Aurora (singer)

Aurora Aksnes (born 15 June 1996), known mononymously as Aurora (stylized in uppercase), is a Norwegian singer, songwriter, and record producer. Born in Stavanger, Aurora released her debut EP, "Running with the Wolves," in 2015, through Decca Records. Later that year, she provided the backing track for the John Lewis Christmas advert, singing a cover of the Oasis song "Half the World Away". Aurora released her debut studio album, "All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend", in 2016. In 2018, she released her second extended play, "Infections of a Different Kind (Step 1)", followed by her second studio album, "A Different Kind of Human (Step 2)".
Early life.
Aurora Aksnes was born in the Stavanger University Hospital in Stavanger, Norway, on 15 June 1996. She spent her first three years in Høle, a small town where her parents, May Britt Froastad and Jan Øystein Aksnes, had lived for 15 years. In her house in Høle, Aurora developed her taste for nature, singing and traditional clothing, such as long skirts and hats. Later the family moved farther north in western Norway, to a house in the woodlands of the Os mountains, a remote municipality in Hordaland, near Bergen. Aurora has described this place as "There are almost no cars and the roads are small and bumpy and there are lots of trees everywhere, it's very quiet and the internet is bad." She has also compared it to the fictional land of Narnia. When she attended school, her sisters—Miranda (currently her makeup artist) and Viktoria Aksnes (currently her costume designer)—worried that she could be harassed by other students, due to her personality and "weird" way of dressing. "I used to be terrified of people who wanted to hug me," she said. "I did not like to be hugged as a child. And I used to be terrified of one of my teachers at school, but then I met him a few months ago, and it was really nice. It’s weird how things change."
Aurora is the only musician in her family. She started learning to play piano when she was six. "I really love classic music, and when I found this piano in the attic, I just started pressing the keys and trying to figure out my favorite classical songs. I started to make melodies that I recognized. There was something special about being able to play just by yourself – something about the emotion in it made me want to continue playing." At age nine, when she had a better handle of the English language, she began writing songs. Her first original composition was titled "I Had A Dream", which referred to how hard the world can be. Songs such as "Running with the Wolves", "I Went Too Far" and "Runaway" were written in this early stage of her life, with "Runaway" being written when she was 11. She has mentioned she was influenced by artists like Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Enya, and The Chemical Brothers.
Career.
2012–2016: "Running with the Wolves" and "All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend".
Aurora's first track, "Puppet", was released in December 2012, followed by her second, "Awakening", in May 2013. Her first single signed to her labels Glassnote Records and Decca Records, "Under Stars" was released in November 2014, and "Runaway" followed in February 2015.
Her second single, "Running with the Wolves" was released in April 2015. She appeared at summer festivals such as Way Out West, Wilderness, and Green Man Festival. Aurora's third single, "Murder Song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1)", was released in September 2015 and has received continued support in national press, on national radio and popular online music blogs. Aurora performed at the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Concert. She has played a sold-out headline show in London and supported Of Monsters and Men at Brixton Academy in November 2015. Aurora recorded a cover of the Oasis track "Half the World Away" for the 2015 John Lewis Christmas advert. Her next single, titled "Conqueror", was released in January 2016, and a music video was uploaded the following month. Her debut album, "All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend", was released on 11 March 2016, receiving generally positive reviews from critics. After releasing it, she went on to embark on her European tour, making a number of visits to the UK in between. She featured in British band Icarus' song "Home" and released a cover of David Bowie's "Life on Mars".
On 14 March 2016, Aurora made her American television debut on "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon", performing "Conqueror". Aurora soon after performed the track on "Conan". On 25 July 2016 she performed her cover of "Life on Mars" on "The Howard Stern Show". The following night on 26 July, she performed "I Went Too Far" on "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert".
2016–2019: "Infections of a Different Kind" and "A Different Kind of Human".
When "All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend" debuted, Aurora said that it was "the first album of many". As of 12 May 2016, after coming back from her European tour, the singer announced that she was ready to begin writing and producing more material, which will form her second studio album. She stated in a Facebook event that she has fifteen demo songs and has written a thousand songs/poems. Since the announcement, Aurora has released "I Went Too Far" as a single. A music video for the track was released on 4 July 2016.
Between April and August 2018, the singer released two singles, "Queendom" and "Forgotten Love", which would be included in the first half of a two-part album divided into "steps". Aksnes recorded the album during her stay in France in January of that year, and the production included the producers Askjell Solstrand, Roy Kerr and Tim Bran, with Aurora herself also involved in this aspect. Some of that new material was anticipated in live performances, including festivals like Lollapalooza and Coachella.
While maintaining some of the themes and stories of the previous album, this production would mark the first time that Aurora has incorporated themes of politics and sexuality into her music. Most of the new inspiration came from the interaction that she had with her fans during her first tour. The music video for "Queendom" saw its release in May 2018, which presented themes of inclusivity and empowerment of "the underdog", particularly her LGBT fans. In the video, Aurora kisses one of her female dancers to convey that "every type of love is accepted and embraced" in her "queendom".
On 28 September 2018, the singer released the first half of her second album on EP format, under the title "Infections of a Different Kind (Step 1)". The EP features eight songs, and the title itself comes from the eighth track included on it, which Aurora declared as "the most important song I've ever written". "A Different Kind of Human (Step 2)" followed on 7 June 2019, with lead singles "Animal" and "The river".
On 12 April 2019, Aurora contributed to three songs on The Chemical Brothers' ninth album, "No Geography".
On 4 November 2019, the soundtrack to the Disney film "Frozen II" was released, with Aurora providing backing vocals on the song "Into the Unknown". On 9 February 2020, she performed the song onstage as part of the 92nd Academy Awards. She released her solo version of this song on 3 March 2020.
2020–present: Upcoming album.
Aurora released in May 2020 the ballad "Exist For Love", which was presented as her first love song ever with a self-directed music video. The song was made during the COVID-19 lockdown in collaboration with Isobel Waller-Bridge, who composed the string arrangements. It was the first glimpse into what she described as "a new era" in her career, with the upcoming release of a new album.
In early 2021, she released two compilation EPs in celebration of her song "Runaway" receiving over 100 million streams on Spotify: "For the Humans Who Take Long Walks in the Forest" and "Music for the Fellow Witches Out There" on 4 and 11 February, respectively.
Influences.
Aurora has mentioned Enya, Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen, Underworld, Björk and Kate Bush as her influences.
She cited the French metal band Gojira as her "favorite band" and has attended two of their concerts. Aurora also praised Mastodon and Refused.
She also stated in a BBC Radio 2 interview that she had great love for many Scandinavian metal bands as well as David Bowie.
Personal life.
Aurora has mentioned that she has been in relationships with men and women. When asked in an interview about her sexuality, she stated, "I just like to enjoy what is there, and I like to explore. Just love everything around you and you’re loving yourself." Aurora's mother is a midwife and her father is a garage door salesman. Aurora has two older siblings. Her sister Viktoria is a fashion designer, stylist, and blogger. Her oldest sister, Miranda, is a makeup artist and former teacher.
Aurora did not originally expect to perform music professionally, preferring to keep her music private: "I never really wanted to sing, or to be on the stage at all," she said. "I just wanted to write, maybe become a doctor or a physicist or something of that kind." When she was 16, Aurora performed a "really long and boring song about world peace" at her high school's leaving ceremony and a classmate put the video online. Around the same time, a friend uploaded a track Aurora had recorded as a Christmas gift for her parents to SoundCloud. These two songs were discovered by a representative of Made Management, a Norwegian management company, who invited Aurora to visit their office for a meeting in early 2013. "At first I thought no," she recalls. "But then my mum said I should think about the idea of sharing my music with the world because maybe there's someone out there who desperately needs it. And that could actually be a good thing." In a few hours, both songs received thousands of visits in Norway, which earned Aurora some recognition in her country, in addition to a fan base on Facebook. Aurora then set about working on her songwriting for around a year before giving her "first proper live performance" at a Norwegian music festival. "I don’t think I was born to be an entertainer, I used to really be afraid of playing live on-stage. Obviously it’s terrifying! But now I look forward to it every time. I’ve learned not focus on myself, cause it’s not about me. Now I only think about giving everyone the best experience. A magic moment."
Aurora mentioned in a 2019 documentary that a school mate assumed she had autism as a child. 
Discography.
Songwriting credits.
 indicates an un-credited lead vocal contribution.