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Vargas & Lagola are a Swedish songwriting and production duo of Vincent Pontare and Salem Al Fakir.

They have worked with many artists, including Avicii, Axwell & Ingrosso, David Guetta, Galantis, Madonna and Seinabo Sey. In addition to their songwriting and production work, they release alternative pop music.

Career

Vincent Pontare and Salem Al Fakir have gone from successful solo artists to Swedish Grammy Award winning songwriters and producers. Among the first co-writes together are Avicii’s 2013 Billboard Hot 100 single "Hey Brother" and "Younger" by Seinabo Sey.

At the 2014 Swedish Grammy Awards Vargas & Lagola and Magnus Lidehäll were awarded Composer of the Year after writing for Veronica Maggio’s album Handen i fickan fast jag bryr mig and the Petter album Början på allt, and work with artists like Galantis. In 2014 they wrote numerous songs on Mapei’s album Hey Hey and Avicii’s "The Days" and "Divine Sorrow" (with Wyclef Jean). Vargas & Lagola followed up with another successful year in 2015 co-writing most songs on Seinabo Sey’s highly acclaimed debut album Pretend and songs for Madonna’s Rebel Heart album.

Vargas & Lagola have co-written some of the biggest hits by Axwell Ʌ Ingrosso – "More Than You Know", "Sun Is Shining", "Dreamer" and more - taken from their 2017 album More Than You Know.

The duo have also contributed to two songs on Swedish rock band Ghost's Billboard 200-charting and Grammy Award-nominated album Prequelle, including the album's second single "Dance Macabre" which topped Billboard's Mainstream Rock Chart.

In 2018, the same moment as Vargas & Lagola blazed onto the alternative pop scene with the hit single "Roads", they shared the no.1 spot as Sweden's most streamed songwriters for songs including Avicii – "Without You (feat. Sandro Cavazza)" and "Waiting For Love". After working closely with Avicii for several years, Al Fakir and Pontare played a key role in finishing up the 2019 posthumous Avicii album TIM and are featured artists on three of the album songs. On 5 December 2019, Vargas & Lagola performed at Avicii’s Tribute Concert in Stockholm.

Vargas & Lagola's debut album The Butterfly Effect was released in January 2020.

Discography

Albums

Singles

As lead artist

Notes

1. "Hurts to Be Hurt" did not enter the Swedish Singellista Chart, but peaked at number eight on the Swedish Heatseeker Chart.

As featured artist

Songwriting and production credits

Songwriting and production credits for local Swedish artists

Awards and nominations

References

1. "Production Duo Vargas & Lagola launch themselves with party-house banger "Rolling Stone"". 27 January 2017 – via www.thelineofbestfit.com.
2. "Grammisvinnarna genom åren" (in Swedish) – via www.grammis.se.
3. "Avicii Chart History" – via www.billboard.com.
4. "Grammis 2014". 20 February 2014 – via www.umusicpub.com/se.
5. "Wyclef Jean and Avicii team up for "Divine Sorrow"". 19 November 2014 – via www.mynewsdesk.com/dk.
6. "Seinabo Sey releases debut album 'Pretend'". 23 October 2015 – via www.umusicpub.com/se.
7. "Madonna releases new album 'Rebel Heart'". 9 March 2015 – via www.umusicpub.com/se.
8. "Axwell Λ Ingrosso – More Than You Know". 20 October 2017 – via www.discogs.com.
9. "Kanye West Earns Eight no. 1 album on Billboard 200 Chart with 'Ye'". 6 October 2018 – via www.billboard.com.
10. "Ghost Waltzes to Third Mainstream Rock Songs No. 1 With 'Dance Macabre'". 14 February 2019 – via www.billboard.com.
11. "GRAMMY Award Results for Ghost" – via www.grammy.com.
12. "Vargas & Lagola är de- mest populära låtskrivarna 2017". 23 February 2018 – via www.musikforlaggarna.se.
13. Martin, Lauren (6 June 2019). "'I had to honour him': the friends who finished Avicii's final album". The Guardian – via www.theguardian.com.
14. "Avicii Tribute Concert" – via www.aviciitributeconcert.com.
15. "ALBUM: Vargas & Lagola - 'The Butterfly Effect'". 4 February 2020 – via www.scandipop.co.uk.
16. ^ "Home". sverigetopplistan.se.
17. "Veckolista Album, vecka 6". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
18. "Rolling Stone - Single by Vargas & Lagola". iTunes. 27 January 2017.
19. "Dolores (The Awakening) - Single by Vargas & Lagola". iTunes. 12 May 2017.
20. "As Long as I Have to - Single by Vargas & Lagola". iTunes. 19 May 2017.
21. "Sun is Shining (Band of Gold) - Single by Vargas & Lagola". iTunes. 30 June 2017.
22. "More Than You Know (Acoustic) [feat. Agnes] - Single by Vargas & Lagola". iTunes. 8 December 2017.
23. "Roads - Single by Vargas & Lagola". iTunes. 9 February 2018.
24. http://www.sverigetopplistan.se (Click "search all records" and view 17 February 2017. Then click "visa" on "I Love You")
25. "Veckolista Singlar, vecka 39". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 27 September 2019.
26. "Veckolista Heatseeker, vecka 6". Sverigetopplistan. Retrieved 8 February 2020.
27. "AVĪCI (01) - EP by Avicii". iTunes. 11 August 2017.
28. "Nominated 2014" (in Swedish).
29. "Nominerade till Musikförläggarnas Pris 2014" (in Swedish). 29 September 2014.
30. "Nominated 2015" (in Swedish).
31. "Nominerade till Musikförläggarnas Pris 2015" (in Swedish). 28 September 2015.
32. "Nominated 2016" (in Swedish).
33. "Nominated 2018" (in Swedish).
34. "Årets vinnare på Musikförläggarnas Pris" (in Swedish). 9 November 2018.
35. "Nominerade till Musikförläggarnas Pris 2018" (in Swedish). 5 October 2018.
36. "Årets tio mest spelade låtar 2018" (in Swedish).
37. ^ "Nominated 2020" (in Swedish).

External links

• Vargas & Lagola's official website

• English-language musical groups from Sweden
• Living people
• Musical groups from Stockholm County
• Swedish composers
• Swedish electronic music groups
• Swedish musical duos
• Swedish songwriters
• Songwriting teams
• Record production duos