ANGELA NEEDHAM CHATS WITH NORWEGIAN SONGSTRESS AURORA ABOUT HER LATEST SINGLE, AND WHY WE’RE ALL CONNECTED

AURORA

PHOTO MORGAN HILL-MURPHY

”I think I would be a lime flavour. It’s a bit pale, it’s sour, it’s my favourite taste. I like sour things.” Aurora sucks in her cheeks to make a soured face. “It’s quite intense, and I think I’m a bit intense.”

I had asked the Norwegian singer to describe herself as an ice cream flavour, by way of an icebreaker. After all, there are many different ways to describe Aurora. To me, she’s the whimsical child of Björk and Zooey Deschanel. Her aesthetic may come off as weird to some, and she self-defines as “intense”, but to her fans and anyone close to her, it’s just who she is.

We meet at the K West Hotel in London’s Shepherd’s Bush. As I’m waiting, I see a large black van stop in front of the entrance. The doors open and a cluster of women, dressed in blacks and neutrals, climb out. Among them, a flash of platinum blonde hair in space buns, with long strands shaping her bob, and her signature blunt fringe. Aurora stands out from the crowd, wearing layers of blue and yellow underneath her silk pink dress. “I like to dress myself like a three-year-old who’s just been told by her mum that she could wear whatever she wants”, she tells me later. Aurora calls my name and I am greeted with a bear hug. Despite the fact we’ve never met before, I feel like I’m reuniting with a friend I haven’t seen for years.