Nina Elisabet Persson (pronounced [ˈnîːna ˈpæ̌ːʂɔn] ^ⓘ; born 6 September 1974) is the lead singer and lyricist for the Swedish rock band The Cardigans. She has also worked as a solo artist, releasing two albums as A Camp^[1] and one under her own name, and has also appeared as a guest artist with several other acts.

Persson made her acting debut in the film Om Gud vill which was released in 2006.

She appears on the Manic Street Preachers song "Your Love Alone Is Not Enough", which reached #2 on the UK chart, on the album Send Away the Tigers. She also features on the 2009 Sparklehorse/Danger Mouse collaboration Dark Night of the Soul singing "Daddy's Gone".

Persson's first solo album released under her own name, Animal Heart, was released on 10 February 2014 on the independent British record label Lojinx Records.^[2]

In October 2022, Domino Recording Company posted a single by James Yorkston, Persson and The Secondhand Orchestra called "Hold Out For Love."^[3] The track was "from the forthcoming album The Great White Sea Eagle.^[3] She worked with James Yorkston and Karl-Jonas Winqvist of The Second Hand Orchestra on that album in Malmo. She was touring in the UK with them in 2022 and 2023.^[4]

She has said that the Cardigans may reform occasionally to play together, but there are no plans to work in a studio to create new music together.^[4]

Persson grew up in Jönköping, Sweden.^[5] "I grew up in a middle-class, academic family," Persson said in 2014. "I lived in a villa with a garden. I had two younger brothers."^[6]

She did not want to be a musician growing up, having an interest in art instead, which resulted in her attending art school.^[6] "I never really strived to be a musician; I was just, sort of, recruited into this band. I was bored out of my mind in this small, safe place (Jönköping). I was like, 'Awesome, I get to hang with fun guys.'"^[6]

On 16 June 2001, Persson married American songwriter and author Nathan Larson.

Persson was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2009, and underwent surgical treatment.

After three attempts at in vitro fertilization, their son Nils was born on 30 September 2010. For several years the family resided in Harlem, New York City, but in 2015 they decided to relocate to Malmö, the former base of the Cardigans. In an interview with Swedish daily Dagens Nyheter in March 2018, Persson talked about her expatriate years, the return to Sweden and pointed out that the return to her native country was family business and did not reflect any wish to reboot her old band.^[7]

In December 2022, Persson appeared in a web exclusive ^[15] of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, disposing of plastic dolls by feeding them to a talking garbage can.

• The Cake Sale