Unraveling the Mystique behind AURORA

Before we spoke with AURORA, we weren’t entirely sure if she’s real. She appears to be this blithesome girl with overgrown braids and war paint around her eyes, which signifies tears and smile wrinkles—an ironic juxtaposition of two seemingly polar emotions. Her music entails a mystical fairy feel; it is as if she came out of a forest and learned to create electronic music. And up to this point, we’re still convinced that’s the case.

Growing up in a small island in Bergen, Norway, Aurora Aksnes was never meant to think like the common folk. When asked about her most vivid childhood memory, the 23-year-old recalls a rainy day in school when her classroom was noisy and she missed her ride home. After the chaos of the day, she plopped down on the couch, still drenched with her raincoat on, and stayed still as the day’s dinner was wafting through the air and Leonard Cohen’s “Suzanne” played in the background. “I just sat in the living room for a little while. I just really relaxed and I realized how much music can give—it was a break from life.”

Now, Aurora believes that music is the closest thing she could get to spirituality, and through this, she manifests a sort of mysticism that is truly fascinating. She believes that apple cores contain wishes and dreams about being a stone at the bottom of the ocean. Her music never gives any sign of the modern era; she sees desire as an animalistic instinct in “Animal”, her inner turmoils as diseases in “Infections of a Different Kind”, and the underdogs as a part of her “Queendom”. Matched with the vivid storytelling and natural elements in an otherwise synthetic production, things are never as they seem in the realms of her brain.

“I just sat in the living room for a little while. I just really relaxed and I realized how much music can give—it was a break from life.”

For someone dreaming with her eyes open, she never appears to be out of touch with reality either. With the folktronica and art-pop fusion she introduced to us in 2012, she had explored almost every crevice of human emotion. “At the beginning of my career, my main goal was to write music so people could cry; music to be a friend for people out there who were struggling with emotions,” she explains. And after the release of her records Infections of a Different Kind - Step 1 and A Different Kind of Human - Step 2, Aurora seems to be going deeper, unfurling the secrets of what it means to be human.

While she puts emotions under a microscope, she also zooms out to see the big picture. “I realized that [music] can be much more,” she expresses. With her emotional intelligence and realization that she could become the voice for the voiceless, Aurora evolved into a more politically-charged artist, singing about toxic masculinity in “River” and the climate crisis in “The Seed”. This sense of clarity and compassion for people and the world obviously stems from growing up surrounded by nature. “You realize that you’re big compared to the bugs, that you’re so small compared to the trees and the mountains,” she observes. With this perspective, she has carried with her a clear understanding and a deep-rooted appreciation of life in all of its different forms.

Of course, not everyone can live on a peaceful island in Norway and become a philosopher basking in nature, but this is what the artist hopes to impart with the world through her music. In the haze of the nine-to-five life, there’s simply no time to stop and think. But the moment you put your headphones on and listen to the musings and ponderings of Aurora, she brings you back to her couch in Bergen, letting the raindrops soak in and taking a break from the bustles of life through music.

As she cooks up two new albums while on tour, Aurora makes time for us to discuss last night’s dream, skydiving, and the role music and nature plays in her life.

First up, tell us about your musical journey. Do you remember the first song you’ve ever written?

When I was a child, I loved to watch people more than I actually wanted to be with people. I like to see what people around me were going through. I was around nine when I wrote my first song in English, and it was about someone being bullied. It was quite a sad song—that’s all I can remember. After I wrote my first song, I just fell in love with it. It made me feel so good that I could create something that was only mine and that helped to use emotion and turn it into something beautiful. I could never stop after I started.

“Everything I do becomes better because I can give more to the world when I am good to myself.”

How did you evolve into the AURORA we know now?

Well, it happened really organically. A lot has changed, of course, in my life. My world is a lot bigger now than it used to be. I have all these friends and fans all over the world and they have really taught me how small the world is but also how big it can be. The biggest change that I have discovered is what music can really do. Music can change people all over the world and help them understand emotions better. It’s a very beautiful thing.

Tell us about your creative process in your music.

It’s very different from time to time. Sometimes I have to run to the closest recorder and record my ideas. If I’m on tour, I have to bring my book and write down some ideas. I also like sitting quietly and watching the world go by. I write everything down in my notebook. I write everything that I see around me. I just can’t stop singing, I can’t stop writing. The world is very inspiring.

When I’m home, I have my piano, but obviously the piano is too big to be with me on my back [laughs]. But when I’m home, I usually just sit and play for hours and just improvise, and when something beautiful comes, I just stick with that. It’s very organic and natural and relaxed, the way I write. I just do it when I feel like it. And when I can’t write anything I just do something else like a painting. I try to keep things very natural and to have no pressure.

Speaking of that, you also do visual art and you painted the cover art of your single “Forgotten Love”, is that something you do often? Does art ever affect your music and writing?

It does! It has happened more and more throughout my career. The visual side of music, I have learned that people’s eyes seem to be more developed than people’s ears. I love painting when I write music at the same time, and I love painting the visuals to my song.

You’ve created your own language in the songs “Forgotten Love” and “A Different Kind of Human”, can you tell us the process of creating these? What is the inspiration behind it?

I care a lot about people [laughs]. I think it’s hard for people to talk about their emotions when they don’t know how to express when something is wrong or why or even understand why we are sad. Sometimes it’s hard to understand why we’re not feeling well about things. I wanted to make simple words to explain complicated emotions. So I just wanted to make a language for people to explain their emotions. It also sounds really nice and poetic.

You’ve mentioned that some of your ideas come up when you dream. What is the best dream you could recall?

I love all the dreams I’ve had. I love it when dreams make me do impossible things, like when I go on an adventure or flying—that’s my favorite dream. I did dream, the other day, that I was a stone at the bottom of the sea and I was just watching everything above me. It felt like the dream lasted for a thousand years. As a stone, I was just watching the world go by, for hundreds and thousands of years. When I woke up, I got inspired and realized how much life comes and goes. It’s really fascinating. I love being inspired by dreams. In Infections of a Different Kind, there’s a song that I wrote, almost in a dream, I just woke up in the middle of the night and let it play in my head.

"I just can’t stop singing, I can’t stop writing. The world is very inspiring."

How did you know that you were a stone?

I just kind of feel it, and everything around me went so quickly when I was a stone. Time went much quicker for me and everything around it because a stone has such a long life. I think I really dreamed that I was a stone because all the life around me moved so fast—I don’t know I just had a feeling that I was a stone. It was really magical, and it was a good dream.

You lived on a small island in Bergen, Norway. How do you think growing up around nature shaped the way you think?

It shaped a lot. I really needed nature my whole childhood. I’ve grown up and thought of how important nature is and how beautiful it is. Everything you need to live is in nature so you learn to respect nature. I’ve often walked around in the forest when I was a child—I was more outside than inside my whole childhood, and I just think that being surrounded by big trees and the big animals and you will get a perspective over things if you realize that you’re big compared to the bugs, that you’re so small compared to the trees and the mountains. There are just so many beautiful things there, and it’s very humbling. I really love nature and I don’t think I would be the same without it.

You’ve shared with NME a guide on being peaceful and happy. How did you come up with these? What was the journey leading up to this realization?

I think the main reason why people find themselves a bit unhappy or stressed every day is that we forget to be kind to ourselves and others. There’s just this pressure to accomplish so much every day. Sometimes a successful day is just surviving it. We don’t need more sometimes. We don’t always have to have a successful day. As long as you survive it, that’s enough.

The world would have more happy people if we are all ready to help the people around us; It would benefit all of us when all people are more happy. It can be hard. When I can’t do things I want to do, I tell myself “it’s okay.” It’s okay to not be successful all the time, as long as you’re good to yourself. And when I’m good to myself, I can be better for the people around me and I can see my fans and hear their stories. Everything I do becomes better because I can give more to the world when I am good to myself. So all my life I’ve been happier when I’m not busy and I’m good to myself.

You pride yourself in being extremely free. What is one thing you’ve always wanted to try?

I’ve always wanted to jump with a parachute. I really want to know what it’s like to fly. I would love to be a bird—that would be the biggest dream. I would love to jump with a parachute just to experience flying for a few minutes. There are a lot of things I would love to try. I’m very hungry for life, and I’m very hungry to try most things that the world has to offer me. I would like to dance more and paint more. I would like to make a theater piece with music. I would like to make the best live show for people. I would like to focus more on the environment. I don’t know; there are a lot of things I want to try and I want to do. It’s very exciting.

Are you a big fan of musical theater?

Yes, I am! I would like to make a live show with a whole story. I would like to make a live show that is more than just a concert. It’s a big dream of mine to connect the two.

Do you have any plans on coming to the Philippines or anywhere in Asia?

Not this year, but I hope that next year I can be in more countries in Asia. I would love to go to wherever my fans are and this year, I’m going to Hong Kong, China, Tokyo, Seoul, and Singapore. I’m going to a few places but I would love to visit more places in Asia. It’s my biggest wish actually to be more in Asia and to meet my fans from all different countries. It’s a very big dream of mine. I could almost promise that next year, I will come to visit.

Written by Casey Eridio

Art by Elbert Uba

Photos by Morgan Hill Murphy

Courtesy of Universal Music