AURORA opens up about ‘Runaway’ – the song that inspired Billie Eilish

Go inside her breakthrough single

AURORA has spoken of the inspiration behind her breakthrough single ‘Runaway’. Watch our ‘Song Stories’ video with the singer above.

Taken from her acclaimed 2016 debut album ‘All My Demons Greeting Me As A Friend’, the single would find the Norwegian singer-songwriter international fame as it went on to amass over 100million streams across platforms. Not only that, but Billie Eilish hailed her as one of her main inspirations when she first got into music.

“When I was 12, I saw Aurora’s ‘Runaway’ music video,” she once told Vanity Fair. “Something inside me clicked, like, that is what I want to do, no matter whether it goes anywhere or not.”

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Responding to Eilish’s praise, AURORA told NME earlier this year: “I think the world needs more artists who just do what they want. She uses her voice is such a cool way. I’m also a big fan of her brother Finneas O’Connell and the way he produces lo-fi percussion. I will be listening to her more because she must be doing something right. The world seems to adore her right now because she’s really cool.”

Now as part of NME‘s Song Stories series, AURORA has explained what first inspired the song.

“I wrote ‘Runaway’ when I was 11-years-old,” she told NME. “It’s quite funny because the older I got, the more it made sense to me. It touched my heart, and now it reminds me of things that happened after I wrote it. It was kind of like a gift to myself.

“It’s weird, because my inspiration for the lyrics to ‘Runaway’ came out of nowhere. A few years later, something happened to me (well, the whole of Norway actually), and then the lyrics made so much sense to me. I sat in my house on the usual piano I always write on and it look like an hour, I think.”

She continued: “I remember it was completely quiet, it was grey outside. Not light, not dark, not dry, not wet, not cold, not warm – it was kind of one of those out of place kind of days. It was kind of like time was standing still.”

AURORA talks inspiring Billie Eilish and Chemical Brothers and her album 'A Different Kind Of Human'
AURORA

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Filmed in 2015, AURORA’s music video for the single continues to attract millions of views on Youtube.

“It was extremely cold,” she said of the day it was filmed. “I didn’t have a lot of clothes. We were stood in the middle of the snow for a lot of hours. I was sick for a lot of time after, which I always am after a video because I insist to have them outside in the cold.”

She added: “It was a long day, I remember, and I was really angry because they were insisting for me to put on lipstick for one of the scenes. I remember it felt really strange and the hair stuck to my lips. It really cold and annoying, but also nice because I did forget where I was.”

Watch the full NME Song Stories video for AURORA’s ‘Runaway’ at the top of the page. 

New album ‘A Different Kind Of Human’ will be released on June 7. AURORA returns to the UK to perform at Glastonbury Festival in June. Her other UK tour dates are below, with tickets on sale from 9am on Friday May 10.

Monday November 4 – BRISTOL O2 Academy Bristol
Tuesday November 5 – MANCHESTER Albert Hall
Friday November 8 – GLASGOW SWG3
Saturday November 9 – NEWCASTLE UPON TYNE Boiler Shop
Sunday November 10 – BIRMINGHAM O2 Institute
Monday November 11 – LONDON Roundhouse

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