Alt-pop megastar Aurora wants to make a metal album: “My heart wouldn’t be complete without it”

(Image credit: Rune Hellestad/Corbis via Getty Images)

Art pop star Aurora has expressed her desire to make a heavy metal album.

The Norwegian singer/songwriter, full name Aurora Aksnes, recently collaborated with UK pop-metal force Bring Me The Horizon for their Post Human: Nex Gen album, appearing on the song Limousine.

Now, talking to NME (video embedded below), the 28-year-old has called making a full-blown metal record something that “my heart wouldn’t be complete without”.

She continues: “I really want to do it, because I just love it [heavy metal music] so much.

“It’s such a force, like a wave – a deadly wave coming at you.

“I will.”

She finishes by joking: “I have to, for my Norwegian ancestors. Until now, I’ve been purely a disappointment to them.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Aurora speaks about the emotional importance of making a song with Bring Me The Horizon.

“I heard Bring Me The Horizon when I was a youth, like a teenager,” she says.

“They were with me for some time.

“I was introduced to them by a lover, my first lover, who actually died.

“It’s sad, but it’s beautiful as well, because I know that when I listen to them, and when I made a song with them, he would be just amazed.

“So, it felt very full-circle in the journey of grief.”

Bring Me The Horizon frontman Oli Sykes recently revealed that, before Aurora’s involvement, the band hoped for Limousine to be a collaboration with pop sensation Billie Eilish.

“The Billie thing was just: her photographer’s a massive fan, and they kinda mentioned the idea of her doing a song,” he told NME in May.

“So I sent her Limousine. And this was quite a while before it was in its full, finished state.

“I mean, I can’t say for 100 percent that she listened to it, but I knew it got to her.”

Aurora released her latest studio album, What Happened To The Heart?, on June 7 and will tour extensively in 2024 and 2025 to promote the release.

The musician will play dates in Europe and Asia from July to October, including a stop at the prestigious Royal Albert Hall in London, then tour the Americas in November and December.

She’ll tour Europe again in spring 2025.

For the full list of upcoming shows and to purchase tickets, visit the Aurora website.

"It felt very full circle in the journey of grief" – we caught up with @AURORAmusic backstage at #Glastonbury2024 where she told us about what it means to have worked with @bmthofficial's Oli Sykes on new track 'Limousine', bonding over #Palestine, and if she'd over go metal pic.twitter.com/y7CST8paW8July 3, 2024

Louder’s resident Gojira obsessive was still at uni when he joined the team in 2017. Since then, Matt’s become a regular in Metal Hammer and Prog, at his happiest when interviewing the most forward-thinking artists heavy music can muster. He’s got bylines in The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, NME and many others, too. When he’s not writing, you’ll probably find him skydiving, scuba diving or coasteering.