Aurora gained recognition with her debut extended play (EP), Running with the Wolves (2015), which contained the sleeper hit "Runaway".
Later that year, she provided the backing track for the John Lewis Christmas advert, singing a cover of the Oasis song "Half the World Away".
In addition to her solo work, Aurora has collaborated with and co-written songs for other artists, including Askjell, Sub Urban, Sondre Lerche, Tom Odell and the Chemical Brothers.
[20][21] When she attended school, her sisters—Miranda (currently her makeup artist) and Viktoria Aksnes (currently her costume designer)—worried that she might be bullied due to her eccentric personality and style of dress.
[33] The group participated at the Norwegian Youth Festival of Art twice, dancing with the songs "Decode" by Paramore and "Feeling Good" in the background.
[55] Aurora also performed at the 2015 Nobel Peace Prize Concert,[56] saying that she and her family "have been following it from the living room at home for many years", and "it is an incredibly beautiful thing to be a part of.
[61] In early 2016, Aurora featured on British band Icarus' song "Home" and released a cover of David Bowie's "Life on Mars" for the HBO Girls television series.
[62][63][64] After a prolific start with her first musical productions, she released her debut album All My Demons Greeting Me as a Friend in March 2016,[65] receiving generally positive reviews from critics.
[70] As of 12 May 2016, after coming back from her European tour, the singer announced that she was ready to begin writing and producing more material, which will form her second studio album.
Her next project consisted of covering the song "Scarborough Fair" for the Brazilian telenovela Deus Salve o Rei and filming the opening sequence for it.
[71] Between April and August 2018, the singer released two singles, "Queendom" and "Forgotten Love",[72][73] which would be included in the first half of a two-part album divided into "steps".
On 12 April 2019, Aurora contributed with co-writing and vocals in the songs "Eve of Destruction", "Bango", and "The Universe Sent Me" for the Chemical Brothers' ninth album No Geography.
[82] On 4 November 2019, the soundtrack to the Disney film Frozen II was released, with Aurora providing backing vocals on the song "Into the Unknown".
[86] Under the musical direction of Gaute Tønder, she recorded the title track of the Christmas miniseries Stjernestøv [no] for Norwegian public broadcaster NRK; such contribution was made known in mid-November of the same year.
[92] To promote The Gods We Can Touch, she announced a concert tour throughout the United States and Europe (with Sub Urban, Sei Selina, and Metteson as supporting acts) in 2022.
tour, she performed the biggest headline show of her career with a sold-out attendance of 18,000 at the Palacio de los Deportes in Mexico City.
[111][112] At home, she didn't have access to radio or music channels on television; she admitted that she had listened to very few artists at the beginning of her singing career.
[113] She has mentioned Enya,[29] Bob Dylan,[29] Leonard Cohen,[29] the Beatles,[114] Johnny Cash,[115] Underworld,[116] Oasis, Björk,[117][118] Kate Bush,[68] and Ane Brun[119] as her major influences.
[121] Aurora also expressed her admiration for rock musician Iggy Pop, adding that when she met him during a festival in Belgium, she was "so happy I almost peed my pants.
[123] She has covered some of her influences' songs, some of them are "Mr. Tambourine Man",[124] "Famous Blue Raincoat",[125] "Life on Mars",[64] "Across the Universe",[114] and "Make You Feel My Love".
[132] Writing for Paper, Mathias Rosenzweig sees her as "Scandinavia's newest dark pop prodigy" with her love for Nordic folklore, similar to Björk's interest of Icelandic mountains and countrysides.
[133] Lisa Higgins from Clash, describes her as an artist with an avant-garde pop sound,[134] while Jessica Fynn from the same magazine sees her as an "alt-pop aesthete".
[138] The word "ethereal" has often been used to qualify her tone of voice,[25][139][140][141] while the repeated use of vocals (like "ah", "oh" and "la") has also been pointed out as something characteristic in her music.
[144] She has sung songs like "Stjernestøv", "Vinterens Gåte" and "Det Hev Ei Rosa Sprunge" in her native language.
[87][88] Since Infections of a Different Kind (Step 1) she began to include lyrics in an "emotional language" that she invented in favor of changing the energy and meaning of her performance.
[23] When a friend from her sign language class died in a car accident in 2014, Aurora performed a currently unreleased song titled "Why Did You Go a Place?"
[154] In her early years, she drew attention for her 'childlike appearance', pale skin without makeup and short platinum blonde hair, the same color as her eyebrows,[155][156][157] in contrast to her vocal range and the meaning of her songs.
[62] She has also showed support for various environmental awareness movements, topics that she explored in songs like "Apple Tree", "The Seed", and "Soulless Creatures" from her second album.
In October 2020, she performed her song "Warrior" for volunteers of the Clean Sounds Movement, and called on fellow singers Billie Eilish and Sigrid to do the same.
[164] She also participated in several music festivals online, such as Vi er Live (in demonstration against racism and the murder of George Floyd), SOS Rainforest (supporting indigenous communities and jungles of Africa, Asia, and South America), and Exist For Love Sessions (to promote various emerging artists).