AURORA is one of Norwegian’s most original artists today and is constantly on the international music map since the massive success of her song ‘Running with the wolves‘ in 2015, which was also used in a Vodafone-advertising in Germany. Since then a massive bunch of good tracks followed like ‘Conqueror‘, ‘Runaway‘, ‘Half the world away‘ or ‘Animal‘ from her so far latest album A different kind of human in 2019.
Now AURORA has just released her new – very danceable – song ‘Cure for me‘.
It is a club-song with a massive synth-chorus-melody and indeed a not so typical AURORA-song whereas she has done more clubby stuff in the past (‘River’, ‘Awakening’). The song is about the fact that many people think that there is something wrong with them when society tells them this. But it is all about the fact that no one needs a a cure because everyone is fine just as they are.
And she had the time to talk with us about it and more upcoming exciting stuff. So enjoy the conversation.
You seem so happy and confident about ‘Cure for me’, can you tell a little bit when the idea for the topic ‘Everybody is fine just as you are’ especially for the transgender community came to life?
AURORA: I actually wrote this song in 2019. I think I was on tour from Australia to Brazil and often I think a lot about things, I think about the world, things that are meaningless and things that are important. And there are so many things in the world so many of us disagree with – like the evil things, the bad ways of judging and shaming people for being born the way they are. […] The spark of the song is that it is so sad that people are being told that who they are is wrong and has to be cured. That they have to be cured for the person they are. It is awful to be told that by somebody…. And then I wrote Cure for me. But the songs fits well together with my new album, it is the only song that was written before the start of writing for the new album.
So was it just at the glimpse of the release of the last album?
AURORA: Yes, it was just after A different kind of human was released, step two of my last album. When I release an album I start thinking of the next album the day after. So Cure for me is a part of this album but I wrote it a year before I wrote the rest of the album – So it is very ahead of its time ;)
Ahead and retro at the same time – soundwise, How do you call the style?
AURORA: Well, it is very peculiar. It is very playful and the new album is very serious like all my albums, but it is very playful and has a lot of humor – more than a lot of my music before. And I had a lot of fun doing it. It makes sense in the theme of the album – it connects with the sounds because it has a lot of absurd things and chaotic things in it.
So we can expect some ‘strange things’ on the album?
AURORA: Yes!
And soundwise?
AURORA: I am exploring a few very different things and I have been very playful, and I had big fun. And it is very different – but Cure for me is different from the album also. But still Cure for me fits in it.
The sound has some kind of TikTok-style in it with the dancing…
AURORA: Yes, the dance is very inspired by the 1920s and also by Futterwacken, the dance that Alice in Wonderland dances. It is very inspired by history.
Did you do the recording with the same people as in the past?
AURORA: Yes, I made it with Magnus, the drummer of the band – we made the first album together, and me and him did A different kind of human together. And we did this album together, we made it here in Norway. […] We had a lot of fun.
It sounds that it is a more personal style of recording, not i a super-big studio.
AURORA: I don’t like that extra big studios so much, but I must have to admit that I rent a castle… but it is not a studio. You don’t need that super-big equipment to make music, just just need a few things. We put the most important stuff into Magnus’ car and we drove to this place and we stayed there in the Castle.
I need to be in different rooms when I record an album. The Castle is very old and it contains a big history and past and that is why it was just perfect to make this album.
That really makes us interested to hear the the new album!
And regarding the past: How did you came along the fact that Runaway has a big fame through TikTok?
AURORA: I didn’t know it at first! Some guy from Indonesia did that filter that people are enjoying to play around with to create a magical atmosphere or style. So I think it started in Indonesia but the Internet is random, it could have started anywhere. It makes some kind of sense also that people have let Runaway into their hearts in India and Indonesia because they we’re going through a lot of things with virus and Runaway has become something that they needed as an extra – if that makes sense. People needed a friends in Runaway.
It definitely spreads positivity around the globe, so it works! Do you plan to bring that spirit to the people with a tour or something like that?
AURORA: I will start touring in the next year – or at least that is what we have planned. And we will be coming to Germany as well. But we don’t have concrete plans of touring this year, so I will be staying in Bergen, which is nice.
Bergen is something special, especially regarding music….
AURORA: Bergen is funny – it is so small, all people know each other. It is hard to avoid any of us because we are all networking people. It is very nice it is a very good community here in Bergen.
Absolutely – and there are always popping new acts and musicians up in the music scene from Bergen. Do you have recommendations for new exciting music from Bergen?
AURORA: I would recommend Iris and Askjell and then I would recommend a young woman called Hannah Storm, she hasn’t released music yet but it is coming. They are all friends of mine and live here in Bergen. But I am lucky that I have so good and talented friends. And I am so happy because I think they are all amazing.
Thank you very much for the good talk and the insights.