The 2025 New Colossus Festival Crosses More Borders, Revives New York City Music Scene

By Saturday evening, music from Norway was spotlighted as Sofi O, the moniker of Sofie Tollefsbøl, opened up a four-act showcase at Nublu by Jansen Records and Norwegian management company Big Boy. Tollefsbøl debuted with her solo project Sofi O, her fist outside the funk and soul group Fieh, which she co-founded in 2014. Her braided hair intertwined in white ribbons, Sofi O shared five new songs and called the festival and being in New York City “dreamy.” She added, “New York is such a beautiful place, and I appreciated getting to travel there and play there so much. I met so many kind and interesting people, and that inspired me to make more music. It was a trip full of memorable experiences, and so many sweet people.”

Throughout her set, Sofi O, who also plays bass for this project, shared her latest single “Gogogogo,” a song she wrote to cheer herself up and was inspired by GloRilla’s “Yeah Glo!” and even guided the audience through a “traditional Norwegian dance.”

“Life consists of different periods, new chapters, and I feel like they come naturally,” said Tollefsbøl on taking on her new solo project. “I have for a while known that I wanted to make some music where I’m even more in charge than in Fieh. [It’s] is a large band with a lot of people and a lot of possibilities. I felt a strong urge to make music that is more minimalistic, and something I could be 100 percent in control of myself.”

Sofi O was joined by other Norwegian acts including Most Likely Marlin, the project of vocalist Malin Isabel Disco Guleng from Bergen, Norway, who will release their debut EP in spring 2025. Before heading to Tokyo for some shows with Norwegian artist Sigrid, Guleng shared several songs, including “My Friend Heather,” “Milli in a Million,” and “Sports Car.” From Oslo, Mall Girl shared “Super Lazy Girl,” a song about conquering fears—Lonely nights seem no good / When I think of all I could and should—before Yndling, the project from singer, songwriter, and producer Silje Espevik, who released their third alum Mood Booster in 2024, shared some mistier pop.

The 2025 installment of New Colossus, founded by Lio Kanine, Steven Matrick, and Mike Bell, launched in 2019 and continues to expand each year with bigger lineups and new partnerships with venues.

“The NYC music scene has really gotten behind us more and more each year,” said Matrick. “I think the way we expand is just by meeting more and more bands and making the lineup better and better each year. We have now hosted 800 bands in six years and hopefully, they are all going all over the world and speaking about the amazing time they had with us. For the artists, Colossus was an opportunity to intermingle with international acts, and locals, and feel some sense of community regardless of origin.”

Bell added, “We are certainly interested in growth and are happy that each year we get a little bigger and of course a little better at putting the pieces together. At the same time, we believe that bigger isn’t always better. The jump between 2024 and 2025 was a bit more significant than previous years and we are still in the process of assessing the results. Either way, we’re excited to come back in 2026 and other events that we will be putting together in the lead-up to next year.”

Along with a bigger lineup and expanded international presence, the festival also continued its series of panel sessions, including a keynote interview featuring Peter Shapiro, founder of the live music and media company Dayglo, and the venue Brooklyn Bowl, along with music journalist David Fricke.
up his year, the festival also hit another milestone by running for six days, a first in its six years, and a day more than previous fests.

“It’s wild, we’ve never done six days before,” said Matrick. “For the three of us, there’s such a buzz you get off seeing an amazing band you’ve never seen before and we get to do that about 100 times [during the] week. It’s a fantastic experience that is only furthered by making friends with people all over the world.”

The 2026 edition of the New Colossus Festival is scheduled for March 3-8.