Thinking A Lil’ Too Much

I’m lucky to have a brain that never wonders “Why?” when I feel something. *laughs* For example, when people were making fun of me at school, I didn’t realize it. So I think that helped me a lot. The first time I fell in love was with a girl. I didn’t question it. I come from a small town, and I remember we were only eleven in my class. And no one was like me. I remember jokes about being gay, but they were mostly for boys. As for my parents, I’ve never really had to come out of the closet. On the other hand, the media outed me in Norway when I was 19. An important newspaper put in a headline that I loved everything, women and bearded men. It was pretty traumatic, because they stole my coming out, in a way.

AURORA on being bisexual and the ways she deals with judgment or misunderstanding about it in an interview for Têtu by Florian Ques | 04.02.2022

Translated by Amroth and AURORA France

And what is growing up if not being fearful of the future, but running head on into it anyway?

I am still afraid, but I barrel into fate with gritted teeth. Every experience brings a lesson, every passing day and night just a page turned in my story.

ABBA - Thank You For The Music

Advanced Language

Agnes Obel - Falling, Catching / Riverside / Dorian / The Curse (Robert Hampson Remix)

Air - Sexy Boy

Alice Phoebe Lou and Olmo - Devil’s Sweetheart

Alt J - Fitzpleasure / Hunger of The Pine / Pulsher

Amanda Delara (suggested as an artist she recommends listening)

Amanda Tenfjord (suggested as an artist she recommends listening)

And Still I Rise - Wrecking Ball

Ane Brun - A Temporary Dive / All We Want is Love / Do You Remember

Anna of the North - Lovers

Annie Lennox - No More “I Love You’s”

Antônio Carlos Jobim - Samba De Uma Nota Só

A Perfect Circle - The Outsiders / Weak And Powerless / Passive / Thirteen Steps (album)

Asbjørn - The Love You Have in You / Asbjørn

Askjell - The First Goodbye / L O S T M Y C O O L / Sofia

The Beatles - Tomorrow Never Knows / Revolver (album)

Beck - Blue Moon

Beethoven - Moonlight Sonata (Glenn Morrison’s version)

Bee Gees - How Deep Is Your Love

Beverly Glenn-Copeland - Sunset Village

Bjork -  Army of Me / Homogenic (album) / Human Behaviour / Hyperballad / Joga / Unravel / Violently Happy / All Is Full Of Love (Howie’s Version)

The Black Keys - Lonely Boy 

Blondie - Heart Of Glass

Bob Dylan -  Emotionally Yours / Political World / Mr. Tambourine Man (live version) (mentioned as the first song she dug)

Cameron James Laing - The Way

Cats of Transistria - Good Night

Céline Dion - My Heart Will Go On (Titanic)

The Chemical Brothers -  Another World / Galvanize / Escape 700 / Hanna’s Theme

Cher - Believe

Childish Gambino - This Is America

Claude Debussy, Alexis Weissenberg - Claire de Lune (mentioned as a song that impacted her as a child)

Cocteau Twins - Heaven Or Las Vegas

Coldplay - Fix You

College/Electric Youth - A Real Hero (mentioned as the song that got her through her teen angst)

The Cranberries - Dreams  

Crystal Castles - Air War / Celestica / Sad Eyes / Untrust Us

Daft Punk - Digital Love

Damien Rice - Cannonball /  Delicate / Volcano

Daughter - Youth

David Bowie - Ziggy Stardust / Blackstar (album) / Life On Mars? / Let’s Dance

dePresno - Forever

Dido - Here with Me 

Dina Ögon - Tombola 94

DNKL - Hunt

Dolores O'Riordan - When We Were Young

Ed Sheeran- No Diggity vs. Thrift Shop (& Passenger, Kygo Remix) / I See Fire (Kygo Remix)

Edith Piaf - La Vie en Rose (mentioned as a song which makes her cry)

Edvard Grieg - Morning Mood (Morgenstemning) / Solveig’s Song

Enya - Amarantine / May It Be / Storms In Africa / Ebudae / Boadicea / Watermark / The Memory of Trees (album) 

Eric Whitacre - Lux Aurumque

EvighetenYoung (suggested as an artist she recommends listening)

Fever Ray - When I Grow Up

Fka Twigs - Water Me

Fleetwood Mac - Big Love / Landslide

Florence + The Machine - No Light, No Light / Rabbit Heart (Raise it Up)

Frankie Valli - Can’t Take My Eyes Off You

Gabrielle - 5 fine frøkner

Gaahls WYRD (suggested as an artist she recommends listening)

Gojira -  Explosia / Mouth of Kala (mentioned as a song she loves that might surprise people)

Goldmund -  Image-Autumn-Womb

Great News - Now And Them (album)

Grimes - Flesh Without Blood

HALIE (suggested as an artist she recommends listening)

Hans Zimmer - Cornfield Chase

Henry Mancini & His Orchestra And Chorus - Moon River

Howard Shore - The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring: Main Theme (mentioned as a song that she wishes she had written)

Imogen Heap -  Headlock / Hide And Seek

Iris -  Romance is Dead / lavender and heaven (mentioned as the song she wants played at her wedding)

Japanese Breakfast - Paprika

Jenny Hval - Golden Locks / Mephisto in the Water

John Williams - Hedwig’s Theme (mentioned as a song she wishes that she had made)

John Wizards - Tet Lek Schrempf

Jóhann Jóhannsson - Arrival (Original Motion Picture Soundtrack) / Kangaru

Johnny Cash (mentioned as the artist she likes)

Joni Mitchell - Both Sides Now

Kate Bush - Cloudbusting / Babooshka

Khold - Myr

Kimbra - Top of the World

Kishi Bashi - I Am the Antichrist to You

Kvelertak (suggested as an artist she recommends listening)

Lana Del Rey - Young and Beautiful

Leif Vollebekk - Elegy

Leonard Cohen - Famous Blue Raincoat (Live) /  Suzanne (Live) /  The Partisan (mentioned as an important song which her parents listened to) /  You Want It Darker (album) / It Seemed the Better Way / Greatest Hits (album) / Hey, That’s No Way To Say Goodbye 

Lorde (mentioned as the artist she would like to collaborate with) 

Lou Bega -  Mambo No. 5 (A Little Bit Of…)

Madonna - Frozen / Drowned world/Substitute for Love

Madrugada - Majesty

Marilyn Manson - Tainted Love

Massive Attack - Daydreaming /  Teardrop

Mastodon - The Hunter / High Road

Masterdon (mentioned as the artist she likes)

Matt Maltese - As the World Caves In

Max Richter - On the Nature of Daylight

Metteson - Under Your Shirt

Miki Matsubara - 真夜中のドア/ Stay With Me

Moby - Porcelain / A Seated Night

Moyka - Colder

Naaz (mentioned as the artist she likes)

Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds ft. Kylie Minogue - Where The Wild Roses Grow

Nick Drake - Pink Moon

Nicholas Hooper - When Ginny Kissed Harry

O. Martin - Nowhere Is Home

Paolo Nutini - Everywhere

Phoebe Bridgers - Smoke Signals

Poliça - Happy Be Fine

Prince - Sexuality

Put Your Hands Up for Neo-Tokyo - Get By

Queen - Under Pressure

Radiohead - No Surprises

RED MOON (suggested as an artist she recommends listening)

RHODES - Turning Back Around

Rockettothesky - Grizzly Man (mentioned as the first song discovered on her own)

Röyksopp & Robyn - Monument 

Robot Koch - Nitesky (feat John LaMonica)

Rudimental - Waiting All Night ft. Ella Eyre

Rusted Root - Send Me on My Way

RY X - Berlin

Sarah Brightman - Eden

SEA CHANGE - Above

Secret Garden - Windancer / Windancer

Seigmen - Monument

Sei Selina - Only When You’re Asleep

Sigur Ros - Svefn-g-englar 

Silja Dyngeland / Silja Sol - Stemning (DC#27) / Løgneren / Skrubbsår

Silvana Estrada - Lo Sagrado (album)

Sinéad O'Connor - Nothing Compares 2U

Slayer (mentioned as an artist she likes)

Solå (suggested as an artist she recommends listening)Sondre Lerche - Why Would I Let You Go / Wrecking Ball (cover) / Palindromes / Sentimentalist / Lucifer / Bad Law / Patience/ I Love You Because It’s True

Strange Hellos (suggested as an artist she recommends listening)

Stromae - L’enfer

Sufjan Stevens (mentioned as an artist she was excited to see at Panorama NYC festival 2016)

Susanne Sundfør - Silencer / White Foxes

Sushi x Kobe (suggested as an artist she recommends listening)

System of a Down -  Violent Pornography

Tame Impala - Let It Happen

The Prodigy -  Voodoo People / Smack My Bitch Up

The Secret Sisters - Tomorrow Will Be Kinder

Thomas Newman - American Beauty: Original Motion Picture Score

Tigran Hamasyan + Arve Henriksen + Eivind Aarset + Jan Bang - Hoy, Nazan / Holy

Tool - Aenema

Underworld (mentioned as an artist she’d collaborate with) - Born Slippy / Rez / To Heal / 1992-2012 (album she would put it at a rave party as a DJ) / Born Slippy (mentioned as the song that she listened to the most when she first started driving)

Vilde Tuv - Cellevevet / Det blåser ingen vinder inni huset

Wardruna - Yggdrasil (album) / Runaljod - Ragnarok (album) / Fehu / Algir-Tognatale

WDSTCK - Flowers

Wim Mertens - Iris

Wintergatan - Sommarfågel

Woodkid - Iron

Wolf Alice - How Can I Make It Ok?

The XX - Intro

Young Dreams (suggested as an artist she recommends listening)

And overall music without words like soundtracks, movie pieces or classical music

Sources (in no particular order and some might be missing as I’ve been working on that since February 2021):

“Aurora feirer Grieg” on NRK 2018, i-D interview “city guide: bergen with aurora”, INDIE mag interview “BLESSING OUR EARS WITH AURORA’S DEBUT ALBUM” 2016, Records In My Life (interview 2016), 2014 interview for GAFFA, Auto-Tune Interview for DIFFUS 2019, Aurora guest programs Rage 2019, NRK radio show “AURORA Up Close” 2017, “Like A Bird In The Night: Clash Meets Aurora” 2019 interview, Spotify Greenroom Wrapped 2021 With AURORA and Sub Urban, Mixtape with the songs for Kzradio, #TBT Mixtape for Billboard, 2016 Artist Survey: AURORA for Under the Radar, Records In My Life (2019 Interview), Nordic Playlist #83, Nine Songs: AURORA for The Line of Best Fit 2019, NPR’s Guest DJ: AURORA On Her Love Of Heavy Metal And Leonard Cohen 2016, IG story from March 2020, IG story from September 2021, Interview - Panorama NYC 2016, Tweet from 2016, Spotify’s music & talk show 10 Songs That Made Me 2021, Playlist for Weibo 2022, Interview for NRK 2014, Interview with Jamie Taylor 2016, Playful Playlist for i-D 2022, Midnight Mixtape for Deezer 2021, Daydreaming playlist for HIGHJINKX 2021, ChillDaBeats #038 2021, AURORA’s official SoundCloud channel, NRK P3 - Plateprat (record talk) 2017

Favorite AURORA lyrics 

take me home

where is home?

let’s search

it’ll be worth it when we find it

so let’s search

a good home has a good family

so lets find ourselves one

I try and try

but im a little too much

too loud

too sensitive

a good home has a good family

home will be worth it

so lets be a little less

let’s be quiet

lets be okay with the jokes they make

I have a good family now right?

though I don’t think I’m home yet

A good home has good decor

so let’s decorate

but the interests I decorate with

are a little too weird

too obsessive

too childish

so lets be a little more normal

more controllable

more mature

I have good decor now right?

I don’t think this is home either

if I filled my house

with good family

with good decor

but it never became a home

what’s wrong with me?

oh well

when others visit

this perfectly crafted house

they will feel right at home

Isn’t this just the most beautiful day there ever was? I love autumn. I just love it! I’m so glad I get to live in a world where there are Octobers, aren’t you?