Behind the scenes at Tylösand: When Per Gessle gave me the chance of a lifetime

Interviewing Per Gessle at 17 was a real emotional rollercoaster. It all started in early August, when an ordinary family walk turned into one of the biggest moments of my life as the creator behind the F1 account F1rmav. My mom and I had the same idea at the same moment: to email Hotel Tylösand and ask for an interview about Per's car collection. I never thought it would happen, but when the hotel said yes two weeks later, suddenly a lot was at stake.

We needed a professional production, so I quickly put together a team: two talented students from Sturegymnasiet, a girl and a boy, who stepped in as camera operator and editor with borrowed equipment. Both were in the film program and completely outclassed me with their experience, while I didn't really know how to film, process the footage or rig the equipment at that level.

The days before our interview with Per Gessle at Hotel Tylösand on September 10 were full of stress. We sent an email two days before to check that everything was still on, and heard nothing back at all. On the evening before, my dad and I were convinced they had forgotten about us, but luckily the confirmation arrived at the very last minute. We rolled up at the hotel a full hour early to set up the cameras and rig everything in the room called "Dolly Parton", so that we were fully prepared for 1 pm. When we arrived with all the heavy equipment, my nerves were so bad that I had to eat something sugary in the parking lot so I wouldn't faint on the spot.

Inside the hotel, though, the wonderfully generous staff took great care of us. Before the interview, a chef even came out and served us plenty of delicious sandwiches and cakes, which gave us some much-needed energy. When Per walked through the door, you could tell he was a little stressed, as he had come straight from voting. But when I honestly told him how nervous I was, his words worked like a bandage on a wound: "There's nothing to be nervous about." That finally gave me the calm I needed to get started.

I broke the ice quickly with about ten lighter questions he probably wasn't expecting, such as imagining a drive along the west coast with any Formula 1 driver in history. That's when he shared a scoop he had never told in public before: there is an unexpected connection between Per Gessle and Kimi Räikkönen, because Per's all-time favorite driver is Kimi! He also shared his thoughts on how things are today, when so much is about power, money and status, while in the past there was a completely different, pure and genuine passion at the heart of it. You can read more of what he said in the full interview on Roxette Blog.

Afterwards, he showed us his car collection, and the edits and videos we made together with Hotel Tylösand passed 100,000 views on TikTok. The whole interview is on YouTube in two parts: Episode 1, about the car collection, and Episode 2. Per had no obligation to take part, but giving a young person from his own hometown of Halmstad this chance says a lot about his character. This unique collaboration between F1rmav and Per Gessle has given me a chance that I now feel a lot of pressure and responsibility to live up to at a professional level, but I have absolutely no intention of wasting it. A big thank you to Per for believing in me!