeks is that it has seemed a great surprise to many. I think it’s a little weird. Oslo is small and Norway is small. This is not the first time I’ve heard of this, he says.

Recognize

Kvammen says he doesn’t have a personal relationship with Northug, but that he has great respect for what he has done as a sports star and as an entertainer.

He says he recognizes himself in the need the former ski king has had to seek excitement after his sporting career.

– I can recognize myself in the void, and I can also recognize myself in filling that void with subjection, he says.

The article is written in connection with Kvammen releasing a song called “Janteloven” on Friday. The song is released by Kvammen’s own record company “168 km Records”.

– I took many rounds with myself and was not sure if I should release the song. I ended up saying that if I can speak up and say something important about this, that’s fine. Because we see time and time again that great celebrities struggle when their careers end, he says.

He says the song was written earlier this year and suddenly took on a completely different meaning six months later.

– In the winter of 2020, I was standing on a dance floor in Oslo when I suddenly saw Petter Northug. I remember that I could not free myself from the idea that something was not right. That something was very wrong. Then I went home and wrote a song about the king on the mound, a guy who overcompensates because he’s not really doing that well, he says.

Sacrificed everything

Kvammen recounts how he was on tour early in his career and stood on stage in front of thousands of people.

– It is not difficult to get on stage, it is difficult to get off. That’s when abstinence hits, or whatever you want to call it, and you no longer have an audience or attention. That’s when the feeling of emptiness hits.

He points out that the care he has received cannot be compared to the level of care that Petter Northug has received.

– But the pressure you can experience mentally and mentally by being a familiar figure, I recognize myself, he says.

After two years of touring, games, and parties, he felt tired and lonely.

– It was difficult to land after that. You feel incredibly empty and alone, because you have sacrificed so much to make this happen. I woke up to find that I had been through quite a few things in life, which were about boyfriends and close relationships. It is possible that the family did not feel that I was present and it was a very bad feeling.

Kvammen says it was always just a little phone call from town, drinks, and fun.

– In hindsight, it’s obvious to him that the whole party was a hunt to fill the void, he says.

He believes that in many stories, including his own, there is an element of nightlife to fill the void.

– I think we have to understand better what this does to people. Because it’s pretty obvious that it does something. Whether in the form of plastic surgery or in the form of drug problems, it is the same trend. It’s a desire to fill something, he says.

Call support staff

Kvammen misses someone who gave him clear advice early in his career.

– Maybe I wish there were a little safer frames around me. There should be professional people in the picture and there should be clearer summaries, she says.

He himself received help from an acquaintance to contact a psychologist to discuss the stress he was experiencing in relation to his work.

– I’m having a great time today. Instead of spending a lot of time in nightclubs, I have enjoyed, among other things, training, she says.

He wonders whether sports and entertainment Norway in general have good enough processes around these psychological processes.

– It must be possible to have two thoughts in your head at the same time. He’s done criminal things, I totally dissociate myself from that. But I think we can ask ourselves if we should have a bigger support system and thoughts on how we take care of people after they are done with all this.

Simen Herning at ACT Entertainment is the former manager of Kvammen. He writes in a message to VG that he is happy that things are going better with the musician today.

– This is an important topic that Daniel addresses, and we learned a lot working with him. We are happy that Daniel is better today and we wish him good luck with the release of the new song.