Agnes Caroline Thaarup Obel (born 28 October 1980 in Gentofte, Copenhagen) is a Danish singer/songwriter. Her first album, Philharmonics, was released by PIAS Recordings on 4 October 2010 in Europe. Philharmonics was certified gold in June 2011 by the Belgian Entertainment Association (BEA) for sales of 10,000 units. At the Danish Music Awards in November 2011, Agnes Obel won five prizes: Best Album, Best Pop Release, Best Debut Artist, Best Female Artist and Best Songwriter.

Agnes Obel learned to play the piano at a very young age. About her learning, Obel says: “I had a classical piano teacher who told me that I shouldn’t play what I didn’t like. So I just played what I liked. I was never forced to play anything else.”

She writes, plays, sings, records and produces all her material herself. “The orchestral or symphonic music never interested me. I always was attracted by simple melodies, almost childish. I put a long time before writing texts because the music seems to tell already a story, to project images.” Her piano is really much more than an instrument, Obel says, “The piano and the singing are two equal things to me – maybe not inseparable but very connected. You can say they are like two equal voices.” Obel says that, “The music is the most obvious means to express what I am, where I am.”

Agnes Obel is influenced by artists such as Roy Orbison and also by the French composers Claude Debussy, Maurice Ravel and Erik Satie. She also likes Edgar Allan Poe and photographers Sybille Bergemann, Robert Mapplethorpe, Tina Modotti and Alfred Hitchcock. Concerning Hitchcock, she says, “I adore his enigmatic style, his sophisticated esthetic but always with an extreme simplicity.” The cover of her first album, photographed by Berlin photographer Mali Lazell, is an ‘homage’ to The Birds. Obel also likes the experimental filmmaker Maya Deren. Sometimes, Obel tests some of her demos on Deren’s movies. She is also a huge fan of Nina Simone: “I have a fantastic live album by Nina Simone on which she sings “Who Knows Where the Time Goes”. Her vocals seem to come out of nowhere. Magic.” Obel likes all types of music, and despite her attachment to classical music, she is able to listen to various artists. Ernest Bloch to Mort Garson and The Smiths to Françoise Hardy.