Norwegian singer Auroro is a lover of bugs and wants to see what Australia has to offer

AGE means nothing to Norwegian singer Aurora who is heading to Australia for the Laneway Festival and can’t wait to clap eyes on our bugs.

Norwegian singer Aurora wants to look at our natural fauna when she arrives in the new year.

NORWEGIAN singer Aurora has a special motivation to get to Australia next January as part of the Laneway Festival.

It’s not just to follow up the buzz around her debut album All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend and the singles Conqueror, Runaway and Running With the Wolves.

And it’s not just because Aurora’s heard Australian people “are so relaxed with a real light inside them.”

Rather, she’s a bug lover.

“No, I really love bugs,” Aurora says. “I love all kinds of insects and I’ve heard Australia has some really interesting bugs.”

Born Aurora Aksnes 20 years ago, the singer isn’t wired like most. She started writing songs at nine — the choruses on Lucky and I Went Too Far on her album date back to then, with Runaway written aged 11.

“It’s strange those songs still fit my life,” she notes.

Aurora is regularly asked about her age. “People say ‘How can you write music like that when you were 17 or 18?” she says. “Or they’ll say ‘And she’s only 20’. Talent is something that comes from within, it has nothing to do with age. Young people can create beautiful things. My age is always the main focus but I don’t think it’s a strength or a weakness.
My age is very insignificant to me. I don’t think about it but the world does. The world likes young people in general.”

There have been several key moments in her career (which stretches back to a debut single four years ago). Last year Katy Perry heard Runaway (a Spotify hit) and tweeted “Finally — new music that makes my heart a’flutter” and called her “a 17-year-old angel”.

She included a link to the song’s video — which is now up to 13 million views.

“I woke up to all this activity on my phone,” Aurora says. “My manager had sent me a screen shot of the tweet. I thought ‘Wow, that’s strange, but very nice of her’. I think I have got a lot of fans from the ‘States and Brazil and Mexico because of that tweet. I didn’t use Twitter or social media before I became an artist. I’ve been trying as much as I can to be a good artist on social media, it’s quite important in today’s world.”

Last year UK department store John Lewis recruited Aurora to cover Oasis’ Half the World Away for their annual Christmas ad.

The latest series of Lena Dunham’s TV show Girls features another Aurora cover — of David Bowie’s Life on Mars.

She’s been singing the song live for two years after falling in love with it. “It means so much to me, I love to sing those lyrics, they make me feel so happy in my body, my brain is happy when I sing those lyrics, it’s so satisfying.

“After he passed away I think it’s very nice to continue to do the song live, it will mean more to more people now, it’s such a beautiful song.”

Hear All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend (Liberator) out now

See Aurora, Laneway Festival, Footscray Community Arts Centre, January 28.
Tix: lanewayfestival.com