Text: Lissu Kirves, photos: Lenno Linjama
Lenno Linjama, 30, is an electronic music composer, producer and DJ. His career began in his teens and by his twenties he was already internationally known for his remixes of Kelly Clarkson, Tove Lo, ZAYN and Seinabo Sey’s songs. Today, Lenno focuses on creating and producing music for others. One of his successes this year is the song Never Walk Alone for BLOND:ISH and Stevie Appleton, which has more than 90 million streams on Spotify. Lenno’s Instagram feed is filled with the tools of his trade from vintage keyboards to old cassette Walkmans, you can really feel his sincere passion for the music he loves.
Hi Lenno, what’s up?
”All good, I have been here in Seoul for almost a week now. It’s really great to be here. I’ve written around 20 songs for Korean artists before but it’s my first time here. It’s so cool to come to another continent and see that my music has made it this far; and to meet these guys I’ve only worked with remotely before. The best thing about making music is still being in the same room with the people. When you’ve already worked with them before, you don’t need to start networking from scratch.”
You applied for a grant for international breakthrough during 2025. Can you tell us more about that?
”I think you need to be active if you want to reach success internationally. Opportunities come through contacts that you’ve built by putting yourself and your work out there, and that leads to getting collaborations with different people. Like the producer duo LDN Noise had been into my own music and later dmed to ask about ideas for songs. They ended up using them in their sessions, and that’s how I got my first K-pop cuts. The world began to open up for me after that. Work becomes proactive when something comes out of it and collaborations start to develop.
You also have to constantly push yourself to people, have the courage to ask, suggest and follow up.
Even if you feel shy about sending messages, you have to remember that everybody is looking for new collaborators all the time, and want to work with new people. Just think that you’re doing them a favour by contacting them.
I’ve been planning this trip since the end of summer, arranged sessions and let people know that I’m coming and that it would be cool to work on something together. You need to be prepared, preferably well in advance, when you go on these export trips and already have your calendar mostly full. A grant is a huge deal because it allows you to lock in plans without having to wait to get other work gigs. It’s a really important resource that allows you to be strategic and plan ahead.”
The logo of the Teosto Cultural Foundation is the whole rest symbol, we use it to symbolise the creative peace we want to offer music creators. What does the symbol mean to you?
”It’s the best sound there is but silence is quite rare, a luxury really these days. But when it comes to creative peace, I think there is no single moment that makes a difference but it’s part of a larger arc, no one moment that changes everything but it’s more like long cycles. I signed my first publishing deal in Sweden nine years ago but songs may generate results first years later. Contacts made 10 years ago can become significant now and sometimes you get paid with a delay. Things fall into to place randomly, and that’s why a grant is really important. Funding brings structure, the opportunity to lock things down and it’s easier to make your own decisions.
It’s crazy expensive to be abroad and it can take years before your investment pays off. My biggest successes have been ones that I wasn’t invited to but I happened to be there already. In that sense, grants are really important, suddenly you are at the right place at the right time. Grants make that a possibility.
It’s crucial to support creative work at the right moments, and to listen to the creators and their needs. They know when and what they need. And to have the courage to invest in that.”
In their applications, we encourage applicants to think what the next level for them as music creators would be. What are your professional goals at the moment?
”I’ve always been kind of against external goals, made up artificial goals don’t really work for me. Like you’ve achieved your dream stream counts but that might not feel like much. I see it more like an arc and not a ladder that you climb on by pushing some magic button. The industry has surprised me many times, things that have gone well for me have not necessarily been the ones I expected. I try to be open to the fact that success can come from unexpected places.
I like making music that connects with as many people as possible. When you reach say 2 million streams it feels great, of course, because your music is heard in as many places as possible. When you make music, stream counts may not matter but it would be boring if there were no audience or social element. I want to make music with good taste for a wide audience.
In international projects, big songs continue to live and generate results in different ways than in Finland, where there is a certain ceiling. I want to focus on that side.
As a producer, I want to create an environment where everybody feels good, where we can create music together and reach a big audience. You and your family staying healthy and sane is vital too.”
What is especially interesting, exciting or challenging in your work right now?
“I enjoy it the most when I get to make music under positive pressure; stepping into a room where everybody is really talented and then doing my part really well too. When you see others excited about what you’re doing, it’s really cool. It’s also really rewarding when projects with friends or long-term collaborators succeed. You’re always looking for new connections but that’s always extra special.”
You can follow Lenno’s career @helloimlenno on Instagram and check out songs Lenno has been involved in on Spotify.