Anja Eline Skybakmoen (b. 1984) is a Norwegian vocalist, songwriter, lyricist, and arranger. She holds a master’s degree in jazz and improvised music from the Norwegian Academy of Music.

Since 2010, Anja has been performing on stage with her own material and band at major festivals such as the Trondheim Jazz Festival and the Molde International Jazz Festival, as well as at small and large clubs across Norway. Her critically acclaimed debut album We’re the Houses was released in 2014, and its follow-up Echo came out already in the autumn of 2015. That same autumn, Anja won NRK P3’s cover song competition with her stripped-down and powerful version of Raga Rockers' Noen å hate. In the winter of 2019, she released her third solo album, By Love.

In recent years, Anja has composed a lot of new music and delved into the material of the Iranian artist Googoosh. This has resulted in the album Strand og hav, which was released on May 31, 2024. For this project, she is joined by Helge Lien (piano), Jonas Barsten (drums), Håkon Aase (violin), and Aleksander Sjølie (guitar), as well as santurist Mirsaeed Hosseiny Panah and poet and human rights activist Asieh Amini. Anja gained significant attention when she performed one of Googoosh’s songs, Sahel o Darya, on the music program Beat for Beat on Norwegian TV in 2018.

Anja is a permanent member of the vocal quintet Pitsj, alongside Ane Roggen, Ida Roggen, Benedikte Kruse, and Anine Kruse. She has contributed to two releases, Gjenfortellinger and Snø, and has also composed and arranged for the group. Pitsj has toured in Japan, Europe, and Cuba.

In 2006, Anja co-founded the critically acclaimed folk music trio Eplemøya Songlag alongside folk singer Liv Ulvik and jazz singer Wenche Losnegård. Their self-titled debut album was released in 2010, and the follow-up Møya og myten came out in 2012. Both releases received highly positive reviews, and the group toured regularly in Norway and Germany for several years, as well as performing countless school concerts.

In 2014, Anja composed the music for the short film Vi som ser i mørket, directed by Aurora Gossé (Dancing Queen, Karsten og Petra). The film won the Film Critics’ Prize at the Grimstad Film Festival.

Over the years, she has also written and arranged music for various choirs and ensembles. From 2017 to 2022, she helped develop the performing arts project Fargespill in Oslo. During the last three years of this period, she served as the project’s musical director, collaborating with entities such as NRK, KORK, the Melafestivalen, Riksscenen, and the Norwegian Theatre.

Anja has been a backing vocalist for artists including Jan Eggum, Susanne Sundfør, Siri Nilsen, Frida Ånnevik, CC Cowboys, and Morten Abel. In December 2011, she received the Geir Digernes Minnepris from Julejazzen in Trondheim and Sparebank 1 SMN. During Moldejazz 2012, she was awarded the festival’s talent prize, Årets jazztalent.