What Happened to the Heart?

What Happened to the Heart? is the fifth studio album by Norwegian singer-songwriter and record producer Aurora. It was released on 7 June 2024 through Decca, Glassnote and Petroleum Records. Written and recorded between Norway, Germany, the United Kingdom, and the United States, Aurora worked with Ane Brun, Matias Tellez, Tom Rowlands, Chris Greatti, Dave Hamelin, and Magnus Skylstad on its production. Inspired by a letter co-written by indigenous activists, Aurora began working on the album during a world tour in support of her previous release, The Gods We Can Touch, and conceived it as a cathartic process. It is an indie pop and disco album with elements of techno and folk music.

The album has been supported by the release of four singles, "Your Blood", "The Conflict of the Mind", "Some Type of Skin", and "Starvation", as well as the promotional single "To Be Alright". To promote the album, Aurora will embark on a European and American headlining concert tour in 2024 and 2025. What Happened to the Heart? received acclaim from music critics, with praise towards its themes and sound. It debuted at number five in her native Norway, and also within the top ten in four other nations.

Background and conception
In April 2022, Aurora read a letter co-written by indigenous activists titled "We Are the Earth", which, according to the magazine The Line of Best Fit, "changed her life". The letter called for a revolution: a collective response to global warming. They described the planet as "the heart that pulsates within us", a statement that led Aurora to create the album's title and concept. She began writing the album while on tour for The Gods We Can Touch, her previous album released on 21 January 2022. In January 2023, Aurora confirmed that she was back in the recording studio working on new music, which she called "so many babies". What Happened to the Heart? was recorded and produced between Norway, Germany, London, and Los Angeles. On the album, Aurora worked with her close collaborator Magnus Skylstad, along with musicians Ane Brun, Matias Tellez, Tom Rowlands of The Chemical Brothers, Chris Greatti, and Dave Hamelin.

What Happened to the Heart? was announced via her social media accounts on 28 March 2024. She has dubbed the album as the most personal and cathartic project in her career. In a press release, she added: "Though its precise function and anatomy were not clearly understood, the heart was believed to be the centre of the soul. Of intuition. Of emotion and intention. Until we decided these were qualifications of the mind. Emotion overpowered by logic. And with the world being so corrupted by money, power and selfishness you cannot help but ask yourself – what happened to the heart?". Being interviewed by NME, the singer said that the title of the album is "the most important, beautiful and sad question I've ever wondered in my life".

Composition
What Happened to the Heart? is an indie pop and disco album, that includes inspirations from pop, techno, and folk music. Containing 16 tracks, the album differs from the sound of the singles, as stated by Aurora before the album's release. Its overall lyrics talk about the constant loss of spiritual connection in modern life, and question the lack of humanity in the society. It also contains another themes such as climate change, capitalism, and personal problems.

The opening track, "Echo of My Shadow", begins the album similarly to a prayer, where Aurora "sings life and hope back into the world". It is led by subdued vocals and strings. "To Be Alright", the second track, was compared by DIY Otis Robinson to the works of English singer Kate Bush. It is a disco-pop track with a 1990s dance tempo, in which she switches between soprano and a soft baritone. The third track, "Your Blood", is an "antithetical happy-go-lucky" indie pop song with electric guitars and melodies reminiscent of the Swedish rock band the Cardigans. The track showcases Aurora's vocal range, also switching between pitches. On "The Conflict of the Mind", Aurora pleads with a lover to open up. The folkloric "Some Type of Skin" is primarily a synth-pop, alternative pop, and Europop song, with elements of electropop. "When The Dark Dresses Lightly" is a look after a break-up fueled with anguish, rage and resentment. "My Name" features Norwegian songwriter Ane Brun, and contains tiredness of "unhealed trauma and collective ignorance to environmental overconsumption". The folk-infused "Do You Feel?" is followed by "Starvation", which incorporates disco and 1980s synth-pop, with elements of electronica music and psychedelic beats; in the song, she confronts human arrogance and avoidance.

Singles
What Happened to the Heart? was preceded by the release of three singles. The song "Your Blood" was released on 8 November 2023 as the lead single from the album. It marked her first solo musical material since The Gods We Can Touch in 2022. The second single, titled "The Conflict of the Mind", was released on 18 January 2024 along a music video co-directed by Aurora alongside Kaveh Nabatian. "Some Type of Skin" was released as the third single from the record on 20 March 2024. She performed it for the first time during an intimate show at London's Lafayette. The first promotional single, "To Be Alright", was released digitally on 31 May. "Starvation" was sent to radio airplay alongside the album as its fourth single. The music videos for Your Blood, The Conflict of the Mind, Some Type of Skin, and Starvation were co-directed by Kaveh Nabatian and Aurora.

Tour
To promote What Happened to the Heart?, Aurora will embark on her sixth concert tour, titled What Happened to the Earth? Tour between 2024 and 2025. It was announced alongside the album on 28 March 2024. The first leg contains dates in European cities including a concert at the Royal Albert Hall. General sale for the leg started on 5 April 2024; people who pre-ordered the album received an exclusive ticket pre-sale link for two days in advance. The second announced part of the tour, with dates throughout North America, was revealed on Aurora's social media accounts and official website on 14 May 2024. What Happpened to the Earth? Part 3 South American dates were announced on 27 May. The last leg announced of the tour will also pass through Europe in 2025; general tickets went on sale on 12 June 2024.

Critical reception
Upon its release, What Happened to the Heart? was met with critical acclaim.

Lauren Shirreff from The Telegraph wrote that "reckoning with self-destructive feelings of fear, dissociation, and anger, the album is a journey to personal healing", and highlighted the last track, "Invisible Wounds", as a standout." NME critic Andrew Trendell opined that the album is an "epic career-high, throwing up shapes along with reasons to live and to love". For Hot Press, Caroline Kelly wrote that it represents Aurora's "definitive attempt to craft an ecosystem around her work", and described it as "an offering of rhetorical questions and resounding affirmations, with a sweeping sonic palette".

While praising "Earthly Delights" and "When the Dark Dresses Lightly", Stereoboard Will Marshall wrote that What Happened to the Heart? offers "another slate of intense musical arrangements, theatrical vocals and radio-ready hits with her own unique twist". Otis Robinson of DIY ended his review by saying: "Monolithic in nature, the world-building on What Happened to the Heart? makes a bleeding heart – both for self and the earth – appear rapturous and unfathomably healing".

Commercial performance
The album debuted at number five on the Norwegian VG-lista Topp 40 Album with first-week sales of 4,000 units, earning her fourth top five album.

In the United Kingdom, the album debuted at number eight on the UK Albums Chart with 6,100 album-equivalent units, earning her second top ten and being her biggest opening week in the region surpassing her fourth studio album, The Gods We Can Touch.

Personnel
Musicians


 * Aurora – lead vocals (all tracks), backing vocals (tracks 1–5, 7, 16), percussion (4, 8, 9, 13, 14); Mellotron, Mellotron programming (4); piano (5, 9), keyboards (8, 13, 14); synthesizer, drums (11, 12, 15)
 * Matias Tellez – guitar, bass, keyboards, synthesizer, programming (tracks 1, 2, 7, 16)
 * Adam Schoeller – drum programming (track 3)
 * Asher Bank – drums (track 3)
 * Chris Greatti – bass, Juno-106 programming (tracks 3–5); guitar (3, 4), percussion (3), drum programming (4), EBow guitar (5)
 * Liam Hall – Juno-106 (track 3)
 * Kieran Brunt – vocal ensemble conductor (tracks 5, 10, 16)
 * Shards – vocal ensemble (tracks 5, 10, 16)
 * Kane Richotte – drums (track 5)
 * Michelle Leonard – backing vocals (tracks 6, 8, 13, 14), keyboards (8), synthesizer programming (13), synthesizer (14)
 * Nicolas Rebscher – guitar (tracks 6, 8, 13, 14); bass, drum programming, keyboards, percussion (8, 13)
 * Steve Durham – drums (tracks 8, 14)
 * Håkon Aase – fiddle (tracks 9, 11, 12)
 * Vetle Junker – vocals, guitar, drums, programming (track 10)
 * Magnus Skylstad – bass, synthesizer, drums, percussion (tracks 11, 12, 15)
 * Runyu Qian – pipa (track 11)
 * Ane Brun – vocals (track 11)
 * Fredrik Svabø – bass (track 12)
 * Dave Hamelin – keyboards, percussion, drum programming (track 14)
 * Tom Rowlands – synthesizer, drums, drum programming (track 15)

Technical
 * Alex Wharton – mastering
 * Mitch McCarthy – mixing
 * Chris Greatti – recording (tracks 3–5, 13)
 * Nicolas Rebscher – recording (tracks 6, 8, 13, 14)
 * Fredrik Svabø – recording (track 9)
 * Vetle Junker – recording (track 10)
 * Magnus Skylstad – recording (tracks 11, 12, 15)
 * George Chung – drum recording (tracks 8, 14)
 * Kieran Brunt – vocal ensemble recording, vocal ensemble arrangement (tracks 5, 10, 16)
 * Sam Okell – vocal ensemble recording (track 10)
 * Matias Tellez – recording arrangement (tracks 1, 2, 7, 16)
 * Andreas Høvset – recording assistance (tracks 1, 2, 7, 16)

Visuals
 * Yuck – cover art, design
 * Trent van der Werf – additional design
 * Wanda Martin – photography