MØ is the voice that drove ‘Lean On’ to become a colossal global smash in every sense of word. The Major Lazer track earned the notable accolade of being the most streamed track of all time on Spotify, while it also peaked at Number 1 here on the Australian charts.
‘Cold Water’ is yet another collaboration between MØ and Major Lazer – with the notable addition of Justin Bieber – and is well on its way to replicating the success of ‘Lean On’ with striking chart success in the UK and heavy radio airplay across the globe. This is all building momentum for a second album from MØ, with the Danish star’s solo singles ‘Kamikaze’ and ‘Final Song’ giving us a taste of her powerful brand of pop, packed with gusto and emotion.
Most excitingly, MØ will be making her way to Australia to wrap up the year at Falls Festival. She’s currently in the country for a promotional tour, and we were lucky enough to nab some time with her to talk about karaoke, her punk rock roots and her stellar track record of hits. After walking into a room filled with her gold plaques and an impressive sushi platter, we spent a minute talking about how good boiled eggs are before getting down to business. Read how it went down below, and catch MØ alongside Alison Wonderland, Childish Gambino, London Grammar and more at Falls:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WUcXQ–yGWQ
The big news from this week was the announcement of Falls Festival – how do you feel about playing such big shows in Australia, especially as such a jovial time of the year?
Jovial. I love that word. I’m super excited and I heard that all the locations for Falls Festival are super beautiful. I’m very much into nature so I’m excited for that. And also to come back here and play a show, because I haven’t done that in over a year! That’s going to be super nice, and also to celebrate New Year’s Down Under, that’s awesome.
You just came from Tokyo, and I saw that you participated in some karaoke there. What songs did you sing?
It was amazing! We couldn’t leave, we thought we were gonna be there for two hours but we ended up there for four hours. All dressed up and stuff, with costumes and I was wearing a wig. And it was the exact karaoke bar where they filmed Lost In Translation, so we were having a great time. I sang ‘Video Games’ by Lana Del Rey, ‘Wish You Were Here’ by Pink Floyd, Ace of Base probably. I sang a lot of songs and I must admit I was a little bit drunk.
Do you ever see your own songs at karaoke? Is it weird to sing them?
We actually performed ‘Lean On’, just because it was so funny that it was there. But we had to move on, we sing that all the time.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YqeW9_5kURI
Aside from all the plaques here, ‘Cold Water’ has just become your first UK Number 1. How does it feel to have so much success, especially after how huge ‘Lean On’ became?
It’s wonderful. Even before I was working with Major Lazer, I was a huge fan. They’ve almost become family to me now, so it feels wonderful to have another song with them. And Justin Bieber’s on the song, that’s crazy – I never fucking thought I’d be on a song with Justin Bieber. It’s super surreal for me, but at the same time it’s familiar because it’s Major Lazer and I’ve been working on many songs with them over the past year. It’s great! I’m only singing on a little part of it, so I’m just happy to be part of the song and an amazing collaboration.
You’re also one of the few Danish artists to reach Number 1 in the UK. What is the music scene like in Denmark and do you see it merging more with UK and the Americas?
Obviously ‘Lean On’ and ‘Cold Water’ and things like that help push the Danish music out there, but then came Lucas Graham a year ago and he smashed the whole thing. I’m glad that it seems like people are starting to open their eyes to Danish music. Sweden has always been way ahead of us, they have so much cool music shit going on, so I’m always looking up to them and wanting to do as well as them.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a59gmGkq_pw
You touched on a dancehall vibe on your single ‘Final Song’ – this really seems to be the huge sound in pop at the moment, so what other sounds do you see getting big?
I’ve almost stopped defining genres because everything is a big mish-mash these days. I’m just like ‘pop’ or ‘not pop’. Or like ‘metal’ or ‘punk’. Pop music nowadays is everything.
You were also into punk rock when you were younger. How do you think this influenced you musically or your approach to business?
That’s really hard to say. Before I got into punk and activism, I was super into pop. So for me, it’s natural for me to love pop but it’s also natural for me to love alternative music and movements and people who speak up about politics. I’m sure I learned a hell of a lot from being in the environment and music scene for 10 years, but I think what I learned overall is just to be yourself. Be real about shit and not be scared to be yourself.
You previously collaborated with Iggy Azalea. Are there any other Australian artists you’d like to work with?
Flume. Tame Impala are amazing, they’re so good at what they do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9j5vmAH9VeE
You’ve also had some editorial spreads based around fashion. What trends do you see coming in strong for 2016/2017?
Flared pants. That clear blue denim is coming back a lot. It’s so funny, after flared pants had its first arrival, it was so uncool it was all about skinny jeans. I was like ‘flared pants are never, ever fucking going to be popular again. And now I’m like ‘Oh, I might need a new pair of flares’.
Seeing as you’ll be in Australia to welcome in 2017 at Falls Festival, what do you want to be doing at the stroke of midnight?
I want to be fairly drunk. I don’t know, it depends where I am in the country, but I’ll have a blast. I don’t know what to do, dance? Maybe cuddle a kangaroo? They don’t run free do they? I’ll figure it out.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eVD9j36Ke94
