Aurora's interview for D2 Magazine - Dances With Demons
May 16, 2017 13:00:03 GMT
AURONRA, aurorafan, and 12 more like this
Post by JoãoMJGuerreiro on May 16, 2017 13:00:03 GMT
Aurora's interview for D2 Magazine
-"My father once told me about a magical ring, owned by the ancient King Solomon."
A bright blond girl with big blue eyes sits leaning forward in a plush sofa in the Grand Hotel. She tells of a ring.
-"The ring was such that it could make the happiest man sad, and the saddest man happy."
Last year she was on tour in 330 days. Shortly released their debut album, the expectations are enormous.
-"The ring itself is not magical, but it has an inscription."
She has not yet been properly in love. She likes to go hiking alone in the woods. She misses her big sisters every day.
-"It says, "This too will pass.""
The short, fair hair lashes lightly over her narrow shoulders.
-"The story has helped me a lot", says Aurora Aksnes. "For so it is yes. Everything goes. Both the good and the bad."
VOICE
It's her very first memory. The TV is on, two-year-old Aurora is on her way to bed, but catches a glimpse of the scene from "Titanic" where Jack stands with his arms around Rose on the bow of the ship.
The morning after her parents find her dressed in layers over layers of dresses, standing on top of a large stone out of the neighbour's garden, singing words she could not understand. This repeats itself for many weeks.
"The singing has always been natural for me, it's easier than talking. I stutter a bit when I talk, maybe because I'm trying to say too much at once. But when I sing, it flows. Not that I've always liked my voice, I didn't sound like those I would want to sound like"
Who would you like to resemble?
"Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen. The things I heard. But now I like my voice because people say that they can hear my feelings when I sing. I just never imagined that I would become an artist, she says."
BEGINNING
Aurora Aksnes grew up with two older sisters, her mother and father in the small village called Drange in Os outside Bergen, surrounded by forests and oceans. She played with the elves in the woods with her best friend Rikke and has a secret friend, the old wise man who lives inside the wardrobe in her bedroom. Aurora sews her own clothes, complemented with socks in many different colours and patterns and wears sweaters. Maybe she was bullied by the older kids, she is not quite sure, it doesn't bother her.
But there are many calls to her parents from her teachers - about how Aurora dreams away for hours, rather than paying attention in class.
I think I was a special child, although all children are special in their own way. But I had a very big imagination. I didn't always manage to be present in the here and now, I still have difficulty with that.
The very first time she sings for others is at her graduation in tenth grade. It's a song she has written as a school project and it's about all the bad dreams she had, about war and people killing each other. The song is eight minutes long, without chorus and along the way she comes to the conclusion that dreams are real - that this happens every day, around the world. Somebody filmed her, and the film fell into the hands of the boss of Made Management, one of the largest artist agencies.
The winter after, 17-year-old Aurora captivates the anaudience at By:Larm. The rest is history, Aurora decides to put aside plans to go to Trondheim and study physics. She doesn't have time to finish high school.
Last year, she toured in Europe and the US, was hailed by superstar Katy Perry on Twitter and got a sudden breakthrough in Britain when she was asked to sing Oasis' song "Half The World Away" for the John Lewis department store Christmas ad.
The year was rounded off with the appearance at the Nobel Peace Prize concert. In January, she was one of ten artists music magazine Rolling Stone said one should follow, and in the new "Girls" -season she is included in the soundtrack, with a cover version of David Bowie's "Life on Mars".
"I do many interviews these days, and many of the journalists, especially from the major newspapers in England and I don't enjoy it. They want to know what I think about Katy Perry and how it is to be a pop star. I get very stressed by it. Much of what I'm on, I dont know what is', I didn't know what John Lewis was", she says.
"I also don't know much about the music industry."
DEATH
She began writing songs when she was nine years old. One of her most famous, "Awakening", she wrote when she was eleven.
"A perfect song for a day at the beach," says the British journalists. But it is about suicide. There are not many who realise this.
The upcoming album is titled "All My Demons Greeting Me As Friend".
"I've been lucky and have not lost anyone in my immediate family. But I've been to many funerals and many times I have felt that I have not grieved properly. I looked at how other people laughed and smiled after the funeral was over, and I didn't understand how that was possible. Although I know there are many ways of grieving, laughter may be a natural reaction when you experience something very painful. But I walked around with so much grief inside me. In music, I found a way to cope with the painful feelings. I could write the words I never knew that I missed."
"Death's a completely natural thing. The only thing we know is that we will die one day. It's beautiful that we can become so attached to those around us, that we can be so sad if we lose them. It is absolutely terrible, but it is also nice. And everyone has lost someone. We must learn to understand and cope with the painful feelings."
When did you understand this? "I think I realised it after 22 July. I knew some of them who ... And then everything was bad and threatening, as one otherwise only hears about elsewhere, as it was very close. Before, I used to keep all my thoughts to myself.
It has helped me understand that it helps to talk."
When Aurora Aksnes is upset, she speaks with her mother.
"My mom is the smartest person I know. She is a midwife, but now taught herself to be a grief therapist. Isn't that beautiful?"
Sometimes her father helps her mother with her lectures. Once he came home and told what they had said, he said: "Grief is like a small stone inside the heart."
She acts out, a flat hand on the chest.
"It shatters and hurts. But eventually, as time goes by, the jagged edges of the stone slowly soften. After a while, you only remember all the good memories with the person you lost or what has happened. And then, the stone turned into a gem."
WIND
She sings about death and about love. Still, she has never been truly in love. On stage she looks for someone up there who are not here anymore. And she thinks of her sisters, Miranda and Viktoria, who she says she would do anything for. Many times she started to cry. She is often exhausted when she leaves the stage.
"It has happened that I wasn't able to sing all the verses of some songs. But I think it's fine. I hope I never stop feeling this much when I sing."
She is afraid of what lies ahead, not afraid that it will be over, she never asked for this position. She is afraid of not being able to walk the streets in peace. Afraid that she will have to be AURORA full time. Afraid of losing songs that are still coming to her. Afraid that the pursuit of pop success shall take the childish joy of music from her. She spends much time meditating. She does not like all the noise from the major European cities. She has a dead butterfly with her everywhere.
"When I was little, I thought that the birds looked after me, that they could understand me, I still do. And then the wind wispers in the trees, the wind that will help me with my mission."
When Aurora Aksnes occasionaly visits home in her room at Drange, she still speaks with the wise man in the wall. She speaks with the birds in the forest, with trees, and with herself.
"There is a one-way conversation I hold with the wind. But it helps to talk to her."
Do you believe in God?
"I am very spiritual. And I believe. I hope it's something that is much purer and more beautiful than us, who can inspire us to be as pure and beautiful as that. But I do not think we are punished if we make mistakes. It doesn't sound like something a pure and wise power would. But I think, I hope at least, that there is something bigger than us. Religion has been the cause of mass war, and still is. But faith can also give courage and hope to people who are far down. I think that's really beautiful."
Have you experienced it?
"I think so. The closest we get to the Divine, is the love. To be in love or to love someone. Even when they do not love us back, we just want them to be happy, she says. Also when we help complete strangers and people we've never met, only because we want them to have it a little better. There is something magical about it. So maybe I believe in man. Maybe we have something of the pure and beautiful in us."
This article was adapted by JoãoMJGuerreiro and AksWarrior from the original translation, that you can find here:
www.reddit.com/r/auroramusic/comments/48x9es/auroras_interview_for_d2_magazine_translation_in/
The original article is in the site of the D2 magazine:
www.dn.no/d2/2016/03/03/2026/Profil/danser-med-demoner?v=99690
-"My father once told me about a magical ring, owned by the ancient King Solomon."
A bright blond girl with big blue eyes sits leaning forward in a plush sofa in the Grand Hotel. She tells of a ring.
-"The ring was such that it could make the happiest man sad, and the saddest man happy."
Last year she was on tour in 330 days. Shortly released their debut album, the expectations are enormous.
-"The ring itself is not magical, but it has an inscription."
She has not yet been properly in love. She likes to go hiking alone in the woods. She misses her big sisters every day.
-"It says, "This too will pass.""
The short, fair hair lashes lightly over her narrow shoulders.
-"The story has helped me a lot", says Aurora Aksnes. "For so it is yes. Everything goes. Both the good and the bad."
=======================
VOICE
It's her very first memory. The TV is on, two-year-old Aurora is on her way to bed, but catches a glimpse of the scene from "Titanic" where Jack stands with his arms around Rose on the bow of the ship.
The morning after her parents find her dressed in layers over layers of dresses, standing on top of a large stone out of the neighbour's garden, singing words she could not understand. This repeats itself for many weeks.
"The singing has always been natural for me, it's easier than talking. I stutter a bit when I talk, maybe because I'm trying to say too much at once. But when I sing, it flows. Not that I've always liked my voice, I didn't sound like those I would want to sound like"
Who would you like to resemble?
"Bob Dylan, Leonard Cohen. The things I heard. But now I like my voice because people say that they can hear my feelings when I sing. I just never imagined that I would become an artist, she says."
BEGINNING
Aurora Aksnes grew up with two older sisters, her mother and father in the small village called Drange in Os outside Bergen, surrounded by forests and oceans. She played with the elves in the woods with her best friend Rikke and has a secret friend, the old wise man who lives inside the wardrobe in her bedroom. Aurora sews her own clothes, complemented with socks in many different colours and patterns and wears sweaters. Maybe she was bullied by the older kids, she is not quite sure, it doesn't bother her.
But there are many calls to her parents from her teachers - about how Aurora dreams away for hours, rather than paying attention in class.
I think I was a special child, although all children are special in their own way. But I had a very big imagination. I didn't always manage to be present in the here and now, I still have difficulty with that.
The very first time she sings for others is at her graduation in tenth grade. It's a song she has written as a school project and it's about all the bad dreams she had, about war and people killing each other. The song is eight minutes long, without chorus and along the way she comes to the conclusion that dreams are real - that this happens every day, around the world. Somebody filmed her, and the film fell into the hands of the boss of Made Management, one of the largest artist agencies.
The winter after, 17-year-old Aurora captivates the anaudience at By:Larm. The rest is history, Aurora decides to put aside plans to go to Trondheim and study physics. She doesn't have time to finish high school.
Last year, she toured in Europe and the US, was hailed by superstar Katy Perry on Twitter and got a sudden breakthrough in Britain when she was asked to sing Oasis' song "Half The World Away" for the John Lewis department store Christmas ad.
The year was rounded off with the appearance at the Nobel Peace Prize concert. In January, she was one of ten artists music magazine Rolling Stone said one should follow, and in the new "Girls" -season she is included in the soundtrack, with a cover version of David Bowie's "Life on Mars".
"I do many interviews these days, and many of the journalists, especially from the major newspapers in England and I don't enjoy it. They want to know what I think about Katy Perry and how it is to be a pop star. I get very stressed by it. Much of what I'm on, I dont know what is', I didn't know what John Lewis was", she says.
"I also don't know much about the music industry."
She began writing songs when she was nine years old. One of her most famous, "Awakening", she wrote when she was eleven.
"A perfect song for a day at the beach," says the British journalists. But it is about suicide. There are not many who realise this.
The upcoming album is titled "All My Demons Greeting Me As Friend".
"I've been lucky and have not lost anyone in my immediate family. But I've been to many funerals and many times I have felt that I have not grieved properly. I looked at how other people laughed and smiled after the funeral was over, and I didn't understand how that was possible. Although I know there are many ways of grieving, laughter may be a natural reaction when you experience something very painful. But I walked around with so much grief inside me. In music, I found a way to cope with the painful feelings. I could write the words I never knew that I missed."
"Death's a completely natural thing. The only thing we know is that we will die one day. It's beautiful that we can become so attached to those around us, that we can be so sad if we lose them. It is absolutely terrible, but it is also nice. And everyone has lost someone. We must learn to understand and cope with the painful feelings."
When did you understand this? "I think I realised it after 22 July. I knew some of them who ... And then everything was bad and threatening, as one otherwise only hears about elsewhere, as it was very close. Before, I used to keep all my thoughts to myself.
It has helped me understand that it helps to talk."
When Aurora Aksnes is upset, she speaks with her mother.
"My mom is the smartest person I know. She is a midwife, but now taught herself to be a grief therapist. Isn't that beautiful?"
Sometimes her father helps her mother with her lectures. Once he came home and told what they had said, he said: "Grief is like a small stone inside the heart."
She acts out, a flat hand on the chest.
"It shatters and hurts. But eventually, as time goes by, the jagged edges of the stone slowly soften. After a while, you only remember all the good memories with the person you lost or what has happened. And then, the stone turned into a gem."
WIND
She sings about death and about love. Still, she has never been truly in love. On stage she looks for someone up there who are not here anymore. And she thinks of her sisters, Miranda and Viktoria, who she says she would do anything for. Many times she started to cry. She is often exhausted when she leaves the stage.
"It has happened that I wasn't able to sing all the verses of some songs. But I think it's fine. I hope I never stop feeling this much when I sing."
She is afraid of what lies ahead, not afraid that it will be over, she never asked for this position. She is afraid of not being able to walk the streets in peace. Afraid that she will have to be AURORA full time. Afraid of losing songs that are still coming to her. Afraid that the pursuit of pop success shall take the childish joy of music from her. She spends much time meditating. She does not like all the noise from the major European cities. She has a dead butterfly with her everywhere.
"When I was little, I thought that the birds looked after me, that they could understand me, I still do. And then the wind wispers in the trees, the wind that will help me with my mission."
When Aurora Aksnes occasionaly visits home in her room at Drange, she still speaks with the wise man in the wall. She speaks with the birds in the forest, with trees, and with herself.
"There is a one-way conversation I hold with the wind. But it helps to talk to her."
Do you believe in God?
"I am very spiritual. And I believe. I hope it's something that is much purer and more beautiful than us, who can inspire us to be as pure and beautiful as that. But I do not think we are punished if we make mistakes. It doesn't sound like something a pure and wise power would. But I think, I hope at least, that there is something bigger than us. Religion has been the cause of mass war, and still is. But faith can also give courage and hope to people who are far down. I think that's really beautiful."
Have you experienced it?
"I think so. The closest we get to the Divine, is the love. To be in love or to love someone. Even when they do not love us back, we just want them to be happy, she says. Also when we help complete strangers and people we've never met, only because we want them to have it a little better. There is something magical about it. So maybe I believe in man. Maybe we have something of the pure and beautiful in us."
This article was adapted by JoãoMJGuerreiro and AksWarrior from the original translation, that you can find here:
www.reddit.com/r/auroramusic/comments/48x9es/auroras_interview_for_d2_magazine_translation_in/
The original article is in the site of the D2 magazine:
www.dn.no/d2/2016/03/03/2026/Profil/danser-med-demoner?v=99690
