MØ Than A Singer

Put on the iconic “Italians do it better” t-shirt on her and she is, without a doubt, the reincarnation of Madonna in her 1986 Papa Don’t Preach music video. 

But there is one thing for certain: MØ is no Madonna – neither her songs nor her style. In fact, she looked to singer Kim Gordon of the alt-rock group Sonic Youth as her big hero and role model, not the Goddess of Pop Reinvention.

Hailing from Ejlstrup, a sleepy village in Denmark, MØ – the professional stage name for singer/songwriter Karen Marie Aagaard Ørsted Andersen – is another fine Scandinavian musical export to the world. 

Though her debut album No Mythologies to Follow was released three years ago, MØ has made her presence clearly felt in the global music circuit through her collaborative works with Australian rapper Iggy Azalea entitled “Beg for It” and “Cold Water” by Major Lazer and Justin Bieber.

Lazer and Bieber aside, her writing credits also include stints with Diplo, Charli XCX, Cashmere Cat and SOPHIE. While her second studio album is scheduled to be dropped next year, MØ has recently released her latest E.P. called When I was Young. 

The six-track recording aims to complete the circle that started with her 2014 debut and hints at where she’s headed next.

“Putting out this EP is just something I’ve wanted to do for a long time, and I just felt it was right to put these songs out before I put out the album,” she says. “I’m a super nostalgic person and so these songs, and the meanings behind them, all fit into this personal journey I’ve been on.”

MØ continues, “Making the EP has been such a nice flashback experience because I forgot about the little things; how you put the songs together, the lyrics, the song titles and the artwork. Just being in the bubble of that energy is so fucking awesome. It’s so amazing to be able to create a universe.”

Executive produced by Vasco, When I was Young offers six tracks with diverse moods, tones and manners but with a unifying sound.  The record opens with the pulsating track “Roots”, a sonic throwback to her first studio effort that was actually written a month before it was released. 

The song was musically inspired by an unfinished song she had made as part of a trip-hop band in 2011. The song has a slow-burn built that contrasts with the cabaret-esque feel of the title track (When I was Young). It has a delicious horn breakdown that draws out the song’s playful nostalgia.

In “Turn My Heart to Stone”, the soundscape is sadder with the incorporation of brass. It also showcases the singer’s upper register on the melancholic chorus, fluttering elegantly over the popping beats. The vibrant dance-pop track “Linking with You” which was created with a coterie of songwriters namely Benny Blanco, Ryan Tedder and Noonie Bao, reflects the EP’s experimental practices in more than one way. On the other hand, the track “BB” stemmed from her own love story.

“I had just started seeing someone and I was so in love with him and scared he was going to leave me,” she commented on the track, “so I did this song as a tribute to if he left me. But I’m still with him so it’s fine.”

Closing track “Runaway” was inspired by a short film made by her childhood best friend – the same friend who inspired her recent single “Nights with You”. The beautiful track has a semblance to the Yeah Yeah Yeah’s quieter moments and she deems it as a personal track as it reminds her of her best friend and their childhood. 

In a way, When I was Young is an EP that serves as a transition between her first album and the next – a fully realised body of work in and of itself. It is also what she called the “lean on” bubble.

“These years have been a learning process about what’s important, and that’s what this EP reflects,” she says. “These songs were chosen instinctively, and by a gut feeling really, but they’re all about both looking back and forward.”

Come 26 November, MØ will be making her way to Singapore, performing live at the Zouk Club and supported by Jasmine Sokko. Tickets are available now from www.upsurgeproductions.com and starts from SGD88.00.

*Photos courtesy of RCA Records/Sony Music

MØ’s E.P. When I was Young is out now from RCA Records/Sony Music. For more info and the latest updates from the artist, visit http://www.momomoyouth.com/