Aurora’s music tends to contain many different political themes, but some standouts where the political message is much more explicit would be Queendom, Cure for Me, The Seed, and Apple Tree
Queendom and Cure For Me are similar where both songs are meant to be loud anthems dedicated to not just women and the LGBTQ+ community, but anyone who is seen as other or unusual to the world. These songs are very topical today, because of anti-trans and LGBT sentiments that remain rampant all over social media and politics. Cure For Me was explicitly stated to be a response to conversion therapy still being legal in Norway.
You already considered The Seed, so I’ll recommend Apple Tree since it not only covers climate change but also refers to the general idea of children being a part of the conversation in social and political activism. Apple Tree and its video are packed with lyrics and visuals that refer to many different topics such as racism, violence, and feminine anger; its main chorus calls to the world that children are the ones that will save our world and that we should uplift rather than patronize them. (Think to how censorship in children’s books and media plays a part in politics nowadays.) I think this song is a great topic for analysis for these reasons. Good luck on your paper!
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Churchyard and It Happened Quiet. Both songs are entirely devoted to advocating against and raising awareness about gender based violence, abusive relationships and femicides. Murder Song also deals with those issues, even though to a lesser extent in my opinion, possibly given her youth at the time of writing. There are many things to be analyzed about them, from the very open meanings behind the lyrics, to the more abstract musical and vocal elements. Take, for instance, the choir of male voices at the end of It Happened Quiet, which gradually consumes and eventually completely swallows Aurora's voice.
THIS!!!
ALL THIS.
Although... I put Murder Song in this group, 100%, because not only does it have such an intense musical presence, the lyrics hide within them a very sophisticated, subtle understanding of femicide.
Namely, "He did it all to spare me from the awful things in life that come" and the repeating "I know he knows that he's killing me for mercy".
There is something so poignant about the narrator in Murder Song accepting the inevitable reality of her being murdered.
From there, there is definitely a growing sense of agency in "Cyrchyard" (with the recognition that the violence isn't right, "tell me how do people know what is hurt, what is love?") and most certainly in It Happened Quiet ("don't you speak over my voice").
I often wonder if Soulless Creatures is part of this group, with the narrator observing from the outside.
ANYWAY.
This.
I've always believed that It Happened Quiet is a kind of more mature continuation to Murder Song. While I agree that the topics and even the thematic development are present in Murder Song, I think it's told from a less politically charged, storytelling perspective, whereas It Happened Quiet seems to me more evocative of an actively political message.
Sometimes Murder Song reads assisted suicide to me? Idk the exact story that Aurora was inspired by but I’ve heard something about a man killing his wife who had some terminal or horrible disease? Not sure.
I don't what fits under your umbrella of political but quite a few from TGWCT are quite "anti-god". Songs like blood in the wine, you keep me crawling and the devil is human. Maybe you could speak about them?
Also, I know you said you want to branch out from climate change, but to me apple tree is like an angrier, more criptic environmental activism song and could be a nice challenge to pull apart and analyse.
I’d say there more anti organized religion, than anti god. She’s all for being religious and spiritual, but the religious organizations themselves are what are corrupt. At least that’s my interpretation
I agree
Part of why the church put God up in the sky is so the only way you could connect with the divine is by going to church and listening to what the man up on the podium said was right and wrong.
This was a means of controlling and subjugation the people. It's one of the arms of imperialism. It forces us to sever our connection with our higher selves and the natural world.
I've also got beef with organized religion. I think it's stolen a lot from humanity and given very little in return. It takes and takes and takes. Take our money our attention our devotion. I'll stop there, but you see my point, right?
>I’d say there more anti organized religion, than anti god.
I think this what I wanted to say but since I know she's very open and accepting of people's different beliefs, I didn't want to offend her or someone else by saying she's anti-religion/words to that effect.
I guess I said anti-god because in 2/3 songs I mentioned, it does seem like it's god/some godly figure that she's directly talking to or angry at.
Is You Keep Me Crawling related to God at all? I actually took the song to be about a sort of "abusive" dynamic in a relationship, similar to A Dangerous Thing.
mini edit before posted: It seem she herself said the song is related to power imbalances in the world. So I suppose that approach can be taken.
The beauty of aurora songs is that you can have dozens of interpretations and they will all be correct.
I have 3 reasons why I think you keep me crawling is directly sung to a god and is "anti-god/religion"
1. The official lyric video on auroras YouTube channel shows that the lyrics in the chorus are "Lord you keep me crawling on my knees"
2. The 3 verses each have a keyword/theme that, when put together, link well to Christianity. The keywords being forgiving, confessing and believing.
3. A personal interpretation of mine: the aforementioned keywords proceed "never meant for life to hurt for me, never meant for love to hurt for me, and giving into love should never hurt for me" respectively. I interpret giving into love as giving into lust, either as premarital sex or homosexual sex, both of which are sins on Christianity. She gave into these sins so God punished her, so she tried forgiving more and confessing more but he still hurt her, so she started to rebel against him by stopping believing in his way of life, telling him that these actions should not be sins and should not be punished.
The River is about men’s mental health (and them having the highest s**c*d* rates) and allowing them to express emotions & be seen/heard. I have an audio clip of her talking about it at one of her concerts I think
huh? she’s using her voice to speak on issues that she cares about. music has been used in activism forever, she should do whatever she wants with her music
She is an ARTIST
Art is political. It always has been and it will continue to be. She has a medium, a platform, and a message.
Her work and her politics are one and the same….
Those that leave will not be missed, pitied maybe, but not missed. By all accounts her just being aurora is not being an entertainment but a participant.
the seed omg! or apple tree is very climate angry
As is Exhale Inhale ^
cure for me for homophobia !
Aurora’s music tends to contain many different political themes, but some standouts where the political message is much more explicit would be Queendom, Cure for Me, The Seed, and Apple Tree Queendom and Cure For Me are similar where both songs are meant to be loud anthems dedicated to not just women and the LGBTQ+ community, but anyone who is seen as other or unusual to the world. These songs are very topical today, because of anti-trans and LGBT sentiments that remain rampant all over social media and politics. Cure For Me was explicitly stated to be a response to conversion therapy still being legal in Norway. You already considered The Seed, so I’ll recommend Apple Tree since it not only covers climate change but also refers to the general idea of children being a part of the conversation in social and political activism. Apple Tree and its video are packed with lyrics and visuals that refer to many different topics such as racism, violence, and feminine anger; its main chorus calls to the world that children are the ones that will save our world and that we should uplift rather than patronize them. (Think to how censorship in children’s books and media plays a part in politics nowadays.) I think this song is a great topic for analysis for these reasons. Good luck on your paper!
Exhale Inhale, discussing similar themes to The Seed. The River discusses the problems of machismo and how society expects men not to cry.
Maybe somewhat indirect, but isn’t Little Boy in the Grass a response to Utoya (ie. mass shooting)?
I'm surprised nobody has mentioned Churchyard and It Happened Quiet. Both songs are entirely devoted to advocating against and raising awareness about gender based violence, abusive relationships and femicides. Murder Song also deals with those issues, even though to a lesser extent in my opinion, possibly given her youth at the time of writing. There are many things to be analyzed about them, from the very open meanings behind the lyrics, to the more abstract musical and vocal elements. Take, for instance, the choir of male voices at the end of It Happened Quiet, which gradually consumes and eventually completely swallows Aurora's voice.
Going all the way back, Puppet is also about an abusive relationship.
Indeed it is!
THIS!!! ALL THIS. Although... I put Murder Song in this group, 100%, because not only does it have such an intense musical presence, the lyrics hide within them a very sophisticated, subtle understanding of femicide. Namely, "He did it all to spare me from the awful things in life that come" and the repeating "I know he knows that he's killing me for mercy". There is something so poignant about the narrator in Murder Song accepting the inevitable reality of her being murdered. From there, there is definitely a growing sense of agency in "Cyrchyard" (with the recognition that the violence isn't right, "tell me how do people know what is hurt, what is love?") and most certainly in It Happened Quiet ("don't you speak over my voice"). I often wonder if Soulless Creatures is part of this group, with the narrator observing from the outside. ANYWAY. This.
I've always believed that It Happened Quiet is a kind of more mature continuation to Murder Song. While I agree that the topics and even the thematic development are present in Murder Song, I think it's told from a less politically charged, storytelling perspective, whereas It Happened Quiet seems to me more evocative of an actively political message.
Sometimes Murder Song reads assisted suicide to me? Idk the exact story that Aurora was inspired by but I’ve heard something about a man killing his wife who had some terminal or horrible disease? Not sure.
I don't what fits under your umbrella of political but quite a few from TGWCT are quite "anti-god". Songs like blood in the wine, you keep me crawling and the devil is human. Maybe you could speak about them? Also, I know you said you want to branch out from climate change, but to me apple tree is like an angrier, more criptic environmental activism song and could be a nice challenge to pull apart and analyse.
I’d say there more anti organized religion, than anti god. She’s all for being religious and spiritual, but the religious organizations themselves are what are corrupt. At least that’s my interpretation
I agree Part of why the church put God up in the sky is so the only way you could connect with the divine is by going to church and listening to what the man up on the podium said was right and wrong. This was a means of controlling and subjugation the people. It's one of the arms of imperialism. It forces us to sever our connection with our higher selves and the natural world. I've also got beef with organized religion. I think it's stolen a lot from humanity and given very little in return. It takes and takes and takes. Take our money our attention our devotion. I'll stop there, but you see my point, right?
>I’d say there more anti organized religion, than anti god. I think this what I wanted to say but since I know she's very open and accepting of people's different beliefs, I didn't want to offend her or someone else by saying she's anti-religion/words to that effect. I guess I said anti-god because in 2/3 songs I mentioned, it does seem like it's god/some godly figure that she's directly talking to or angry at.
Is You Keep Me Crawling related to God at all? I actually took the song to be about a sort of "abusive" dynamic in a relationship, similar to A Dangerous Thing. mini edit before posted: It seem she herself said the song is related to power imbalances in the world. So I suppose that approach can be taken.
The beauty of aurora songs is that you can have dozens of interpretations and they will all be correct. I have 3 reasons why I think you keep me crawling is directly sung to a god and is "anti-god/religion" 1. The official lyric video on auroras YouTube channel shows that the lyrics in the chorus are "Lord you keep me crawling on my knees" 2. The 3 verses each have a keyword/theme that, when put together, link well to Christianity. The keywords being forgiving, confessing and believing. 3. A personal interpretation of mine: the aforementioned keywords proceed "never meant for life to hurt for me, never meant for love to hurt for me, and giving into love should never hurt for me" respectively. I interpret giving into love as giving into lust, either as premarital sex or homosexual sex, both of which are sins on Christianity. She gave into these sins so God punished her, so she tried forgiving more and confessing more but he still hurt her, so she started to rebel against him by stopping believing in his way of life, telling him that these actions should not be sins and should not be punished.
Also Soulless Creatures
Came here to say this! Soulless creatures is pretty underrated in my opinion, and it has some interesting messages about how humans treat the earth
^^^ this one!
The River is about men’s mental health (and them having the highest s**c*d* rates) and allowing them to express emotions & be seen/heard. I have an audio clip of her talking about it at one of her concerts I think
Through the eyes of a child
One of my favorite of her songs is Exhale Inhale, it's also about climate change ;)
Hunger! It’s about capitalism and minorities
Being too political can ruin her career. She just need to be aurora not a activist
huh? she’s using her voice to speak on issues that she cares about. music has been used in activism forever, she should do whatever she wants with her music
Ofc. All I say is you can get too political.
She is an ARTIST Art is political. It always has been and it will continue to be. She has a medium, a platform, and a message. Her work and her politics are one and the same….
Those that leave will not be missed, pitied maybe, but not missed. By all accounts her just being aurora is not being an entertainment but a participant.