Neu MØ: ‘We’re So Spoiled In Denmark’

How do you sympathise with a singer who’s freaking out about performing on national television, when you haven’t come close to doing anything similar? Karen Marie Ørsted is at home with her parents in Ubberød and pre-interview she’s caught a first glimpse of the mid-week airing of P3 Guld Live, which is essentially the Danish equivalent of a big, showy awards ceremony. Not the Brits. More the Smash Hits Poll Winners Party, when it was still around.

“I was very scared”, she says. “Because I’d seen so many bad live performances on TV, you know? I was so frightened to be one of those.” The reason why this is all happening is down to a few smash hits of MØ’s own. She’s under no illusions. She’s not “super-famous,” but this career is already shaping up to be a little different to what Karen’s used to.

Still studying Art in Denmark, she has to contend with being signed to a major in her home country, while touring the world, appearing in awards ceremonies, all that lark. Scandinavian pop does seem to be taking a bold next step. Icona Pop were on the US’ ‘Dancing With The Stars’ last month, replete with the customary neon necklaces. And Elliphant, another emerging act from Stockholm, experienced a similar big-deal, awards ceremony shindig to MØ.

What makes it all the more fascinating is that these artists - MØ included - aren’t your standard-fare world-conquerors. Karen describes her music as “something vulnerable and edgy and superficial”, comparing it to “the youth”, both in Denmark and the rest of the world. Confessing to be a “troublemaker” when she grew up, she started out in punk bands, and still holds some of the ideals that shaped her early years. Her songs are about “feelings” and “stupid stuff” too, she admits, but “there is some part of me that is against society,” she says.

“We’re so spoiled in Denmark, everything is there for us,” Karen explains. “The only thing that’s wrong here is there are so many opportunities, and we’re so free, so we get depressed and have all kinds of diseases in our heads. It’s so pathetic in a way. But on the other hand, no matter how great you feel your brain will always make trouble for you.” Which in a way ties into how MØ’s feeling about performing through millions of people’s television screens. While “right now I’m living my dream scenario,” she says, she remains self-critical, constantly aware that a debut album’s yet to be finished, and with “the business and the industry, it changes so quickly.”

With the countless opportunities she’s already mentioned, Karen took singing lessons in college, or Gymnasium, as it’s referred to in Denmark. But it didn’t quite work out. “At that time, I was smoking cigarettes and drinking a lot and partying a lot so my voice was very errrgh,” she jokes. Still to kick the habits, she was never born to be a conventional singer-type anyway. “I think it’s very important when you perform to just be yourself and let go and give the audience exactly who you are. Fuck that if you don’t hit the right notes.”

When she left school she aimed to go to a music college, applying by sending through some self-penned songs. She was promptly rejected. “I got so angry,” she recalls. But taking a different path and going to an Art Academy and being part of a punk band that was “kind of famous in the underground” - that’s when MØ, or at least the ideals of the project, were set in motion.

Punk ideals might be hinted at in Karen’s music, but MØ’s music is distinctly open-armed, universal to the point of being a potential Eurovision-winner. Now that’d be a spectacle. As a performer, she’s definitely cut out for it. “When people are at gigs, when you go up on stage and the audience is already there and smiling, I feel like hugging everybody,” she says. “Maybe it’s because when I perform, I try to be myself, so in some way I’m giving myself to them. So I feel very honoured and happy - I feel like we’re connecting.”

This projection of ‘self’ is often complex and riddled with risks. Her debut single ‘Pilgrim’ had bold synthetic horn sections, sharp hip-hop beats and MØ’s own, unconventional, in-your-face vocals. It shouldn’t have worked. But then it all benefits Karen’s belief that “everything’s possible” in music. She doesn’t get away with everything. Invention has its limits, at least where producer Ronni Vindahl is concerned. “If I come with a very sensitive song, I’ll try to smack it up with very heavy, trashy beats and he’s like ‘we can’t do that, it’s not possible’,” she jokes. “I really trust him.”

Now it’s just a case of trusting the taste of the Danish population, those who’ve just watched her perform at the awards. We revert back to the television gig: “Ahhh, I just don’t like listening to it live. It’s very different from when you record your vocals,” she says, slightly panicked. “I don’t care if I don’t hit the right notes. That’s ok to be shaky. But I just get a little embarrassed…” There’ll be no time to face embarrassment the way things are heading. Singles ‘Pilgrim’ and ‘Glass’ are the start of something special. Everyone knows it - so does Karen, even if she’s a little coy in saying so. “One day you’re in, the next day you’re out,” she offers. “You know, you have to always be careful. Just relax and be who you always have been.”

Taken from the May 2013 issue of DIY, available now. For more details click here.