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Her parents had never encouraged her to pursue this activity as a career or hobby, but as she got older, she went from imitating classical music to composing her own material, never thinking of doing it to entertain people, and preferring to keep her music private.[13][21][26] Instead, besides a songwriter she aspired to become a doctor, a physicist or a dancer,[27] and she took dance classes from 6 to 16 years old and performed in a contemporary dance group.[28] The group participated at the Norwegian Youth Festival of Art twice, dancing with the songs "Decode" by Paramore and "Feeling Good" in the background.[29][30] They also danced to Michael Jackson's "Ghosts" at an event in 2011.[31] She also expressed that her dislike of her own voice was a reason not to think of being a singer.[32]
According to Aurora, the first song she ever finished writing was titled "The Lonely Man".[33] Her first work before embarking on her music career was washing a pizza restaurant using a hose.[33] Songs from her early works were written in this early stage of her life.[34][35] Another of her early compositions was "I Had a Dream", which referred to how hard the world can be.[25][23] 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 The recording of her song "Puppet" (which was originally made as a Christmas gift for her parents) and a video filmed by a classmate of her school performance were uploaded online without her permission (which made her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),[13][36] and was quickly 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.[37][38] 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".[36] 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.[38][21][39]
Her next single, "Running with the Wolves" was released in April 2015, and its music video was released two months later. The song gained attention from BBC Radio station.[49] It was released alongside the announcement of the release of her debut EP Running with the Wolves.[50] Released in May 2015 on digital platforms, the EP received positive reviews from online music blogs and national press. To promote the EP, she appeared at summer festivals such as Way Out West, Wilderness, and Green Man Festival. Aurora's next single, "Murder Song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1)", was released in September 2015 and has received continued support in the national press, on national radio, and popular online music blogs.[51] Aurora also performed at the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Concert,[52] saying that she and her family "have been following it from the living room at home for many years", and "it is an incredibly beautiful thing to be a part of."[53] Her presentation was praised by the concert's host Jay Leno.[54] She has played a sold-out headline show in London and supported Of Monsters and Men at Brixton Academy in November 2015.[55] Aurora recorded a cover of the Oasis song "Half the World Away" for the 2015 John Lewis Christmas advert.[56] Her next single, titled "Conqueror", was released in January 2016, and a music video was released the following month. Before the single release, the song appeared in the soundtrack of the videogame FIFA 16.[57]
In early 2016, Aurora featured on British band Icarus' song "Home" and released a cover of David Bowie's "Life on Mars" for the HBO Girls television series.[58][59][60] After a prolific start with her first musical productions, she released her debut album All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend in March 2016,[61] receiving generally positive reviews from critics. After releasing the album, Aurora embarked on an international concert tour beginning in Australia that lasted more than a year.[62]
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.[73] Most of the new inspiration came from the interaction that she had with her fans during her first tour.[74] 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".[75]
Aurora's early influences were limited, since at home she didn't have access to radio or music channels on television, and even as she entered her singing career she admitted that she had listened to very few artists.[98] She has mentioned Enya,[24] Bob Dylan,[24] Leonard Cohen,[24] the Beatles,[99] Johnny Cash,[100] Underworld,[101] Oasis, Björk,[102][103] Kate Bush,[64] and Ane Brun[104] as her major influences. She said that the first album she bought was Dylan's Blonde on Blonde.[33] She also talked about heavy metal as a major inspiration for her from a young age, citing French band Gojira as her "favorite band" and has attended two of their concerts.[105] She first listened to one of their songs when she was around 11 years old, and described it as "so hard and so intense and dark, and it felt like an explosion."[106] Aurora has also listened to bands Mastodon, System of a Down, Tool, Metallica, Refused and Slayer.[105][106][104] She also stated in a BBC Radio 2 interview that she had a great love for many Scandinavian heavy metal bands as well as David Bowie.[107] Her love for heavy metal inspired her compilation EP For the Metal People, which included some of her songs influenced by the genre.[106] Aurora also expressed her admiration for rock musician Iggy Pop, adding that when she met him during a festival in Belgium she was "so happy I almost peed my pants."[64] She and the frontman of Nordic folk band Wardruna have shared admiration for each other's work, and performed the song "Helvegen" together several times.[108]
She has covered some of her influences' songs, some of them are "Mr. Tambourine Man",[109] "Famous Blue Raincoat",[110] "Life on Mars",[60] "Across the Universe",[99] and "Make You Feel My Love".[111] About recent influences, Aurora stated that she dislikes listening to music, which she described as "noise" or "interference" for her, adding that she has "music in my mind all the time".[112] She also said that she does not have streaming platforms like iTunes and Spotify but she has "some LPs at home and a few CDs." She added she only likes to listen to some of her influences' music during travelling.[101]
Aurora has an eclectic musical style, consisting of art pop,[16][114] Nordic-folk,[115] synth-pop,[115] electropop,[116] electro-folk,[117] dark pop,[118] avant-garde pop,[119] alt-pop,[120] folk-pop,[121] and new-age.[112] Haley Weiss of Interview introduces her as a "poetic author of art-pop" and an "unaffectedly curious artist".[16] John Murphy of MusicOMH describes her songs as a "beguiling mix of sizzling synth-pop, and for want of a better phrase, Nordic-folk".[115] Michael Craag of The Guardian describes her to be "dark electro-pop".[116] Cyclone Wehner from Music Feeds said her music has attracted her a cult fanbase with her "darkly romantic electro-folk" along with her eccentricity.[117] Writing for Paper, Mathias Rosenzweig sees her as "Scandinavia's newest dark pop prodigy" with her love for Nordic folklore, similar to Björk's interest of Icelandic mountains and countrysides. Rosenzweig also mentioned her "unexpected melodic twists" akin to Sia with the "prodigy vibes" of Lorde.[118] Lisa Higgins from Clash, describes her as an artist with an avant-garde pop sound,[119] while Jessica Fynn from the same magazine sees her as an "alt-pop aesthete".[120] Chris Tinkham of Paste says that she has a "dark folk-pop" sound.[121]
Aurora has a soprano vocal range.[122] The word "ethereal" has often been used to qualify her tone of voice,[20][123][124][125] while the repeated use of vocals (like "ah", "oh" and "la") has also been pointed out as something characteristic in her music.[123][126][127] Aurora composes her songs in English, given her susceptibility to interpreting highly personal lyrics in her native Norwegian.[128] However, she has sung songs like "Stjernestøv", "Vinterens Gåte" and "Det Hev Ei Rosa Sprunge" in her native language.[83][84] Since Infections of a Different Kind (Step 1) she began to include lyrics in an "emotional language" that she invented in favor of changing the energy and meaning of her performance.[129] She mostly plays the piano, but also knows how to play other instruments like ukulele, guitar and the harp.[104][130] She has progressively become involved in percussion and other aspects of the production of her songs.[131][18]
Aurora has been involved in several philanthropic causes. In October 2020, she performed her song "Warrior" for volunteers of the Clean Sounds Movement, and called on fellow singers Billie Eilish and Sigrid to do the same.[145] She also participated in several music festivals online, such as Vi er Live (in demonstration against racism and the murder of George Floyd), SOS Rainforest (supporting indigenous communities and jungles of Africa, Asia and South America), and Exist For Love Sessions (to promote various emerging artists).[153][154][155][156][157] In November 2021, Aurora headlined a non-profit charity event during COP26 to donate funds for Brian Eno's "EarthPercent" charity.[146]
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