AURORA announces new album ‘What Happened To The Heart’ and announces UK and European tour
AURORA has shared details of a new album titled ‘What Happened To The Heart?’ and announced UK and European tour dates. Find all the details below.
Announced today (March 28), the news of a fourth studio album comes after the Norwegian alt-pop singer teased fans last week by dropping the introspective new single ‘Some Type Of Skin’.
Set for release on June 7 via Decca Records/Glassnote/Petroleum, ‘What Happened To The Heart’ marks her first full-length LP since her 2022 release, ‘The Gods We Can Touch’.
In her latest project, the album is set to capture a journey from self-destruction to self-healing, and will see the singer explore the loss of spiritual connection in modern society, the healing power of vulnerability, and the call to ignite change through reuniting the heart with politics and personal growth.
The idea for the album was inspired back in April 2022, when the singer read a letter co-written by indigenous activists, titled ‘We Are the Earth’, which changed her life. It called for a revolution, and pushed for a global response to global warming to help “heal the land”.
In the letter, the population was described as being connected to the land “through our hearts”, and the earth was called “the heart that pulsates within us” – leading AURORA to consider a question: what happened to the heart?
Unlike her past releases, which saw the singer writing in natural, open spaces, ‘What Happened To The Heart’ marks AURORA starting a new era and moving out of her comfort zone – working on it while embarking on her recent tour.
After recording it between Norway, Germany, London and Los Angeles, the result, she says, is the “most personal and cathartic album” she has ever written.
“Though its precise function and anatomy were not clearly understood, the heart was believed to be the centre of the soul. Of intuition. Of emotion and intention. Until we decided these were qualifications of the mind. Emotion overpowered by logic,” she explained. “And with the world being so corrupted by money, power and selfishness you cannot help but ask yourself – what happened to the heart?”
Ane Brun, Matias Tellez (Girl In Red, Maisie Peters), Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers, Chris Greatti (Yungblud, Blink-182, Pussy Riot), Dave Hamelin (Beyonce, King Princess and Zara Larsson), Magnus Skylstad and more join AURORA on the album, and it is available to pre-order here.
Alongside countless festival appearances lined up – including slots at Glastonbury, NOS Alive, Summer Sonic, Sziget and more – AURORA has now announced details of UK and European tour dates, set for later this year.
These kick off with a show in Milan on September 18, before continuing throughout the month with stips in Vienna, Prague, Krakow, Berlin, Belgium and more. From there, two UK shows are scheduled for the beginning of October: a slot at the Royal Albert Hall on October 2, and a final show at the O2 Apollo in Manchester two days later.
Tickets go on sale April 5 and can be found here.
AURORA’s 2024 UK and European headline tour dates are:
SEPTEMBER
18 – Alcatraz, Milan, Italy
20 – Gasometer, Vienna, Austria
21 – Sportovní hala Fortuna, Prague, Czechia
23 – Tauron Arena, Krakow, Poland
24 – COS Torwar, Warsaw, Poland
25 – UFO, Berlin, Germany
27 – Forest National, Belgium, Brussels
28 – AFAS Live, Amsterdam, Netherlands
30 – L’Olympia, Paris, France
OCTOBER
2 – Royal Albert Hall, London, UK
4 – O2 Apollo, Manchester, UK
Ahead of sharing her latest single ‘Some Type of Skin’, the Norwegian singer made her return last November, when she released the two tracks ‘Your Blood’ and ‘The Conflict Of The Mind’.
In a four-star review of ‘The Gods We Can Touch’, NME said that AURORA’s third record “is loaded with [her] idiosyncratic quirks and enchanting notions, but it’s never purely a slave to whimsy”. It added: “Now’s the time to give in to AURORA.”
Back in January, AURORA revealed that she was back in the recording studio working on “so many babies”, and she also announced details of her debut book, The Gods We Can Touch.
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Liberty Dunworth
NME
