Congrats on the release of ‘Vulnerably Happy’! The track is so raw and intense. Can you tell us more about the story behind the song and how that bus stop moment inspired you?
Thanks guys! So happy to chat to you again, last time was such a pleasure.
Ok, so the bus stop situation is kinda the origin story about how the whole album came about, so here we go;
I was randomly standing by a construction-site waiting for a bus home. It had been an intense summer, a complicated relationship was weighing pretty heavy on me but something brought me out of my head; the heavy machinery from the site were creating these stumbling rhythms, morphing in and out of each other, sometimes creating moments of sync, only to completely fall apart again. It made me dance in a really weird way, trying to follow the unpredictability and tension in their glitchy polyrhythms.
I recorded the construction site sounds, hurried home and tried to translate the experience, the heavy machinery and the weird movements into music. That experiment turned into ‘Vulnerably Happy’ and kickstarted my creative approach for the album; letting my body lead the way and dance the music to life.
Your upcoming album, “The Secret Our Bodies Hold,” sounds incredibly personal. What can fans expect from this album, and how does it differ from your previous work?
I’ve always used dance to find courage. You see, I often write songs on the piano and they often turn out waayyy more self-exposing than I’m actually comfortable with, which then results in me shelving the song, thinking that it can never actually see the light of day. But at some point I found out that if I give my emotions a physique to freely explore the feeling through, I find the needed courage to stand by them.
So, to answer your question, I think The Secret Our Bodies Hold is both more emotionally and physically extreme than my previous work. I’ve explored body and emotion in harmony and conflict and as a result, it doesn’t always resolve in this catharsis that we tend to crave in pop music. I think the album leaves you with more questions than answers.
You’ve been quite busy lately—Roskilde Festival, Danish Breakfast TV, and even gracing the cover of GAFFA Magazine. How has all this exposure influenced your music and your approach to performance?
It’s been mental! I had never expected THIS album to launch me into that kind of next level career shit. The fact that I stopped trying to look at myself from the outside with industry-eyes while making it… I think that makes the commercial success feel rewarding in a healthier way, you know? It’s reaffirming that I should keep going with my instinct, which is easy to preach but a real challenge to practise.
That dynamic can be so confusing; striving for recognition and success can really fuck your navigation up. If you get acknowledgement for something you KNOW you compromised on, there’s a risk that it leads you in the wrong direction – further away from yourself. I’ve been there and that was not a good place.
Performing at Roskilde Festival is a massive achievement. How did it feel to be on that stage, and what was the audience’s reaction to your set?
It’s kind of a blur, to be honest. I often find that those moments you’ve been dreaming of your whole life can be a bit roller-coaster-y. Like, I felt happy, sad, self-aware, present, control, loss, totally in control, everything in glimpses and at once. We played most of the new album which was obviously something to demand from the crowd, that they’d be open to so much new music; but damn, did they welcome it with love!
It took me a couple of days to unpack, zooming in on videos to see if my emotions were visibly as all over the place as I felt. To my relief and surprise, my chaos was on the inside and now I just feel freaking proud.
Your school tours are a unique and powerful way to connect with young people about important issues like sexuality and self-acceptance. What inspired you to start these tours, and what has been the most memorable experience so far?
The answer to that question is a total apropos to your previous question. Around 2020 I was feeling quite lost in my career. I had been signed to a major label, written a lot of songs with amazing writers and producers around the world and I was trying to walk a more mainstream path. I was living out a lot of dreams on that path but along the way, my idea of success had been corrupted. Aiming for mainstream success comes with a humongous margin of error. The criteria for that kind of success is so hard to reach, so even though you do pretty good and the best you can, you still feel like a failure.
That’s when I started touring schools. I wanted to do something actively to make a change for teens who feel different and who grow up in environments that don’t accept them. That’s my own story and I know how much it would have meant, if someone like me had represented me back then. The wild thing is that I see the change happening before my eyes; during 45 minutes bullies turn into fans and we talk about a lot of difficult identity questions. All these shows have helped me rewire my brain into a healthier place, where success is not defined by uncontrollable commercial measures, but by integrating my values into my music and career in general.
‘Vulnerably Happy’ has this industrial, almost aggressive sound to it. How did you translate that emotional and physical intensity into the music?
I created the beat from my recording of the construction site and amplified it with some samples of a very naughty-sounding shelf that Rangleklods recorded and put on his Patreon. Then I made the bass-synth inspired by my butt (yes), simply cos it was bouncing in that rhythm to the beat. After that I found some really ugly pages in my notebook with the scrippled lyrics, that I’d written in a very helpless state of mind. The melody came as an improvisation over those words.
I realized that I could sing it with more emotion, calmness and catch all these little details in my vibrato if I recorded the vocals at a 10% lower speed. To me, that created a certain ambiguity that I still don’t quite understand myself and that excites me.
With “The Secret Our Bodies Hold” set to release on November 1st, can you give us a little tease of any standout tracks or themes that are especially close to your heart?
Right now I’m most excited about a song called ‘Dinotopia’, which features me rapping dinosaurs and dirty-talking but it’s also weirdly touching at the same time. With that said, I think the real power of this album lies in its entirety. I can’t wait to see people notice the connections and create their own understanding of it. My own is still changing and I’m so eager to find out what you see.
You’re one of the most played artists on Danish radio right now. How does it feel to have your music resonate so deeply with your home country, and how do you plan to bring that energy to an international audience, maybe even Australia?
I’m so proud. I’ve hustled for 12 years and it’s almost become an identity-thing to work in opposition to the mainstream, cos that part of the industry has rejected me again and again. To suddenly be acknowledged like this is obviously amazing but also comes with a side effect of identity crisis. Like, am I… dare I say it…. mainstream now???
I’m so happy that ‘New Moon, Same Old Me’ was the song to do this. It’s a symbol of my friendship with Brimheim, who is also one of my favorite artists in the world. The emotional intensity and the nuances in the relation on this song is a direct result of our love for each other and I think that might be what’s hitting people.
Me and my little team are working out butts off to make the most of it and Australia is no 1 on my wishlist; you guys have embraced the music with such love!
GAFFA Magazine has compared you to iconic artists with your recent cover feature. How do you handle the pressure of such high expectations, and how does it shape your creative process?
It took me ages to realize that I HAD to stop comparing myself directly to other artists. Especially superstars. I take so much inspiration from my own idols, often imitate them in music or in release-strategies and general career-development. But it’s so important to be extremely real with yourself about who you are and how those imitations become integrated in your career, in a scale that applies to you. If I compare myself directly to David Bowie or Dua Lipa, I’m setting myself up for failure, cos our careers are simply not comparable – and I don’t want them to be. But being able to take elements and translate them into your own reality is a potential superpower
With that said, I’m totally flattered by a lot of the comparisons people make – but I don’t let it become a pressure anymore cos I know I can only do it the Asbjørn way.
Australia is keen to see you live! Any plans to bring your music and message Down Under soon? What can Aussie fans expect from an Asbjørn show?
I will be needing a spider security guard at all times, since I am deadly arachnophobic but apart from that; YES, it is very much my plan to visit Australia soon. In a recent interview with DNA Magazine, I also indulged in doing some serial-dating while touring the country, so that’s exciting – but apart from that, my concerts are meant for finding connection. To each other, to ourselves and to our bodies. Exploring freely and forgetting how we look from the outside. At least that’s what I strive for, on stage, in music and in life.
https://www.instagram.com/asbjornmusic
