MØ, will release her new album Motordome on January 28, 2022. Ahead of the release, the artist has shared a new video for album track “Brad Pitt,” and “Goosebumps.” Directed by longtime collaborator, Rob Sinclair (a recent Emmy winner for David Byrne’s American Utopia), and Lewis Knaggs, the video was shot in the aftermath of MØ’s hometown show at Copenhagen’s Den Grå Hal last month.Motordrome is MØ’s first body of work since, her 2018 release Forever Neverland

Of the two new tracks, Karen says “both songs are, in each their way, about remembering who you are. Remember that you can shine? Remember there’s a chance of breaking out of the prison that is your mind? To actively move your body out of the loop andinto the world.”

MØ returned to Denmark to recalibrate and recover from the physical and mental exhaustion she was experiencing as a result, but had trouble checking out. A serious vocal injury requiring months of rehabilitation exacerbated her bouts of anxiety and a sense that things were slipping out of her control.

Born Karen Marie Aagaard Ørsted Andersen, hunkered down and did what she knew best—wrote songs. The music that began to emerge bridged the gap between her years as a teen punk touring anarchist squats across Europe and the bright scandipop she’d come to be known for, a darker and more personal take on her sound.

She enlisted friends and longtime collaborators Caroline Ailin (Dua Lipa, Katy Perry, Ellie Goulding) and Noonie Bao (Halsey, Charli XCX, Carly Rae Jepsen) to help flesh out the songs, with further songwriting and production from a close circle including Ariel Rechtshaid (Haim, Vampire Weekend, Adele), Jam City (Olivia Rodrigo, Troye Sivan), S.G. Lewis (Dua Lipa), Linus Wiklund and Yangze.

Motordrome’s title came from a conversation MØ had with her mother about her battles with
anxiety — the panic and intrusive thoughts called to mind the dødstrome, an old carnival trick in which a stuntperson rides a motorcycle around the vertical walls of a motordrome at death-defying speeds.

The making of the album proved to be MØ’s escape from this deepening spiral, although the album is very much a document of a person-in-progress. While there is a strong sense of empowerment and of brighter days ahead, it also serves as a reminder that everyone has to deal with their own dødstrome — that there is no perfect remedy for life’s struggles, and that’s OK.

“I hope that people will feel that it’s genuine and that there are stories there that they can connect with,” MØ says. “For me this album represents a huge change in my life. Even though I’m still doing what I love doing, it does feel like a new chapter. An era of my life is over and I’m entering a new one. That is scary, but it’s freeing.”

MØ
Live Dates

EU
February 4 2022 @ Parkteatret, Oslo NO
February 5 2022 @ Debaser, Stockholm SW 8th Feb 2022 @ NIEBO,Warsaw PL
February 9 2022 @ Kesselhaus, Berlin DE 11th Feb 2022 @ Le Trabendo,Paris FR
February 13 2022 @ Orangerie – Botanique, Brussels BE 14th Feb 2022 @ MelkwegOz, Amsterdam NL
February 15 2022 @ Heaven, London UK

US
April 7 2022 @ Cat’s Cradle, Chapel Hill NC 9th Apr 2022 @ Sound MoneyFestival, Miami FL
April 10 2022 @ Jannus Live, Tampa FL 11th Apr 2022 @ Variety,Atlanta GA
April 13 2022 @ Union Transfer, Philadelphia PA
April 14 2022 @ Webster Hall, New York NY 15th Apr 2022 @ Royale, Boston MA

Pre-order Motordome by MØ HERE