Written by Maria Arroyo
Norwegian artist, Ane Brun, shared her newest video “Trust” from her upcoming album in the fall! I had a chance to ask Brun some questions about herself and her newest song!
“The song ‘Truth’ was always supposed to come out on the day that it was released. So the timing wasn’t planned from the perspective of the pandemic. It is originally a romantic song, but somehow the theme fits so well since we really need a lot of trust to get through this… As I was planning the release I also wanted to have some visuals to present., and as I was isolated in my home I couldn’t get out of the house to produce anything. And I thought, what if I had conversations with my listeners and filmed the experience, and made it into a music video. At first, I thought I would do one-on-one conversations, but then I thought about the video chat rooms that everyone is using right now, and also the fact that so many people are alone now, in their homes all around the world. And I wanted to gather a few of those millions of people in a room where we could share a moment and also listen to ‘Trust’ together, as a pre-listening party. It all turned out even more wonderful than I had imagined, and I love watching the video over and over. It makes me happy and hopeful.”
She also hosted a pre-listening party and opened up a live chat to fans from everywhere to talk about this tough time of uncertainty and isolation. I wanted to hear more about what pushed her to have this conversation with her fans and others.
“I love meeting people, and when I’m on tour, I never have the extra time or energy to do meet and greets with my listeners. This became the perfect opportunity to meet up, and also find some sense of community when many are lonely and bored and perhaps worried about everything that’s going on.”
We all know no one has gone unaffected by the COVID-19 Pandemic, especially those in the music industry.
“Financially, it’s been devastating for many of my colleagues. Tours that would give a whole year income are canceled. Summer festival tours, which are the most important income for many artists, are all canceled.. Marketing events for albums, interviews, release shows… Well, it’s pretty serious. And many musicians don’t have economic safety… “
While Brun is aware of the severity of the situation, she did have some comforting words towards my question “Is there anything to learn from this whole situation?”
“Oh, I think there’s a lot. Books, movies, and music will be created about that.. One thing is that many of us will really see that we’re all in this together… all around the world. If not, we’re in trouble. That is a rare opportunity for us to open our eyes and perhaps find a more universal way of seeing the world as a unity. It might be a naive hopeful thought, but I need to put it out there.
It definitely puts a spotlight on the worth of art and music. If nothing, this crisis has shown how important that is to people. And to take that role seriously, to create something that fills an empty space in people’s lives, that helps us and centers us.”
Brun also shared that she was diagnosed with Lupus at the age of 27, which ultimately led to some complications for her. She made a wonderful recovery in 2013, and has been living a wonderful, healthy life!
As we pretty much have covered anything COVID-19 related, I wanted to shift gears and get down to the creative side of her life instead.
“All my lyrics start with some kind of seed of an idea. Either something about myself or about society or people and relationships around me… but the actual writing of the lyrics then always goes through the filter of me, and my experiences and emotions. I often use lyrics to try to capture an emotion, to figure something out that I’ve been thinking about, to try to wrap an emotional experience into a song…
It was very clear when I wrote the songs for the album that’s coming in the fall, that I had a certain amount of “issues” or “experiences” that I wanted to deal with. And when I had finished the last one, I knew I was done. I had wrapped up that last piece in my mind, and I was content.”
For the purpose of picking her brain, I wanted to know her thoughts on a few hot topics in the music industry. More specifically, if at all, how has the internet impacted the music business?
“I released my first album in 2003, and the internet had just started being a tool for the industry. But when the actual direct revenue from selling music online disappeared with illegal downloads etc, that window closed… Today streaming is the way we consume music in most parts of the world. I’m actually grateful that streaming was introduced. Just before it happened, we saw that illegal downloading became the new normal. I think that if not the streaming technology had been introduced as early as it did, perhaps it would have been hard to figure out how to distribute music in an organized way and to make people pay to listen to music again. Now that we have established this new channel of music, we have to lay our focus on improving the income for the songwriters and the artists who use these platforms.
I see a lot of great aspects to bringing my music online. The more people that hear my music and enjoy it, the better! It’s all a matter of fighting for a righteous system of revenues for the creators. Since musicians throughout history often have been expected to work for free or cheap, even though music is so important to most people.”
As we neared the end of the interview, I asked her what is the best advice that she implements in her own life, and if she has a message for her fans.
My mum once told me that when you enter a stage to play for people, you should focus on ”giving” instead of ”performing”… That also means that you have to trust that you have something to ”give”, which also is a great challenge both as a musician and human, right?
I also want to give a message to my fans that right now, (and always)! Practice kindness, patience, trust, forgiveness, generosity, innovation, creativity.
As always, I like to know what else our artists have in store for us!
“I’m releasing the next track from the upcoming album on the 17th of April, and another track each 3-4th week until the actual album release in the fall. It’s a quite ”ambitious” album. That means we have been working on 16 songs… Many of the songs have a large production, without losing the intimacy and warmth that I always try to keep in my music. It deals with different views on life and the world that I’ve had in the last 3-4 years since releasing my previous album of original songs (When I’m Free 2015)”
Thank you to Ane Brun for sharing your thoughts with us! Go ahead and check out her new video and share your thoughts on these topics with us!
