Jennifer Akerman, a.k.a. dark-pop performer Final Child, has always known where she needs to be. Growing up in Sweden as a child, she felt a burning desire to move to the United States—Los Angeles in particular. Her need to get away was so visceral, she went so far as to wallpaper her bedroom with American flags and set her watch to West Coast time.
It wouldn’t be long before she made her big move. Once she turned 18, the multitalented Akerman, who is a model, singer, songwriter, and producer, arrived in L.A. and immediately set to work. Over the next decade, the blonde-haired, blue-eyed performer founded bands and played all over the city; she booked modeling campaigns with The Gap, American Apparel, Forever 21, and more; she spent time with family, like older sister, actress Malin Akerman; she eventually met her now-husband, actor Tom Payne. All the while, she absorbed information: how to play guitar, how to sing, how to produce, how to be a self- possessed, manager-free, independent businessperson.
All of her efforts have culminated in a solo debut as Final Child, a rock, slow-pop outing that came about after her Bloke & Bird partner moved home to Sweden leaving Akerman to figure out her next step. “I got to a point in my life where I was like, ‘Okay, I’m not fulfilled. I feel like I need to explore myself,’” she says. “I went through a dark phase for the first time in my life and started writing only for myself. Just fucking around on the guitar. I needed that. I knew that I needed to go through the mud to kind of come out on the other end.”
Her debut album Monster, was released November 11th of 2022, the night before her very own wedding. To celebrate the release and to kick off the wedding weekend, she played a sold out show at New York’s Bowery Electric. The album is home to fifteen slick, moody tracks that invoke tense and passionate feels. The songs “Mad Woman” and “Monster” landed placements on hit shows “The L Word” and “Prodigal Son” on FOX.
Today, Jennifer admits she’s developed tremendously as a musician and is proud of her accomplishments. “Since I landed in Los Angeles as a young girl fresh from Sweden I feel like I’ve not just grown as an artist and songwriter but also as a woman and now a mother! I always felt a calling to America and knew that this was where I was gonna end up. Its cool to look back now and feel like I’m exactly where I should be”
On October 27th last month, Final Child released “Religion Is Dead” the first single and title track from her upcoming EP. “I honestly wasn’t planning on putting
anything out this fall but after having written “Religion Is Dead” I felt inspired to put together an EP” Jennifer says. “The sound was so raw and different from what I’ve previously released and it reminded me a bit of a song I wrote back in 2019 called “90’s Kid”
At that time Jennifer was living in Williamsburg, New York and didn’t have her regular LA studio set up. “I was quite limited as far as instruments so I found this guitar sample in logic and words from the past just started pouring out. It was like I was back in 1999, 9 years old in my room, with MTV playing on tv while my parents were fighting in the kitchen. After that, more memories from my teenage years came and the song was finished in just a few minutes. This is one of those songs were every word is a 100% true”
Produced by Akerman, “90’s Kid” arrives on November 30th and features rapper Chancellor Warhol. “I had sent the song to my good friend Chance close to when I originally wrote it and he always said he wanted to be apart of it. Once I finished my part he came over to my studio and wrote his rap in just minutes as well! I love his words and what he added to the song” Jennifer mentions. “I hope the track sends listeners back in time. It was important to me to try and keep the production as simple as possible to not distract from the story. I left a lot of stuff from the demo in but added my other good friend Pelle Hillstrom’s awesome guitars and live bass”
Connect with Final Child:
APPLE MUSIC // INSTAGRAM // SPOTIFY
