Caroline Ailin

Ailin was born and grew up in Bodø, Norway.[3] She began making music at age 12 after listening to Alicia Keys' Songs in A Minor. At age 19, she moved to England to attend the Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA).[4][5] While still attending the school in 2011, Ailin performed at Parkenfestivalen, a music festival in her hometown, Bodø.[6] She graduated from LIPA in 2012 with a BA in music.[7] In May 2012, she was among five students to be given studio time with the school's founder, Paul McCartney.[4][5]

Ailin signed a publishing contract with Oslo-based Waterfall Music in May 2012. She also signed a deal with Sony/ATV Music Publishing.[3] In 2014, she wrote "Crocodile Tears" for the producer, Grades.[6] For her songwriting work in 2015, the Norwegian Music Publisher Association awarded Ailin with the 2016 "Breakthrough of the Year" award.[8] That year, she co-wrote a variety of songs, including Rachel Platten's "Hey Hey Hallelujah" and Olivia Holt's "History",[9] the last of which charted in Belgium,[10] the Netherlands, and other locales.[11]

In 2017, Ailin co-wrote Dua Lipa's single, "New Rules". The song was released in July 2017 and made it to the top of the UK Singles Chart by the following month.[7][12] It also peaked at number 6 on the Billboard Hot 100 and number 1 on the Mainstream Top 40 charts in the United States in 2018.[13][14] Ailin later co-wrote and was a featured performer on the Louis the Child song "Last to Leave" released in December 2017.[15] In 2018, the Norwegian Music Publisher Association honored Ailin with the Pop Song of the Year award for her work on "New Rules".[16]

Later in 2018, Ailin co-wrote Clean Bandit's "Mama" featuring Ellie Goulding,[17] which reached number 28 on the Billboard Dance chart.[18] In February 2019, the Katy Perry and Zedd song, "365" (which Ailin co-wrote), was released.[19] Over the course of her career, Ailin has worked with a number of other artists including Zara Larsson,[20] Hailee Steinfeld, Alex Adair,[9] Ella Mai,[21] Snakehips, Aanysa,[22] Four of Diamonds,[23] and numerous others. In 2019 Ailin, along with her collaborators Ian Kirkpatrick (record producer) and Emily Warren wrote the hit Dua Lipa song Don't Start Now.