Oslo-raised singer, songwriter and producer Rebekka Louise has released “FOREIGN HOME”, a deeply personal single exploring what happens when the excitement of leaving home gives way to distance, uncertainty and changing relationships.
Released on 18 September, the song is the third single and thematic centrepiece of Rebekka’s forthcoming project. It focuses on the complicated reality of building a life away from the country and people that once felt permanent.
The excitement of moving somewhere new can initially disguise what has been left behind. “FOREIGN HOME” begins when those rose-coloured glasses come off. Friends stop reaching out, relationships change and the person who left begins to question whether they meant as much to others as those people meant to them.
Rather than presenting homesickness as simple nostalgia, Rebekka explores the conflicting emotions that can follow. Self-doubt gradually becomes frustration, before the weight of the experience finally breaks through.
From Oslo to a new musical identity
Urbanista first spoke to Rebekka in 2024 following the release of her debut album, *Shame Is An Old Friend*. What began as a Master’s thesis developed into an intimate experimental pop album examining mental health and its effect on our internal and external lives.
During that conversation, Rebekka explained that moving away from Norway exposed her to people with very different experiences and encouraged her to think more openly about mental health.
I started to realise how little we talk about mental health in Norway,”
she told Urbanista
That experience of leaving home now moves to the centre of her songwriting. While *Shame Is An Old Friend* explored mental struggles and the questions we carry internally, “FOREIGN HOME” examines how relocation can change our place in other people’s lives.
Rebekka has always approached songwriting as a direct and instinctive process. She previously told Urbanista that she rarely changes her first lyrics, preferring to preserve what she was feeling at the moment they were written. That emotional immediacy remains an important part of her work.
“I’m not always the best at expressing my feelings, but when it comes to songwriting I allow myself to express all those things I would never have dared say out loud,” she explained in the original interview.
An artist and producer
Rebekka’s work is shaped by her identity as both an artist and a producer. Her debut album was produced largely at home using Logic’s built-in instruments, combined with live cello and digital strings. Vocals recorded in her living room helped create the intimate and occasionally imperfect quality she wanted, while selected tracks were given a more polished treatment at Tileyard Studios.
Her influences include AURORA, Maria Mena and Billie Eilish, artists who similarly combine vulnerable writing with adventurous production. Rebekka has continued developing that identity through recent releases including “the bigger guy” and “everything i don’t want to be”.
She was also named the 2025 winner of the Global Youth Awards Song Competition, further recognising the strength of her songwriting.
With “FOREIGN HOME”, Rebekka begins another chapter by turning the experience of leaving into a song about memory, absence and the relationships that do not always survive the distance.
