Foto: Wanda Martin

Aurora continues to conquer new audiences, one song, one album and one concert at a time. Earlier this summer, she released her latest album, 'What Happened To The Heart?', to overwhelmingly positive reviews.

"Can music still change the world? At least Aurora leads by a strong example with her own dazzling world." wrote NME. VG claimed that: "To the extent that a better world is possible, Aurora serves up the heart-shaped soundtrack to it." Here at Musikknyheter, the reviewer believed that "The Queen still reigns in her Queendom."

Not only did Aurora convince strongly on record once again, but she also followed up with a triumphant festival summer. With headline slots at Slottsfjell, Malakoff, and Ravnedalen live here in Norway, as well as performances at Glastonbury itself, Roskilde, Sziget, and Summer Sonic—to name a few—it seems there's nothing Aurora can't do.

We're asking the wrong questions

In a world torn apart by war, climate crises, and the ever-widening distance between the extremely rich - or even those with decent economic security - and the extremely poor, it’s the small glimmers of light that make us fight on. For many, Aurora is just such a source of light, with a burning desire to bring joy, hope and enlightenment to their surroundings. We chatted with the artist a few hours before she was about to hop on a plane to London for new radio and TV appearances.

"I feel like I’m just pouring out new albums all the time," chuckles a slightly poorly Aurora fighting a cold at Cesar Bar & Cafe in Oslo, Norway, "but I can’t stop. I’ve got so much to say, and it needs to come out."

Mother of five, Aurora, started writing 'What Happened To The Heart?' right after 'The Gods We Can Touch' was released but did not know at the time that a whole new album baby had started to grow.

"I was completely empty [after 'The Gods We Can Touch']. It was a silence that was so loud because it so violently emphasised the absence of music within me. It was quieter than silence but a calm silence. I had no desire to write; I just felt that I was alive. But I have long been upset with the world and have not been willing to accept that things have to be that way because they are that way. There is so much that shakes me deeply."

Aurora describes herself as quite easily shaken. She quickly becomes engaged and carried away:

“My sisters have had children, and I look at them and wonder what the world will be like. But I feel like we ask the wrong questions all the time. We need to start asking the right questions instead."

Around this time, Aurora read the letter We Are The World, written by Indigenous activists. In the letter, they called for a revolution and a collective response to global warming. They described the earth as the heart that pulsates within us. Aurora, who is very concerned with humanity, was left with the question: What happened to the heart?

"I thought about the history of the heart. In the past, it was described as the space for emotion, intuition, love and instinct, but then science became almost a competitor to emotions and spirituality without needing it. It was then decided that none of these qualities belonged to the heart but the brain. And what people like about the brain is that it is logical and analytical. So, all the excellent and essential qualities were moved to the brain. We rule the world with what were once qualities that belonged to the heart. And so I have often wondered what happened to the heart."

Foto: Alyssa Nilsen

'What Happened to the Heart?' is a very human album by an artist who is very concerned with mankind and anatomy. The album features a lot of skin, brain, and heart and anatomical words, such as blood and body.

"There’s also a lot about women," she explains.

"Unfortunately, we are often the victims. So when we talk about the fight for the environment, war and times of crisis, it is usually women, and women's health, that are harmed the most. There is a whole battle that comes in addition to women. Women die every day because women's health is not taken seriously. So it's an integral part of the album."

We have become addicted to being comfortable

Another aspect of the album, and a theme that preoccupies Aurora a lot, is the environment and our contact with - or lack of contact with - nature and spirituality.

"We have pushed nature away and attacked it. We have wiped out species that took millions of years to come into existence in one single year. Microplastics and environmental toxins are everywhere. Just think about how much of the food we eat makes us sick. I wonder what it does to us. But then, we cannot completely change the pattern either. It is too much in our nature that we like to be comfortable. We have become addicted to being comfortable."

"But we don't just push nature away," she continues. "We push away and attack each other as well. When we witness genocide - because that's the only fitting word to use about it - to see someone use mass murder as a method of creating peace... It's absolutely insane!"

Aurora leans over the table eagerly:

"To oppress a people, and then to refuse to understand why they feel they must rebel, and when they rise up, you use as an excuse that you have to defend yourself to destroy everyone? It's so incredibly dark. It exists in so many relationships, not just in war. Hurting until someone says no, and when they say no, you hurt even more because now they've hit back? It terrifies me to think this will be how we go forward."

"We live in a world where more than half of us are not doing well. It must be possible to figure this out, but something big is needed. It sounds dreamy and naive, and many people are afraid of spirituality and get a little scared when I say that we have lost spiritual contact in our modern society. It sounds like a bit much. But it's true! And that says a lot about how far away from spiritual contact we are."

People start wars over spirituality, too?

"Yes, one of the biggest causes of war is religion," Aurora nods.

"Power is so many different things. It's money, it's physical strength, it's control. Many people grow up learning that they can cheat and manipulate themselves into something, and the rest of us can't fathom that can work. BUT, there is so much good in us, as well! And that's why I think it's worth even trying to tune into all this, write about it, ask about it, and think about it because there is so much in us that is beautiful."

A week after this interview, Aurora was travelling to Georgia, a country with a lot of tension and a people trying to avoid being put under Russian rule. Perhaps artists like Aurora can bring something soothing to a country that needs hope, light, and humanity.

"I think it will be very moving. I feel like I can be good in such cases. I am very fond of people," she smiles, then chuckles a little:

"Even though I have sat here and talked about darkness, war, and abuse of power, I am very fond of people. I mostly see people at concerts, and I don't think there are any places where people are more beautiful than at concerts. They gather and include each other, let go and become who they really are and are meant to be. It is absolutely amazing to see. And I think people can see that in each other when they are at a concert. That in difficult times, they see how nice each other really is. Something magical happens at concerts that I don't think anyone has entirely managed to figure out what is."

"It is an ancient unanswered philosophical question: Why do we love music? Many have wondered about that, but no one knows for sure. It's like answering what love is. It is impossible to say. Music has just always been there. Everyone lucky enough to have parents who are there and love us the way we deserve has been sung to at bedtime. We sing at funerals. All beautiful and fine and sad events have music. We are sung into life, out of life and through life."

Foto: Alyssa Nilsen

Tired of us doing nothing

But even music is affected by power, money, and control. Music has become a big industry. AI pumps out soulless music, and absolutely no one wins, least of all the soul in the music. Music with depth, soul, and strong messages has become scarce.

"I think many people are afraid to make political songs now," Aurora says, deep in thought, "but we need political music. When you think about many of the greatest songs ever written, they are political songs. But people are afraid to have their say, fearing being labelled and punished. If you think about the Palestine disaster, people who are completely safe, even here in Norway, sit quietly and say nothing. And I can't judge people for being afraid and choosing to be quiet; I understand that very well. And it HAS to be up to each individual, but this disaster has done something to me. I've gotten so frustrated that we don't even stand up for each other in times of crisis because it could hurt our chances of getting on the radio. It's such a weird priority. I'm tired of us doing nothing."

But Aurora tries to lead the way. Through concerts, interviews, album lyrics, and themes, she puts words and sounds to feelings of powerlessness, frustration, fear, and, not least, hope. In 'What Happened To The Heart?' she plays with sounds to find new ways to express herself, particularly in terms of her voice. She has experimented with brand-new ways of using it.

"I have learned that the voice can be a real instrument; you can do so many different things and be so many different people. And no effects are added to the voice on the album; I just sang in different ways! It's been so much fun!"

"I am very interested in symbolism, colours, and how things can be symbolic and metaphorical. Everything is very well thought out, and it’s given me a lot. I was thinking, like: I have to sing this type of message in THAT voice because then it sounds like…"

"Like on 'To Be Alright', where I sing You can not make me feel a thing with a dark voice and then a bright voice answers, and then it is as if the two are arguing, the head and the stomach or the heart—someone who disagrees with themselves."

"It's probably a bit theatrical," she chuckles, "but I've played a lot on this album."

Breaking rules and playing with the things she doesn't know

Aurora cares very little about rules in music. She doesn’t allow herself to be limited by what others have done before, what people expect of her, what she herself has done in the past, and what is written in the textbooks. Music and genres exist to be played with, to explore, challenge and experiment with.

"It is essential for me to break the rules. I care very little about them because... well, in a way, I don't know the rules either," she laughs. "I don’t know anything! Fortunately, haha. But I know what I like, and what matters right now, is satisfying myself because I am very hard to please. And I know that those who like my music agree with my aesthetic. I just have to follow my heart, which will make us both happy. And I feel like it suits me well to be genreless. I have my own little world that I feel very comfortable in. I feel very free and do very little thinking; it's all just feelings, really."

Being genre-less is also expressed through Aurora's collaborations with other artists. Recently, she was a featured artist on a song with Bring Me The Horizon, and Ane Brun is a guest artist on 'What Happened To The Heart?' But what does that kind of cultural exchange mean for Aurora as an artist and a person?
 
"For me, it's very playful," she similes. "It is a very playful part of being an artist. It feels very light and easy and human. It is the same principle as being without rules when I create. That's why I love just to do what feels right, even if it breaks a lot with genres people might expect me to be in. I'm genreless and live in a suitcase," she laughs. 

"But I would very much like to do more metal!! It feels like family every time I meet metal people. Then everything is good and grounded. So I would like to be more in that world."



When 'What Happened To The Heart?' was released, Aurora had an album signing and mini-concert at the Big Dipper record shop in Oslo. Several hours before the doors opened, there was a long line outside, with people who had travelled from all over the world to be there. At the Sentrum Scene concerts in Oslo earlier this year, it was said that people from 17 different nations were in the crowd, which is quite incredible. Many with the same care, warmth, thoughts, hopes and dreams for the earth's future as Aurora herself.

To call Aurora and her fan base a quiet revolution is perhaps a little too much, but there is no doubt that she gives hope to hundreds of thousands in a world that desperately thirsts for goodness. Does she herself believe that goodness can win? Is there hope? For humanity and the human soul? For the heart?

"Yes, I think so," she nods. "Because I see huge masses of people with love in their eyes."

"We live in a dark time now. But precisely then, we notice how much even a tiny light can shine on everything around it. I think we want to be better and do better than we do now. We want better for those around us than the way they are now. We want to make things better both for our own children and for the children who are not ours. I see that people want to empathise with each other, that there is something in us that has not died out yet."

"We must never give up."


This interview was first published in Norwegian HERE.