In 2012, Copenhagen native Karen Marie Ørsted, better know by her stage name MØ (pronounced “moo”), released her first single “Maiden,” a soulful track with a title that doubles as a direct translation of her stage name. The alt-pop artist then spent the next 18 months continuing that hot streak, with follow-up tracks “Glass,” “Pilgrim,” “Waste of Time” and an un-credited feature on Avicii’s song “Dear Boy” all impressing in different ways.
After sharing her “Bikini Daze” EP last October, MØ will release her debut full-length, “No Mythologies To Follow,” on Mar. 10 through Chess Club/RCA Victor. Recorded in Copenhagen with Ronni Vindahl, the album includes the “XXX 88,” produced by Diplo, who Ørsted describes to Billboard as being “relaxed, [and] very down-to-earth and cool… For him, it’s all about finding these fresh, new sounds.” The song’s accompanying music video was filmed in L.A. over a period of two extremely hot days last month, and has earned 876,000 views on YouTube since its release last September.
New single “Don’t Wanna Dance,” which was released last month, inspires listeners to ignore its title and adhere to a collection of squelching synths. However, MØ’s debut is more than just a dance album. Ørsted says that she wanted to focus the album on “being young, confused and restless … and just kind of lost in society. It’s about just trying to find your own path through the jungle of the modern world.”
MØ adds that she does not strive for the mastered vocal “perfection” you hear from most mainstream artists; instead, she aims for a natural sound stressing the importance that they not be “too polished.” After all, she started taking vocal notes from the messy passion of the Spice Girls, the first artist she ever bought an album from. “I felt like they were talking to my soul,” she says.
Fresh off the bus from a nine-stop stint opening for AlunaGeorge on their Body Music tour, MØ says that a lot of live opportunities are in the works, although no specific tour and festival dates have been announced yet. Wherever she heads on the road this year, Ørsted is hoping to run into Blood Orange mastermind Dev Hynes, whom she name-checks as her dream collaborator.