The inspiration behind "Cure For Me" stems from the existence of conversion therapy, a practice aimed at changing an individual's sexual orientation or gender identity (^66.1) As we all know, Aurora strongly believes that people should not be forced to change who they are and that there is beauty in embracing one's true self. The song carries a message of self-acceptance, encouraging listeners to be proud of their authentic identities (^66.2)

As all of the songs on her latest album, this one is dedicated to one of the deities of the Greek mythology:

AURORA: "Cure for Me, a song inspired by especially the LGBTQ+  community and the trans community. It's about the right to be who you are and to love who you want to. So I wrote it in honor of Hermaphrodite and which was half man and half woman, child of Aphrodite - the Godess of love" (^66.3)

Hermaphroditius, who was merged with the nymph Salmacis - resulting in the creation of the androgynous figure. Hermaphroditius is therefore associated with androgyny, transformation, and the merging of male and female characteristics (^66.4)

At the time this song was released there was a big political debate in Norway. A proposition was made, aimed at forbidding all kinds of conversion therapy, both for children and adults. The proposal created a lot of discussion back then. Especially some religious fractions spoke fiercely against it. Auroras song then became a voice that spoke for the new law 😍. In the end, the 16th of June, only a few days ago, the government sent the final law-proposal to the parliament to be decided 🙂 (^66.5)

Originally, the song was written a couple of years before its release (^66.6). It was supposed to released earlier in 2021, but was postponed because "Runaway" exploded and went viral (^66.7). A video for the song was released the 8th of July 2021 (66.8)

 Sources: 

66.1 - AURORA talksnew single ‘Cure For Me’
66.2 - Aurora by1883
66.3 - Aurora,meaning behind songs (YouTube)
66.4 - Theoi Project- Greek Mythology
66.5 - Regjeringenhar lagt frem forbud mot konverteringsterapi
66.6 -Aurore talksabout 'Cure for me' and upcoming plans
66.7 - Behind TheCampaign :: Aurora
66.8 -  Aurora, "Cure for me" music video

Song story: Secret Garden

This was made as a soundtrack to Marc Munden‘s film of the same title:

“I actually wrote it quite a long time ago, I was quite a little bean back then. I just always felt like this song had quite an imaginative soul. I was a very imaginative child and wrote this song after reading the book The Secret Garden for the first time." (^65.1)

The Aurora Aksnes Wiki on Fandom have probably right in their assumptions about this beeing a song Aurora referred to in a Facebook Livestream back in 2016 (^65.2): 

"I have a song called "The Strange Paper Garden" which is about a garden. That I was walking, like, in my dreams and I found a garden that was made of only flowers made of paper. And they were all white, which is quite boring. And so my mission is to paint all those flowers. It's about how much you can affect your surroundings if you paint a bit of color." (65.3) 

Then, when she was asked about the song iafter its release, she said: "When they asked me to make a song for the movie remake, I was so happy and tried to pitch them this old song. It was so meant to be.” (^65.1)

17th of December 2020 Aurora performed this live under her Japan Special Livestream Show. As far as I know, this is the only time this song have been played live (^65.4) - please correct me of I'm wrong. 

Some final words from Aurora: 

"It was always about finding this magical place in this garden, which can also symbolize shelter. The world can be quite harsh and difficult, especially nowadays. It can feel darker than it is. It’s about this magical garden where you’re allowed to grow and nothing is trying to prevent you from just existing and breathing and being healthy.” (^65.5)

Sources

65.1 - Chaospin - AURORA Says “I might come and visit your dreams”

65.2 - Aurora Aksnes Wiki on Fandom 

65.3 - Aurora - Facebook live stream, 5th of April 2016.

65.4 - Aurora, Japan Special Livestream Show 

65.5 NME Magazine - "AURORA debuts ‘The Secret Garden’ and tells us about new album progress"

Aurora wrote this song already back in 2017. At that point, she wasn't sure if she was ever going to release it (^64.1). "I have never written a love song before, because it seems so personal and scary... I did give out my first love song this year, and its nice." (^64.2)

She recorded the song in January 2020, and it's actually her demo-singing that made it to the released single: "We couldn't redo the vocals or make them perfect, because the imperfects and the nerves... had such emotions that I didn't have the heart to replace it" (^64.3)

Then the pandemic hit the world with a blast, and Aurora noticed people feeling alone and isolated:

"I think once in a while we all need something to remind us of the good that exists in the world. And why we exist. Right now the world is going through a lot, together, but we are also isolated. You try to listen to the world when making music. And I felt like the world needed a little love right now." (^64.4)

There was a lot of hype around the release of this song. First she posted a photo of a handwritten letter saying she's "ready to explore the next chapter with each and every one of you" (^64.5) 

Then, the day after, she archived all of her Instagram posts, causing drama and speculations among the Warriors and Weirdos. Many was feeling a great loss here. Then she posted a 9 by 9 photo of the "Exist for love"-poster, with each tile she posted tidsnok and bits from the lyrics (^64.6). Later she posted on Twitter:

"I never thought that i would ever write a song about love. But now i am ready. My heart is ready. And i hope you are as well. Join me for the next era if you wish..." (^64.8)

"I think I do know why we exist and why we are here. I think there's a reason we have this thing in our core that seem to stretch out towards other people. I think it's a reason it stetches its arms all across the world. And I think when we feel these emotional arms stretching towards other people, when we feel love or how it is to be loved, in any shape or form, I think we understand why we exists. At least, I do. And I think we exist for love." (^64.7).

Sources 

64.1 - Aurora, Students' Union, Access all areas.

64.2 - Aurora, Full set at the Ole Bull 2020

64.3 - Aurora talks five things about herself & new song "Exist For Love" by IHeartradio

64.4 - Euphoria - Aurora interview June 18, 2020

64.5 - Aurora on Twitter, May 11, 2020

64.6 - Aurora wiki at FanDom, Exist For Love 

64.7 - Aurora live in Bergen 2020

64.8 - Aurora on Twitter, May 12, 2020

The story of how Aurora got the opportunity to sing and have a vocal part of "Frozen 2" begins all the way back in 2015, when she was visiting Brazil, around the time Katey Perry tweeted how Aurora "...made her heart flutter". 

Tom MacDougall, executive vice president of music at Disney was attending an artist showcase, and thought there was something about this intriguing performer with an impressive range that could be a good fit for Disney. He eventually had her record a cover of “Baby Mine,” used in the 2019 “Dumbo” trailer. And then the perfect project came along — the Scandinavia-inspired “Frozen 2.” (^63.1)

Aurora: "I sang at a luncheon for Disney. I think the bosses were pretty excited" (^63.2)

Tom MacDougall: “It was a no-brainer. She had to be our voice.” (^63.1)

The movie became quite a big thing around the globe, and the song have been translated and performed by no less than 45 artists in their different languages. Auroras voice can be heard in all of them (^63.3)

"My character in this film is not a human being at all, it is something that is much older and bigger than humanity can become... I am so happy that the children of the future will want this film, it will inspire in the best ways", says Aurora (^63.4)

In “Frozen 2,” the main conflict comes in the form of a siren call in the distance, beckoning Elsa to leave her Arendelle kingdom and discover the secrets of her past.

“It was like a puzzle . . . falling together,” Aurora says. “It felt right for me to be a part of that, because I’m a big supporter of following your instincts.” (^63.1)

The song was among the nominees in the Best Original Song category at the Oscars (^63.6 and ^63.7), and the coolest thing if all: Aurora was performing this at the Oscars Ceremony - with clothes made by Viktoria and make-up by Miranda, her sisters

Later, the 4th of March 2019, released her own version of this song (^63.8). 

⁣

Sources

63.1 - NY Post - Meet singer Aurora, the secret weapon of Frozen 2

63.2 - Aftenposten.no - Sang på en lunsj for Disney

63.3 - NRK.no - norske Aurora får tittelsporet i ny Disney-storfilm

63.4 - Wikipedia - Frozen II

63.5 - 730.no - Aurora er essensiell i Frozen 2

63.6 - VG.no - Aurora og Lisa Stokke med Oscar-opptreden

63.7 - Variety.com - Oscars 2020

63.8 - Spotify - Aurora, "Into the Unknown"

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Scarborough Fair. 

The cover of "Scarborough Fair" was used as the opening theme for the TV show Deus Salve o Rei (God Save the King). This was a Brazilian telenovela produced and broadcast by TV Globo. It premiered on 9 January 2018 and ended on 30 July 2018 (^63.1)

The song was officially released as a single on April 6, 2018 and as part of the series' soundtrack album shortly after. Its sales and streams are restricted to Brazil. (^63.2-a/b/c)

23rd of October 2017, Aurora was in the kingoms of Mortemor and Artena to record the music video for the song. This was released 11th of December 2017, and shows Aurora singing within the scenarios and landscapes from the TV show. I advice you to look it up on YouTube (^63.3)

There is also released a behind-the-scenes video. Here Aurora says:

"I'm here at this magical castle doing a video shoot for a song, and you will be very excited to see it." (^63.4) "This scenario is magical. I would love to live here", joked the 21-year-old singer during the break of recording the clip (^63.5)

The idea to ask Aurora to sing the theme song came from a fan of the singer. Olívia Mamberti, daughter of the artistic director of the plot, Fabrício Mamberti. She introduced the young artist's universe to her father and to the music producer of the telenovela Alexandre Faria (^63.6). Olivia said: 

"I started listening to Aurora in 2015. We traveled to England and went to her concert. My parents loved it! Aurora was in my father's head. I think this medieval and magical world has a lot to do with her".

Sources

62.1 - Wikipedia, Deus Salve o Rei.
62.2-a - FanDom, Aurora wiki, Scarborough Fair 
62.2-b - Apple Music Brazil, Scarborough Fair single
62.2-c - Apple Music Brazil, Deus Salve o Rei album
62.3 - YouTube, Scarborough Fair, music Video
62.4 - Globoplay, behind the scenes for Scarborough Fair 
62.5 - JC uol - Aurora: Norueguesa grava música para a abertura de Deus Salve o Rei
62.6 - Gshow, Globo news.

Link to Song Story on Instagram!

This song story will be quite different from the others. I hope it's OK. As far as I know, Aurora have never performed this one live, and she has spoken very little about it.

The most obvious assumption to make about this song, is its connection to the song "A Different Kind Of Human", where she have the lyrics "Mothership will take you home" a few times. "Mothership" also nicely makes for a good way to conclude the step 1 and step 2.

But looking at her previously released songs, there might be some other hints on what's going on. In "Awakening", one of her first songs, the young Aurora begins her journey: "Going on this journey, determined to complete". But what journey? In 1899, Kate Chopin released a book called "The Awakening". Its renowned for its impact on giving woman her rights to pursue her own happiness - actually one of the first feminist books written, and it ends with the main character drowning herself in the ocean. Aurora ends the song "Awakening" with: "When a shiny light hit her eye, And she turned around and climbed towards the sky".

In "Runaway" she wants to find a way home. What Aurora means by "Home" isn't that clear in this song, but in the song "Home" she gets "stuck where the road has no end", but later in the same song: "wrapped inside a cocoon made of flesh and bones - Doesn't really matter where you come from - We are home". This could be a reference to "Animal Soul", where she remember being born, but it's also possibly a reference to the cocoons where butterfly evolves. In the same matter we find in Alien movies...

Aurora have only made one reference to "Mothership" in her interviews, as I have seen.

"There is one more song afterwards, which is a hint for way, way, way more forward in the future"

And I am quite certain she didn't speak about "The Gods We Can Touch", as she said this was an in-between album. But I'm certain is still on her journey, and that "Mothership" will make even more sense to us in the future.  

Link to Song Story on Instagram

In these sad times with the situation in Ukraina and terrible fires in Argentina, I found it fitting to share the Apple Tree Song Story.

First I just want to remind you all that there is people in despair in both Russia and Ukraina. We should be careful how we speak about the people and their home countries.

"Apple Tree" finds Aurora being hopeful that we can all save the world together. During a Step 2 Q&A in June 2019, she confirmed that the beat of the track was influenced by Brazilian's Olodum, with which she came in contact when she first went to Salvador in 2017. There are also hip-hop influences because she “felt it deserved a very alive and bad-ass groove".

As for ruthm and groove, she certainly did something different with this song. Let's dive deeper into the song. In the music video's description, Aurora said:

“Apple Tree is about the potential that hides in all of us. We can all save the world if we put our minds to it. The world won’t listen to scientific proof that the world is dying, so maybe it will listen to the dreamers, the children."

Further, to Popspoken.com she said:
"It’s like the big trial of humankind. We have to be on the same side and work together as one, which we haven’t done so often.

As I see the world today, it's clear we have a path to walk to be united and accepting in our diversity. But I'm not without hope. There are people everywhere who fights for solidarity, equality, peace, equity and love. Same goes for the greatest battle of human kind: To save the world from climate disasters."

A little fun fact here at the end:
Apple Tree is actually featured on Roblox

Sources

60.1 - Aurora Aksnes Wiki on Fandom
60.2 Apple Tree is featured on Roblox
60.3 Popspoken
60.4 NSU Current

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"'A Different Kind Of Human' is track number eight. This is my favourite number, and throughout all my carrier the most vital track in each chapter has always been track number eight. So it's the title track of the album." (^59.1)

In an interview with Live in Limbo, AURORA stated that this was “the most important song she had ever written”. She explained that this song was about her view on the afterlife, making sure the listeners knew that they are special and that they shouldn’t worry about feeling out of place. (^59.2)

On Twitter Aurora posted a video where she spoke about how this song came to be. She was thinking about how we humans often say that "it's always the good ones that gets taken away from us too soon, it's always the best people." And she visualised how it would be if these kind alien came and took us with them to this better place where we would feel more at home, since this place we are now is not the place for us to be.

"But I want people to feel like they're the one. If you listen to the song, you are definitely the special one these aliens are talking to. They're talking to you. So maybe by the end of our lives, when we're old, they will come and get us, and we will be there forever. And it's going to be really cool. So that's, kind of, the idea behind that." (59.2)

This song also became the title track for her whole album. Aurora spoke of the title in an interview with Records in My Life on YouTube: “The title is kind of what I hope for the music to do to us…. So that is why the title is what it is. After you have been infected by whatever I want you to be infected by, what happens then?" (^59.3)

This song was released as a single May 31, 2019 (^59.4), and have, according to @auroracharts, aproximately 6.85M streams on Spotify (^59.5).Yep

Another song story captured and shared. This is the 59th. I can hardly believe it's so many....

Sources

59.1 - Aurora speaks about 'A Different Kind Of Human' on Twitter
59.2 - An interview of Aurora by Live In Limbo
59.3 - Aurora interview with Records in My Life (2019)
59.4 - Aurora Aksnes Wiki on Fandom
59.5- Aurora Charts on Instagram 

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Ahhh... This must have been the most difficult hunt for stories I have ever made. This song is traveling underneath the radar everywhere, it seems, and I can't find much useful.

I did find this little chat in a Q&A on Aurora Daily, though:

Q: Hello Aurora. Is „In Bottles“ related to „In Boxes“ because in „In Bottles“ you are singing underneath her bed and when she is lying in bed maybe she is laying on her spine. Is that the story behind that phrase ? ❤ You are the Best and i Love you ❤

A: they are both about the same lady… that is really well spotted. It has a really strange meaning to it. She wants to be close to people in a very strange way… ! (^58.1)

So that's how the story goes. "In Bottles" have something to do with an old lady living close to her childhood home, and that is connected to "In Boxes" - that's about what we get to know 😭.

But...
Some of you might find it interesting that Kölsch featured Aurora on their version of this song on their album "1989", which was released on 2017 (^58.2)

We know that Aurora was on a dark place back then, wondering if the world of music was a right choice for her (58.3). In this period, "she notably collaborated with Danish techno type Kolsch on In Bottles and features prominently on The Chemical Brothers' No Geography, a challenge which she "adored"." (^58.4). When she spoke of this later, she said that this cooperations - especially with the Chemical Brothers - was what gave her the spark to find the calmness and sense of purpose again (^58.3).

I wonder if this statement is related to this song too:
"I think I mistakingly read some news, which I am originally forbidden to read because the papers make me so sad. If I read the wrong thing, I can cry for hours, really." (^58.4)

I'm sorry I could not find anything else for you..  

Sources

58.1 - Spotify Q&A on Aurora Daily
58.2 - Kölsch featuring Aurora
58.3 - Interview with Elsa Kåss Furuseth 
58.4 - Interview with The Music Australia 

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Aurora was having a hard time after been traveling the world for so long. This was in 2018, and she started to wonder if she was going to hang on to being an artist. Luckily, she was invited to England by Rowlands (The Chemical Brothers). She stayed with an Indian family, and over the course of a week with isolation from the world, making music and strolling in beautiful landscape, she found her spark to continue her work (^57.1)⁣

Not long after her visit to England, the "A Different Kind Of Human" -album was released. In an interview with Clash Music, she was asked which song was her favorite on the album:⁣

" 'Soulless Creatures'. It means a lot to me and it’s written about giving too much. It’s Mother Earth writing to humankind about wanting to thrive again. Sometimes I don’t understand what a song means for a while. It sounds pretentious and stupid but it does happen" (^57.2).⁣

I have been wondering... If this was her favorite track, why didn't she play it live until her live concert with Bergen Symphonic in 2020" during the pandemic? She then announced it to be a surprise (^57.3). My guess is that she feels attached to it somehow. Just check this out:⁣

Aurora included it as the first track on her "For the Fellow Witches"-EP that she released on Spotify and with a livestream during spring 2021 (^57.4). Here she introduced it as a song that captures her own experiences on experiencing what's going on the world, and that it's an "underdog because not many have heard it... But it's an important song that means a lot to me".⁣

I really have no clue to the circumstances behind writing this song. From the information I have written above I gather she wrote this as a reaction to what she learned during her tours around the globe, and that she wrote it as a way to process her her thoughts and emotions - just as she often say she does... ⁣

Go and give this song some love today

Sources

57 - Photo with text from Aurora Daily
Grabbed from @allisaurorainside on Instagram 
57.1 - Podcast with Else Kåss 2021
57.2 - Interview with Clash Music 
57.3 - Live with Bergen Symphonic 
57.4 - Livestream "For the fellow Witches or there"

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We are close to and end of "Infections Of A Different Kind Of Human" - the two steps Aurora laid out for us. ⁣

Step 1 was about finding an internal spark to improve one’s own life and Step 2 is about empowerment to change the world. While Aurora is working on another record in this series, she’s keen to point out that her next LP will be a standalone collection of songs. She doesn’t want to spoil the surprise yet, but said that her fans will understand the following clue:⁣

“It’s just about the fact that everything matters—those two words,” (^56.1). ⁣

Aurora was asked to point out some of the treats on Step 2, and answered:⁣

"I want to mention 'Hunger'. It’s about all our consuming, the endless hunger for money, food, clothes and how we’ve destroyed the world because of that hunger. We force ourselves to not see the people dying to make you a t-shirt because you’re hungry to buy as many T shirts that you can. We waste money and time on things that won’t make a difference" (56.2).⁣

She really wanted Step 2 to show us that we need to take better care of the world and of eachother, and she speaks more about this in another interview:⁣

«That’s one of the central themes on “Hunger.” That song is about our desire and greed for stuff, some of which is made by the poor in other countries in inhospitable conditions» (^56.2).⁣

«I like old clothes and I like to know who made the clothes. It’s scary these days; when clothes are so cheap and you don’t know who makes it. I find it really scary and really unsettling. So I like... to know where they come from.»(^56.2).⁣

It's not so often we get to hear Aurora use the word "Hate", but in this case she let it slip through:⁣

"I hate everything in fashion. I make my clothes or buy vintage. A fan gave me a piece of fabric from Indonesia that I’ve stitched into my trousers and made a top from. She carried it all the way for me and gave to me at a tiny show in Norway" (^56.1).⁣

Sources

56 Photo: Lyndon Mechielsen (The Australian) 
56.1 - Interview with Riff Magazine 
56.2 - Interview with Clash Music 

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According to Aurora, "'Daydreamer' was the song that took the longest time to get right: "It was done four days after the deadline. Even though I wrote it in two hours on my way to a session in the cab."(^55.1)⁣

I have found that Aurora and Made Management like to build some excitement prior to giving us new music: She didn't release this song before she dropped the album, but as you can see on the 2nd image above, a T-shirt with parts of the lyrics was made available as a sneak peak (2nd image above) before she gave us the music (^55.2). ⁣

Lots of live concerts found on YouTube, HAIK for example, ends with this song. She usually introduce it be reminding us of the importance of having big dreams (^55.3). In an interview, Aurora elaborate this:⁣

"It has to do with making you aware of the consequences of all the choices you make and the power of each little person... I want to remind my fanbase that they can spread as much goodness and change politics and the world as they want. We like to have a bigger issue to fight for, but we often need a reason to remind ourselves that we are on the same team. I just want to spread lots of goodness, and I think music can do that.» (^55.4)⁣

"Infections of a different kind of human" stands out as a two part story, both with the goal of making the world a better place. Aurora sings this up like this:⁣

"Help yourself first, then the world. I am addressing a lot of political matters but in an emotional way. And my emotional matters are spoken about softly in the small gentle breaks within this album of noise and thunder." (^55.1) ⁣

A year after the ADKOH-album, the 16th of July 2020, Aurora released a "dancy" music video to this song. The images above are from that one. I urge you to go watch it on Youtube, if you haven't already (^55.5)

Sources 

55.1 - Interview with hmv.com
55.2 - Genius "Aurora - Daydreamer" 
55.3 - HAIK concert (NRK) 
55.4 - Aurora: – Jeg er en maskin. En følsom maskin
55.5 - Daydreamer Music Video 

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The third song on her "A Different Kind Of Human" album stands as a big secret. Aurora seldom talks about it, and it's not known what inspired its making. ⁣

According to Aurora Aksnes Wiki on Fandom, "The song is about a person who is comfortable with their emotional side, but feels that the world moves it away from them with its aggressiveness, fear, and hate. The person is only free when they're alone but still recognizes that the world is very bad, and wonders if they should sacrifice for it." (^54.1).

I want to lift a line from this song: "I'm an angel, I'm an atom'" - the play between the ethereal and concrete science might be something that appeals to many of us Warriors and Weirdos. ⁣

This was a completely new song when it was made known through the "A Different Kind Of Human" album, and it wasn't on her setlists when she toured the world with this album either. Not until her "Exist For Love Festival", during the 2020 pandemic, did she ever play this one live. She announced before the festival that she would play a song she hadn't ever done live before (^54.2), so the excitement rose throughout the Queendom... This is what she said about the festival:⁣

"All income goes directly to the nine artists, so they can speed up their careers. But the festival is as much for the fans as for the artists.⁣ In times like these, when the world is shaking and there are so many battles you feel you have to fight, it can quickly feel heavy. No one can take all these fights, but maybe with this we can remind everyone that there is still a little love left, says Aksnes." (^54.3)⁣

The second time she performed this song, at the Japan Livestream show, the 17th of December 2020, this was all she wanted to say about this one:⁣

"I don't want to say to much about of what it's about, 'cause I want you to decide for yourself. But it means a lot to me..." (^54.4)⁣

Photoedit by @aurora_india_⁣

Sources 

54.1 - Aurora wiki Fandom
54.2 - Aurora Exist For Love session announcement
54.3 - Bergens Tidende - Aurora Aksnes lager éndagsfestival med ni av sine favorittartister
54.4 - Japan special streaming show