Joel Sundkvist Puts Piano, Cello and Drums Around a New Chapter on No One Makes A Living
A Finnish Folk-Pop Singer-Songwriter Opens a New Chapter with Three Writers and a Studio Band
No One Makes A Living starts in a writing room of three and ends with five players around one voice. Joel Sundkvist, a Swede-Finn singer-songwriter from Finland, released the single on 16 October 2026. He calls his music nostalgic Swede-Finn folk-pop, and this record shows how many hands that sound takes.
Joel Sundkvist’s No One Makes A Living sits in our Singer-Songwriter Folk, Contemporary Folk, Indie Folk playlist below, and Joel Sundkvist’s artist profile collects all our coverage. The single came to this desk through PopHits.Co Music Charts, which verifies independent artists and places their releases across its network of music news titles. Press play on the playlist, then read on for the players behind it.
A New Chapter for Joel Sundkvist Starts With No One Makes A Living and Three Writers
Joel Sundkvist describes the single as the start of a chapter that feels very much his own. He shared it feeling proud and nervous at once. That mix is a fair way into the record, because it is built carefully and carried by other people as well as him.
The song began with three writers. Joel Sundkvist wrote it with Tatia Darsalia and BENN, credited as Joakim Nyström. BENN then produced it with Tomas Niemistö, and the two also shaped the vocal production. So the people who wrote the song stayed with it in the studio.
That continuity matters in folk-pop. A song that starts at a piano or a guitar can lose its shape once a band arrives. Here, though, the writing room and the studio overlap.
The Players Who Carry No One Makes A Living for Joel Sundkvist
The credits read like a small session band. Niklas Korhonen plays piano and Victor Nyblom plays drums. Susanna Syrjäläinen adds cello, and Jacob Sundström plays guitar. Tomas Niemistö covers acoustic guitar, bass and electric guitar, and he also recorded and mixed the track. Joel Ward mastered it, and Joel Sundkvist sings it.
That line-up explains the folk-pop label. Piano and cello give the record its warm, earthy colour, while drums and electric guitar bring the pop side of the blend. So each player has one clear job in the credits.
Piano, Cello, Drums and Guitars Give No One Makes A Living Its Folk-Pop Shape
The single also landed where it was meant to. In October 2026 it entered Vegatoppen, the Finland-Swedish chart run by Svenska Yle, as one of the week’s two new challengers. The chart backs Finland-Swedish music, sung in Swedish or in another language, as long as its makers come from that community. The following week the song placed sixth with 9.5 percent of the vote, and a week later it held seventh. For an independent release voted on by listeners, that is a real early response.
Joel Sundkvist has been releasing music independently since 2021, single by single, and he works with Mantik Music Group. Live, he recently played two evenings on the Living Room Tour. No One Makes A Living is the first step of the next phase of that work.
First Aid Kit, José González and Nordic Songwriters in Folk
Nordic songwriters have taken folk to an international audience before. First Aid Kit, the Swedish sisters Klara and Johanna Söderberg, recorded The Lion’s Roar with Mike Mogis at ARC Studios in Omaha, released in 2012. Its single Emmylou names Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons and Johnny Cash, a clear statement of where their folk came from. Joel Sundkvist comes at folk through pop instead, but with the same care for the players around the song.
José González made a similar journey with a cover. His version of Heartbeats by The Knife reached a huge audience through a 2005 Sony television advert. It took a quiet Nordic folk recording far beyond its home chart, which is the step that follows a run like Vegatoppen.
Who No One Makes A Living Is For
The single suits listeners who support emerging independent artists, from Finland and Sweden to the United Kingdom, Germany and the United States. It also suits anyone who likes folk-pop where the playing is as considered as the song.
Play it once for the song, then again for the five players around it.
From the MusicRoots.News curator team: “We added No One Makes A Living to our singer-songwriter folk playlist as a fresh Nordic voice among the roots records there. We will be watching where this new chapter goes next.”
Stream No One Makes A Living and Follow Joel Sundkvist on Spotify, Apple Music and Instagram
Stream No One Makes A Living from every platform listed on Linktree. Then follow Joel Sundkvist on Spotify, Apple Music, YouTube, Instagram and TikTok.
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Joel Sundkvist Puts Piano, Cello and Drums Around a New Chapter on No One Makes A Living