As she shares her latest teaser ‘To Be Alright’, Norwegian alt-pop sensation AURORA delves into the depths of the human psyche with her emotionally charged fourth album, ‘What Happened To The Heart?’. Check out the latest cover story for our New Music Friday playlist edit, PLAY.

Words: Stephen Ackroyd.
Photos: Wanda Martin.

In the midst of global turmoil and constant upheaval, AURORA feels like a blissful voice of calm and reason as everything around her spins out of control. The Norwegian alt-pop sensation has always had a knack for delving into the depths of the human psyche, for giving voice to the fears and desires that we all share. But with her fourth studio album, 'What Happened To The Heart?', she takes this exploration to new heights, crafting a work of stunning emotional intensity and raw, unfiltered honesty.

For AURORA, the creation of her latest full-length has been a cathartic process, a way of making sense of the chaos surrounding us. "The world is such a mess," she exclaims, more than hinting at the passion that's driven her latest full-length. "I've been writing about it. I've made a whole album about it. And it's been good for my soul. Now, I cannot wait to speak the words out loud for the world to hear. I feel ignited. And I think I can feel the people are ignited as well."

'What Happened To The Heart?' is a searing exploration of the spiritual disconnect that plagues modern society, one that AURORA believes lies at the root of so many of our current struggles. It's a theme that has long been present in her work, but it has never felt more urgent or necessary than it does now. "I started writing it two years ago, I think," she reveals. "It began like a seed and grew so violently quick into a flower. I was looking at the current state of the world. Covid was just over, and I thought it would take us longer to go back into our own destructive habits."

It was a chance encounter with a powerful message that sparked the album's central question. A plea from those deeply connected to the earth itself struck a chord deep within AURORA's soul. "One day, I read a letter written by the indigenous leaders around the world, pleading the world to act more with the heart and less with the mind. We are ruining so much of what is special about us. From our dear Earth, to the natural shape of our beautiful individual noses. It's so strange. I think. And it really hit me hard where I was soft. And there came the question, 'What happened to the heart?'"

This question became the guiding light for AURORA as she set out to craft an album that would be, "Very human. Anatomical". Pain, in all its forms, became her muse – "Our own pain, the pain we see around us, and the pain we inspire in others" – and she dove headfirst into the heart of the matter, seeking to understand how we, as individuals and as a society, choose to confront and process our suffering. The path we choose, she believes, will determine the fate of not just our own lives but the world as a whole. "Will we choose a path of self-healing or self-destruction?" she ponders. "It is still a question I do not know the answer to. But I think we need to involve the heart much more. In the way we run both the world and our own lives."

AURORA's quest for answers has taken her to every corner of the globe, from the charged earth of New Zealand and Australia to the vibrant biodiversity of India and Brazil. Along the way, she has absorbed the energy and wisdom of the people and places she encounters, each leaving an indelible mark on her soul. These experiences, she says, have become a part of her very being. "Every human I've touched really makes an impact on me; I know it's a boring answer, but it is so true," she admits. "Every smell and taste from every place I've been I carry with me. I feel like a big box of memories, and I've learnt so much."

Yet even as she marvels at the beauty and connection she has witnessed, AURORA is acutely aware of the spiritual malaise that plagues modern society. In a world where we are more connected than ever, we have never been more alone, more disconnected from the earth, from each other, and from ourselves. The price of our comfort, she suggests, is a heavy one. "I think we are more isolated than ever, and a lot of people are lonely. People spend so much time hating the skin they are born in. Bullying each other online," she laments. "It's such a strange time to be alive in. We let so many suffer for the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the phones we communicate with, just so our lives can be simple. And effortless."

This disconnect, AURORA believes, stems from a fundamental estrangement from our own humanity. We have lost touch with the very essence of what makes us alive. "It's sad that we have lost such connection with our own skin. Our own soul and heart. With our children, who we so willingly involve in the war of adults. We've let species die. Life on earth is not whole. Not anymore. Not like it used to be," she reflects. "And I think somewhere deep inside we can feel it. We're disconnected. And really think it's affecting our experience of life deeply."

For AURORA, the key to healing this disconnect lies in a rekindling of our spiritual selves, a reawakening of the heart that beats within each of us. It's not about escaping reality, but about enhancing it, about deepening our connection to ourselves and the world around us. "My approach to spiritualism is very grounded," she explains. "It's not a replacement for anything I cannot find on Earth. It's not a way for me to answer the questions I'm scared I'll never find the answer to. But it's something that enhances everything I am and everything around me. It helps me to have empathy, or rather something deeper than empathy. A deep need to listen to the world around me."

This empathetic impulse, this deep need to listen, extends beyond the merely human. For AURORA, the fight against climate change is not just an ecological imperative but a moral and spiritual one as well. It's a test of our humanity, of our ability to look beyond our own immediate desires and consider the consequences of our actions. "It's an issue that actually touches all of us," she asserts. "It's an issue that symbolises so much to me. If we can take as much as we want without giving anything back. If we can destroy and kill without hearing any screams of pain. Will we just keep going until there is nothing left? Just because we can? Or will we change our ways? Especially now when it's proven we need to change in order for the world to survive. It's such a fundamental issue. Saving the world of mankind."

This urgent call for change - for a fundamental shift in the way we relate to ourselves, to each other, and to the world around us - is woven throughout every track on 'What Happened To The Heart?'. The album is a journey, both spiritual and emotional, that takes the listener from yearning to raw desperation and shattering vulnerability. Each song represents a different stage in the process of confronting and processing pain. "I feel like a lot of the things that are making us unhappy can be traced back to this one question," AURORA explains. "'What Happened To The Heart?' When did we stop learning how to use it? The album begins so spiritually. With 'The Echo Of My Shadow' and then it turns with 'The Dark Dresses Lightly', a track that is very important to me. And with 'Starvation', you get really desperate. Anger is a dangerous reaction to pain. And then with 'The Blade' you break."

In the context of the album as a whole, 'To Be Alright' serves as a crucial turning point, a moment of reckoning that sets the stage for the final act of the journey. It's the realisation that our usual remedies are not enough, that we need something more profound, more transformative. "Of all the major chord songs, it fits the album the most. If that makes sense," AURORA explains. "It's the wish to feel better, but using the wrong remedies. One of the last stages before the problem becomes all-consuming."

Despite the heavy themes it grapples with, 'What Happened To The Heart?' is not a ponderous or self-important affair. Rather, it is a work of startling intimacy and vulnerability, a testament to AURORA's unwavering commitment to authenticity and truth-telling. She invites listeners to approach the record as a cohesive entity alongside her previous output, a journey to be savoured and absorbed in its entirety. "In my head, every album kind of belongs to each other. All small strawberries on a string," she muses.

"Just listen to it in its whole," she urges. "And don't be afraid of the dark. And don't be afraid of the light. They are both equally important."

Even as she prepares to unleash 'What Happened To The Heart?' upon the world, AURORA's restless creative spirit is already looking ahead to new horizons. The drive to create, to express, to explore, is one that never seems to abate - so, yes, she is already at work on the next full-length. "I just cannot stop. I am so sorry," she confesses, hinting at the relentless drive that has propelled her to where she finds herself today.

Yet for all her tireless dedication to her craft, AURORA remains firmly grounded in the world around her, attuned to the small miracles and moments of grace that make life worth living. From the completion of a long-awaited book by her favourite author to the groundbreaking discoveries of quantum physicists, she finds hope and inspiration in the most unlikely of places. These moments, she suggests, are a reminder that even in the darkest of times, there is always light to be found. "My favourite author, Patrick Rothfuss, just finished a book I've been waiting for for many YEARS," she gushes. "Also, I think the best stuff hasn't even happened yet. I believe we have so much good coming our way."

Perhaps most thrilling of all, AURORA points to the Nobel Prize-winning work of quantum physicists as a source of profound hope and inspiration. Their discoveries, she suggests, hint at a fundamental truth about the nature of reality, one that has the power to transform the way we understand ourselves and our place in the world. "Quantum entanglement is really the origin of empathy," she exclaims, her words a clarion call to embrace the fundamental interconnectedness of all things.

As we wait for the arrival of 'What Happened To The Heart?', one thing is certain: AURORA's voice will continue to ring out, a beacon of light in the darkness, a reminder of the enduring power of the human spirit to heal, to grow, and to explore. At a time that so often feels fractured and adrift, hers is a message that we all need to hear, perhaps now more than ever. ■