Aurora is one of these complex artists that we love to interview and with whom we could talk for hours.  Young girl of 20 years old, Aurora enchants its audience at each concert, with his lyrics and his music worthy of a singer who already have 10-year career. We met her at Barbès, the day after her venue to Rock en Seine. A meeting that we were waiting for over a year, after his concert at La Boule Noire.
We are very happy to share our Coup de Cœur, author of  the wonderful album: All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend.

AURORA / INTERVIEW

You seemed very surprised by the public to your concert at Rock en Seine. What did you feel?
Aurora: For me, it was one of those perfect concerts because when you start it is luminous. There is still daylight and there were many people, but not much. I like when it starts like that and it becomes darker, and the public continues to arrive. At the end, it’s completely dark, it’s magic.
I always said that I loved playing in France, I did a lot of concerts and it was always amazing for me. I feel that here the public understands me. They understand my music and my words when I speak, the audience laughs even when I do not want to be funny, but I like it, it relaxes me.

You had a crazy year, between the release of your album, concerts, the Jimmy Fallon show in the USA (huge!). It is quite unusual for a young girl! How do you live this success?
I know!
In Norway, we use to go swimming in the ice in winter, we make a hole in the ice and plunge into it. When you’re in, you’re so cold! This is the worst and the best thing in the world. When it’s over, you forget that you were so cold, because you’re outside, dry. It was really intense when you did it but it’s the past. It looks like this when you do all these amazing things. It sounds really incredible when you do the list and it was of course. I just do my job and what I should do. I’m not really nervous when I sing because it’s the music.
It is a fairy tale for me when I do it, but once it happened I do not really think about all of this.

Was it your dream job?
I did not dream about this before. I wanted to be an astronaut, maybe a dancer, a writer.

You’ve already written 43 songs, is that true?
Yes, I write songs all the time. I always wanted to write. Even when I was a child I thought I could write songs for other artists. I did not really want to be on stage. But it happened. And I like it ! It was not a dream, but it became one.

The New York Times compared to Björk, what do you think about this?
I don’t know. I like Björk. I never really listened to her before. Once my album came out, I thought I had to listen to new kinds of music. I bought and listened to some of Björk albums.

So it was not a part of your inspiration?
No, because I didn’t know her before. I had heard of Björk. I don’t have iTunes or Spotify, I don’t easily discover music. I love Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Enya, classical music, soundtracks, I like music without word.
Be compared to Björk now, I don’t really understand, because my first album is a little bit electronic but also organic. But I think we are really simple in how we connect things in our mind.
When I see a man with a guitar I think about Bob Dylan, but Dylan is Bob Dylan and the man with the guitar is the man with the guitar. I think it’s good in the minds of people to remind something that exists, but also be something new. I want to be something new, that’s why I’m here.

Joan: I really like Murder Song…
Alex: Me Conqueror...
Joan: I love Conqueror too, but you did not write this one, right?
This is the first song I wrote with others. In fact, I wrote it with two people of my group: Martin, my bassist and Magnus, my drummer. They had this incredible eye when we produced the album.

Joan: I wanted to talk about Murder Song …
Oh yes ! I have many sad songs, that’s why they said me « try to write with other people to have happy songs. »
Murder Song which I wrote myself, is a very sad, a bloody one. I’m very morbid. I’m fascinated by death and murder.

Is this something you lived?
Well, maybe…
I just think it’s fascinating how people can be the same people, how you and I need oxygen, can have children, need to be embraced, we need food, water, that we smile at us … we need the same things because we are people. And it’s just fascinating that some people can have in them the desire to kill while some people cannot pick a flower without feeling bad.
That’s about this I wrote Murder Song. How can a man kill someone he loves and it happens often in the world. But he doesn’t really understand what he did, it’s a very complicated story. Her, she didn’t want to be in this world anymore, and she knew that this man would do anything for her. She asks him to kill her and he said : “Ok, I love you, I would do anything for you. “After he killed her, he became sad because she didn’t move anymore and he didn’t understand where she went. He didn’t understand why she left and he start crying. And it is sad, because for the rest of his life, he will not understand and he will be sad.

How old were you when you wrote that song?
18! 🙂

You have a very large fan base, you call them Warriors and Weirdos. In France, they are a lot. Do you have a message for them?
I have so much to say. I love my fans. They are amazing! And I feel that they understand me. I know who my real fans are, who see more in me than I do myself. We are the same, maybe a little different. I write for them. I thank everyone for supporting me, because I need that to be able to do what I do. My fans are the nicest people in the world. In France, I always get gifts, which is really lovely.

What your fans do not know about you?
They know a lot about me, I think. I like to shower with cold water. That’s why I don’t like the showers because I always use cold water and a bit of hot water at the end. It’s good for the skin and it wakes me up.

Do you often meet your fans before or after your gigs, as you did yesterday at Rock en Seine?
Sometimes. I love meeting my fans before the show and also after the show. Sometimes it takes an hour, even two hours. I don’t always have time, sometimes I have to leave directly after the concert. But if I have time, I’m going to discuss with them.

Is it easy to sleep after a concert?
It depends. Sometimes I‘m so tired after a concert where I gave all my energy, all my emotions, it’s very easy to go to sleep. And I sleep like a baby. But if I know that I’ve done something bad, it keeps me awake for a week.

If you were a fairy tale, what would it be?
I could be a part of the Lord of the Rings. But I’d like to live there after the ring is destroyed, not before, obviously.

If you were a song?
I think I would be a quiet, sad song.
Children of the River, Secret Garden.

If you were a singer?
Iggy Pop. I love it !

If you were a film?
Fantastic Mr. Fox, I just find this movie and I love it.

If you were a word?
In my room, there is a poster with insects and there is a word below: Libellula Depressa. I think it’s pretty. I don’t know what this means. (N.D.R: it is the name of an insect Dragonfly depressed)

What are your future projects?
I’ll do a cooking show! 🙂 No, I don’t even know how to cook. I even burned spaghetti.
I’m on tour until 19 December. And the next project is to make a wonderful second album.

You also auditioned for film, isn’t it?
Yes, Yes. I would like to try. Everything is possible. I auditioned for a movie but I wasn’t inspired by the role. I would like to play in a fascinating film, maybe a possessed woman.

If Paris was one of your songs, what would it be?
I think it would be a romantic song. I think Paris is the city that people dream about with beautiful people,red lipstick, wine. It is also the city of love. I think that I would write from the perspective of a man in the street maybe, how he sees the city where he lives.

Interview by Joan et Alexandre

AURORA
All my demons greeting me as a friend
(Capitol Music France / Universal Music France)

Concert: 
La Maroquinerie, Paris, October 24th