Last time Danish singer songwriter MØ was in New Zealand, she was eight, she wrote on Facebook. But she was back to play Rhythm and Vines at the very end of last year. And she’s a fan of New Zealand music.
“So much great music is coming out of New Zealand these days. And also it’s nice that it’s summer down here, when it’s winter up in Scandinavia,” she says.
“One blogger called [her single] Pilgrim "your ‘do bad shit’ anthem for this weekend”, and there is swearing on it, making it feel like an I Will Survive de nos jours,” wrote The Guardian, back in 2012 – before making a comparison with Grimes – something she says is flattering.
“I always get so happy when people compare me with great artilsts like Grimes. Nowadays music has so many influences from so much other musics. My music is definitely a mixture of a lot of different genres and styles and all kinds of things. But I’d say it’s electronic indie pop with hip hop and soul vibes.”
One of those influences is the Spice Girls – it was the first album she bought, and she famously covered one of their hits.
Consequence of Sound called her 2014 debut album ‘No Mythologies To Follow’ “a polished pop package that boasts bite as well as her refreshingly charming magnetism.”
While a lot of recent pop music has looked back to a golden age (whether that of girl groups, Michael Jackson, or Madonna), MØ’s voracious appetite for sleek, futuristic productions for her hook-happy vocals keeps her music forward-thinking. Like her younger peer, Lorde, MØ’s influences make up an amalgamation of the Internet-savvy taste of the young generation. As she explained in our interview, her musical journey consisted of a childhood filled with Spice Girls pop, teen years spent with Sonic Youth punk, and then finally, hip-hop.
MØ had a lot to be thankful for in 2014, she wrote on Facebook. In 2015, she’ll play a Scandinavian tour and then Coachella. “Even though it’s been a crazy year, you always want to do better, that’s the human mind.”
Ollie Neas and Molly Mccarthy will have more from Rhythm and Vines over the next week.
