Aurora Aksnes

Aurora Aksnes (; born 15 June 1996), known simply as Aurora (stylized in all capital letters), is a Norwegian singer, songwriter and record producer. Referred to as the "Fairy of Pop", she is a defining figure in contemporary Nordic pop, known for her introspective songwriting, ethereal soundscapes, and emotional depth.

Aurora first gained recognition as a teenager in Norway, quickly emerging as one of the country's most notable pop acts of the 2010s. Her debut studio album, '' All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend'' (2016), incorporated electropop and folk as musical styles. The album topped the Norwegian Albums Chart for two consecutive weeks and was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). Her follow-up project was a two-part concept album: '' Infections of a Different Kind (Step 1)'' was released in 2018, with '' A Different Kind of Human (Step 2)'' arriving in 2019. Her fourth studio album, '' The Gods We Can Touch'' (2022), became her first top 10 entry in the UK and her second number one in Norway. This was followed by her fifth studio album, '' What Happened to the Heart?'' (2024), which became her second top 10 album in the UK and also charted within the top 10 in Germany, Norway, Scotland, and the Netherlands.

Known for blending electropop, folk, and art pop, she has been described as a pioneer of the Norwegian art pop scene. Initially trained on piano, Aurora gradually expanded her musical involvement to include percussion and production. Beyond her solo work, Aurora has collaborated with a range of artists including Jacob Collier, Wu Qing-feng, Ane Brun, Sondre Lerche, Tom Odell, Askjell and the Chemical Brothers. In 2022, she worked with renowned composer Hans Zimmer, contributing vocals to the '' Frozen Planet II'' soundtrack.

Aurora's accolades include four Spellemannprisen, three Norwegian ''GAFFA'' Awards, and one Silver Clef Award. She appeared in the 2025 edition of ''Forbes'' 30 Under 30. As of July 2021, Aurora had sold over one million albums worldwide.

Early life

Aurora was born on 15 June 1996 at Stavanger University Hospital in Stavanger, the youngest of three daughters to midwife May Britt (née Froastad) and garage door salesman Jan Øystein Aksnes. Her oldest sister, Miranda, is a makeup artist and former teacher. Her other sister Viktoria is a fashion designer, stylist, and blogger. She spent her first three years in Høle, a small town where her parents had lived for 15 years. In Høle, Aurora developed her taste for nature, singing, and traditional clothing, such as hats and long skirts. Later the family moved further north in western Norway, to a house in the small village of Drange, located in the woodlands of the Os mountains, a remote municipality in Hordaland, near Bergen and Lysefjord (a fjord which translates to "fjord of light"). Aurora said of this place that: "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.

She calls herself a "forest person" due to being surrounded by nature, her love of "climb ngtrees", and being "isolated, safe and hidden". She has also shown interest in the ocean, since she lived close to the sea, and her parents have a sailboat. When she attended school, her sisters—Miranda (currently her makeup artist) and Viktoria Aksnes (currently her costume designer)—worried that she might be bullied due to her eccentric personality and style of dress. Instead, Aurora's classmates asked for more time than she was willing to give, and she instead preferred to spend time in the forest. She also claimed that withdrawing into natural spaces gave her time to philosophize and discover the "power" of her own mind. As a child, she states that "I used to be terrified of people who wanted to hug me"; "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."

One of her earliest musical memories is finding an electric piano in her parents' attic that once belonged to her sister Miranda. She remembers being fascinated by the melodies that could be produced on that instrument and singing along to the song " Don't Worry, Be Happy" around the family table. Her parents sang that song in a choir as a hobby. Aurora is the only member of her family to pursue a musical career. She started learning to play piano when she was six by playing the songs she listened to: "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, she began writing songs. She has mentioned being influenced at that time by artists like Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Enya, and the Chemical Brothers.

Her parents did not encourage her to pursue this activity as a career or hobby, but she went from imitating classical music to composing her own material, preferring to keep her music private. She also aspired to become a doctor, a physicist or a dancer, and she took dance classes from 6 to 16 years old and performed in a contemporary dance group. The group participated at the Norwegian Youth Festival of Art twice, dancing with the songs " Decode" by Paramore and " Feeling Good" in the background. They also danced to Michael Jackson's "Ghosts" at an event in 2011. She also expressed that her dislike of her own voice was a reason not to think of being a singer.

According to Aurora, the first song she ever finished writing was titled "The Lonely Man". The first job she had before embarking on her music career was washing a pizza restaurant on the outside using a hose. Several songs were written at this stage of her life. Another of her early compositions was "I Had a Dream", which referred to how hard the world can be. Although she considered it a "really long and boring song about world peace", she performed it once at her high school's leaving ceremony. The recording of her song "Puppet" (which was originally made as a Christmas gift for her parents) and a video filmed by a classmate of her school performance were uploaded online without her permission, which made her angry. She was soon discovered by a representative of the agency of Artists Made Management, a Norwegian management company, who invited Aurora to visit their office for a meeting in early 2013. Aurora initially denied the proposal: "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 a fan base on Facebook.

Career

2012–2016: ''Running with the Wolves'' and ''All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend''

When Aurora self-released her debut single "Puppet" in December 2012 under her birth name, it gained traction in Norway, hinting at her early potential. In 2014, following the local success of "Puppet," she signed recording contracts with Petroleum Records, Decca, and Glassnote Records. That same year, her single "Awakening" earned her the title of Untouched of the Week on NRK Urørt, a radio program from NRK P3. Her third single, "Under Stars", released in December 2014, received critical praise in Europe and the United States for her distinctive vocal style, establishing her as a rising talent for 2015. Her next single, " Runaway," released in February 2015, further broadened her audience, catching the attention of artists like Katy Perry and Troye Sivan.

Aurora's debut EP, '' Running with the Wolves'', was released in May 2015, following the single of the same name in April, which was accompanied by a music video two months later. The EP garnered positive reviews from online music publications and national media, boosted by airplay on BBC Radio. To promote the EP, Aurora performed at major summer festivals, including Way Out West, Wilderness, and Green Man. Her subsequent single, " Murder Song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1)", released in September, received widespread acclaim from radio stations, music blogs, and the national press. In November, she recorded a cover of Oasis

HOME


Content is Copyleft
Website design, code, and AI is Copyrighted (c) 2014-2017 by Stephen Payne


Consider donating to Wikimedia



As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases