AURORA

Raised among the woods of the Os mountains near Bergen, Aurora Aksnes makes electropop threaded with folk and art-pop instincts, a blend that has led some to call her a pioneer of Norwegian art pop and earned her the nickname Fairy of Pop. She began writing songs and learning dance at six, started on piano, and later learned percussion and production. Her route into music was unplanned: a classmate posted her music online without her knowledge, and a Norwegian management company came calling in 2013.

She signed to Petroleum, Decca and Glassnote in 2014 and released the EP Running with the Wolves in 2015; its lead single, Runaway, found a huge audience years later through TikTok. Her debut album, All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend, topped Norway's VG-lista in 2016, and was followed by the two-part set Infections of a Different Kind (Step 1) and A Different Kind of Human (Step 2). The Gods We Can Touch (2022) gave her a first UK top 10, and What Happened to the Heart? arrived in 2024. In 2025 she formed Tomora with Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers, releasing Come Closer the following year.