Aurora (singer)

Aurora

Aurora performing at the Way Back When Festival in 2015
Background information
Birth name Aurora Aksnes
Born (1996-06-15) 15 June 1996
Stavanger,[1] Norway
Origin Os, Norway
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • piano
  • guitar
Years active 2012–present
Labels
Website www.aurora-music.com

Aurora Aksnes (born 15 June 1996), known mononymously as AURORA, is a Norwegian singer-songwriter. Her debut EP Running with the Wolves was released through Decca Records in May 2015,[3] receiving widespread approval from online music blogs and national press. Later the same year she provided the backing track for the John Lewis Christmas advert, singing a cover of the Oasis song "Half the World Away". This cover appears as a bonus track on the deluxe version of her debut studio album, All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend, which was released worldwide on 11 March 2016.

Early life

Aurora Aksnes was born on 15 June 1996 in Stavanger, Norway to May Britt and Jan Øystein Aksnes.[4] She has two older sisters, Miranda, a make-up artist,[5] and Viktoria, a fashion designer.[5][6] She grew up in Os, a municipality in Hordaland close to Bergen. She began creating melodies at the age of 6, and began writing lyrics at the age of 9.[7]

Career

2012–16: All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend

Aurora's first track "Puppet" was released in December 2012, followed by her second, "Awakening" in May 2013.[8] Her first single signed to her labels Glassnote Records and Decca Records, "Under Stars" was released in November 2014,[9] and "Runaway" followed in February 2015.[10] "Runaway" achieved success in the UK on streaming service Spotify, reaching 1 million streams after just 6 weeks. The track was also received positively by various online music blogs and national press such as the NME. Her second single, "Running with the Wolves" was released in April 2015 and received attention from national BBC stations Radio One, Radio Two and 6Music.[11] The excitement surrounding the young songstress propelled her onto the festival circuit and she appeared at renowned summer festivals such as Way Out West, Wilderness and Green Man Festival.[12][13][14] Aurora's third single, "Murder Song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1)" was released in September 2015 and has received continued support in national press, on national radio and popular online music blogs.[15] She has been included on the soundtrack of FIFA 16,[16] played a sold out headline show in London and supported Of Monsters and Men at Brixton Academy in November 2015.[17] Aurora recorded a cover of the Oasis track "Half the World Away" for the 2015 John Lewis Christmas advert.[18] Her next single, which came after "Half The World Away", was released in January 2016, titled "Conqueror" and a music video was uploaded the following month. Her debut album All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend was eventually released on 11 March 2016,[19] receiving generally positive reviews from critics. After releasing it, she went on to embark on her European tour, making a number of visits to the UK in between. She featured in British band Icarus' song "Home" and released a cover of David Bowie's Life on Mars.

On 14 March 2016, Aurora made her American television debut on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, performing "Conqueror". Aurora soon after performed the track on Conan.[20] On 25 July 2016 she performed her cover of "Life on Mars" on The Howard Stern Show. The following night on 26 July, she performed "I Went Too Far" on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.

2016–present: Second album

On the day of releasing her debut All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend, she said that it was "the first album of many" that she has planned. As of 12 May 2016, after coming back from her European tour, Aurora announced that she was ready to begin writing and producing more material, which will eventually form her second studio album. She has said in a facebook event that she has 15 demo songs and has written 1,000 songs/poems. Since the announcement, Aurora has released "I Went Too Far" as a single, and a music video for the track was released on July 4, 2016.[21]

Honors

Discography

Studio albums

Title Details Peak chart positions
NOR
[23]		 AUS
[24]		 GER
[25]		 IRL
[26]		 UK
[27]		 US
[28]
All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend 1 51 24 66 28 150

Extended plays

Title Details
Running with the Wolves
  • Released: 3 May 2015
  • Label: Decca
  • Formats: Digital download

Singles

As lead artist

Year Title Peak chart positions Album
GER
[25]		 IRE
[29]		 UK
[27]		 US
Alt
[28]
2013 "Awakening" — — — — Non-album single
2014 "Under Stars" — — — — Non-album single
2015 "Runaway" — — — — Running with the Wolves - EP
"Running with the Wolves" 72 — — —
"Murder Song (5, 4, 3, 2, 1)" — — — — All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend
"Half the World Away" — 22 11 —
2016 "Conqueror" — — — 32
"I Went Too Far" — — — —
"—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released.

As featured artist

Year Title Album
2016 "Home" (Icarus featuring Aurora) N/A

Other appearances

Year Title Album
2016 "Life on Mars" Girls, Vol. 3 (Music from the HBO Original Series)

Filmography

Short films

Year Title Production
2015 Into The Light Kasafilms
2016 Nothing Is Eternal The Fader

Awards and nominations

Year Awards Category Recipient Outcome
2015 European Border Breakers Awards Album Of The Year 2016 Norway Herself Won
2016 MTV Europe Music Awards Best Norwegian Act Herself Nominated

References

  1. ↑ "Aurora Aksnes". Brak. Retrieved 15 May 2016.
  2. ↑ Kaplan, Ilana. "Listen to Teenage Songstress Aurora's Deft Debut EP". Noisey Vice. Retrieved 10 August 2015.
  3. ↑ "Aurora Announces Debut EP Titled Running with the Wolves". pastemagazine.com.
  4. ↑ "AURORA". Starity.hu. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  5. 1 2 Redaksjonen. "Saman mot toppen". www.magasinett.no. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  6. ↑ "Despite color: Up and coming: Designer Viktoria Aksnes". despitecolor.blogspot.co.uk. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  7. ↑ iamAURORAVEVO (14 December 2015), AURORA - Into The Light, retrieved 20 June 2016
  8. ↑ "AURORA - Awakening". SoundCloud.
  9. ↑ AURORA - Under Stars (Audio) on YouTube
  10. ↑ AURORA - Runaway on YouTube
  11. ↑ "Running With The Wolves". BBC Music.
  12. ↑ "Way Out West » AURORA". Way Out West.
  13. ↑ "Aurora - Wilderness". wildernessfestival.com. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015.
  14. ↑ "Aurora". Green Man Festival. Archived from the original on 25 September 2015.
  15. ↑ Will Butler. "Check out chilling 'Murder Song' from Norwegian singer, Aurora". gigwise.com.
  16. ↑ "FIFA 16 Soundtrack". easports.com.
  17. ↑ "Of Monsters & Men hit the road with Highasakite & Aurora!". 24 November 2015. Retrieved 27 June 2016.
  18. ↑ NME.COM. "Norwegian singer Aurora covers Oasis' 'Half The World Away' for John Lewis Christmas advert – watch". NME.COM.
  19. ↑ Aurora announces debut album, All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend
  20. ↑ "Aurora guests on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon". NBC. NBC. Retrieved 26 March 2016.
  21. ↑ "Exclusive Video Premiere: Aurora's Poignant "I Went Too Far"". Retrieved 2016-08-12.
  22. ↑ "Forbildepriser to women in music life".
  23. ↑ http://lista.vg.no/liste/topp-40-album/2/dato/2016/uke/11
  24. ↑ Ryan, Gavin (2 April 2016). "ARIA Albums: Zayn Has the No 1 Album in Australia". Noise11. Retrieved 2 April 2016.
  25. 1 2 Hung, Steffen. "Discographie Aurora Aksnes". German Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung).
  26. ↑ "AURORA". chart-track.co.uk. Chart-Track.
  27. 1 2 "AURORA". Officialcharts.com. Official Charts Company.
  28. 1 2 "AURORA - Chart history". Billboard. Retrieved 23 March 2016.
  29. ↑ Hung, Steffen. "Discographie Aurora Aksnes". Irish Charts Portal. Hung Medien (Steffen Hung). Archived from the original on 17 November 2015.

External links

Awards
Preceded by
Emilie Nicolas		 Recipient of the Newcomer Spellemannprisen
2015 		Succeeded by
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