From dance-pop Wunderkind to the soon-to-be queen of electronica, MØ beckons in a freer, easier, and even more impressive era with her brand new single ‘Who Said’. Read our latest Dork Mixtape cover feature.
Words: Ciaran Picker.
Nostalgia is having a moment right now. We’re all yearning for a time when the world wasn’t burning, when Elon Musk hadn’t bought Twitter, or when a Freddo was only 10p. Let’s be honest, though; it’s not getting us anywhere. It’s time to leave Total Wipeout and Top of the Pops in the past and get on with our lives.
If there were ever an artist to underscore the joy that can be found in embracing the present and eagerly anticipating the future, then it’s Danish electronic superstar MØ, who’s back with her bop of a brand new single, ‘Who Said’. An ode to youthful sass and swagger, ‘Who Said’ is the independence anthem that we all need to hear, re-establishing healthy relationships and putting yourself first, set over a sumptuous, sunny soundscape. A punchy opening to this new era in her career, MØ is understandably beaming with pride at this single, one that’s been a long time coming.
“It’s so fun!” she grins. “I’ve always loved this song. I wrote the chorus about ten years ago on this old loop machine, but it never really fit anywhere, so it ended up on the shelf. I was getting into a new relationship, and it was me saying, ‘Don’t fuck with me, don’t think you own me, I’m gonna do what I wanna do’.”
There’s no doubt that the 24-year-old who first wrote the ballsy, unapologetic chorus exists in spades across this newest phase, nowhere more clearly than in ‘Who Said’, taking a decade-old idea and revamping it to combine a bouncy mid-2010s dance-pop sound with the more grounded, earthy tones that thread together her upcoming unreleased tracks.
When it came to creating her new sound, MØ was quick to turn to American super-producer Nick Sylvester, keen to utilise his experience to create the deeper, more diverse sound that the modern electronic scene craves.
“When I first met Nick, I played him the [‘Who Said’] demo, and he loved it, I was like, ‘Yes! We finally get to use this!’ Once we decided we were definitely going to work on it, it came together really quickly; it felt super wholesome.”
She continues: “Then we decided on singles, and it just felt right that this one would come first because it’s been ten years since my debut album, ‘No Mythologies To Follow’, and I wrote this at the same sort of time as that record. I think the sound’s representative of what’s coming next, but it also goes back and references the start – it’s all pretty wholesome!”
In many ways, MØ has grown up and developed at the same pace as the scene that surrounds her, coming from the clean, fun sound of 2010s dance-pop and into the grimier, grittier rave culture that has worked its way back to prominence, combining high-intensity 90s house with a more modern determination to splice together genres, styles, and even cultures.
“It came together really quickly; it felt super wholesome”
“I was really excited to work with someone who had that gritty, indie-pop experience that was still within the electronic scene. He started his career interning for James Murphy from LCD Soundsystem; it’s electronic, but it’s still a dirty, New York City band vibe. I’m much more focused on chords and placing emphasis on melodies, which I think is quite a Scandinavian thing, so I was just super intrigued to see how they mixed.”
Much of the work for the record was done in intensive sessions split between MØ’s native Copenhagen and Nick Sylvester’s Los Angeles home, with the pair bringing in collaborators ranging from songwriters Clementine Douglas and Madison Love to arguably the producer of the moment, The Dare. Collaboration has always been something that MØ has relished, working with such names in the past as Charli xcx, but this new record is still very much her baby, one that she has poured more of her soul into than any of her previous work.
“I think this record felt much more involved,” she reminisces, “because I made my last record, ‘Motordrome’, during Covid, and the one before that, ‘Forever Neverland’, I was on tour for most of it, so they were both quite isolating experiences. This record definitely feels more like ‘I created this’, because even when we brought people in, we already had fragments of songs ready.”
In many respects, it’s difficult to get two genres as different as American electronica and Scandi-pop, one so focused on enclosed urban industrialism while the other is forged in the more rural magic of northern Europe’s open air. Nonetheless, MØ blends the two together as if they were borne of the same roots, with other tracks on the record combining the “fantastical universe-building” of MØ’s beloved The Knife, with the edgy catharsis of sweaty warehouses and underground raves.
Whether in the form of Fred again..-esque high-intensity EDM, borderline metalcore screams, or even brat-adjacent soul-shuddering bass, MØ is far from the clean and crisp pop starlet that she could have become when super-fame came knocking.
In a commercial sense, most people in the UK were first introduced to MØ through Major Lazer’s infectious dance-pop hit ‘Lean On’ in 2015, a track that has since gone 4x platinum in the UK. Coming just one year after her debut album, it was success that she’d never experienced before, bringing her into the broad umbrella of commercial pop music, a scene that very much knows what it likes and likes what it knows.
“To be handed that level of success is so overwhelming, it’s obviously a huge privilege, but it’s also a massive burden. I definitely had the feeling that people then only expected [that sound] from me, but I think I also began to expect it from myself because I could only see myself through the lens of ‘Lean On’. It was really confusing.”
“Seeing the freedom of others makes me feel more courageous”
In spite of this, it’s a moment that MØ wouldn’t change for the world, one that winds its way into this newest chapter of her career. “This album definitely has a reference to that song and to that electronic pop music vibe. I really love [‘Lean On’]. I know that some people have a hit track, and they hate it, but I am very proud of that song, and I wanted to bring that with me.”
2024 marks the 10th anniversary of MØ’s debut album, and she has used every ounce of her experience in the industry to shape the exact sound that she wants for this newest record, and in exactly the way that she needed.
“It was important that this album process was enjoyable and on my own terms. I know that begs the question, ‘Were the other ones not enjoyable?’ but when I first started making music, it was a really steep learning curve to understand that I’m allowed to set the frame of how I want to work.”
She continues, “I grew up in a house where being a musician wasn’t a normal choice; my parents are supportive but they’re school teachers, so it’s not like it was a natural progression to become an artist. I felt like I had to prove myself by doing it the way you’re supposed to do it because I was so grateful for the opportunity. I felt like I needed to try to do it by the book, but actually, I’m the one who’s writing the book, so I’m allowed to figure out what I want to do.”
It may have taken ten years to get here, but this newfound liberation has manifested itself in a record that broadens MØ’s horizons and creates a soundscape that represents not only her own personal growth, but also the expanding boundaries of dance music.
“It’s unbelievably exciting to be in a scene where there’s a movement that’s actively washing out borders of what pop and electronic music is, and it’s funny that it’s coming at the same time as I set myself free of all these pretended restraints that there have been on me. It’s like the external world matches my inner world; seeing the freedom of others makes me feel more courageous, and I’m so happy that I’m creating from a freer and more fun place.”
At 34, MØ appears to be breathing more easily than at any point in her career so far, realising that the key to longevity is to put your own sanity first, a theme which unites all of this newest record.
“They come at it from different angles, but really all of the songs are about me saying, ‘This is who I am; this is what’s important’. ‘Who Said’ started as a song about a new relationship, but now it’s much more about my relationship with myself and what I want on a more universal level. I think I lost touch of maintaining my own soul when I first started; I had this ‘grind or get off the train’ attitude that I totally don’t believe in now.”
This process of self-discovery and decisiveness is at the core of MØ’s newest era, bringing out themes and ideas from her previous album in a more forthright way. “‘Motordrome’ was the start of this journey of looking after myself,” she recalls, “so it was made up of a lot of anger and frustration, but this record is more about knowing you’re good enough and not taking the lows too hard.”
Standing on the cliff edge, waiting to dive into this newest pool of opportunity, we find MØ at arguably the pinnacle of her career. ‘Who Said’ is only the appetiser, with the coming record a smorgasbord of hits that underline her importance to electronic music, refusing to stand still and accept the labels that she was given all those years ago.
Her parting thought is a timely reminder that, in amongst all the external noise, the music is the most important piece of the puzzle: “I hope that in the process of putting this music out, I remember that I love these songs and that I need to balance my work and my private life. I just want to make the most of this career because I’m so fucking lucky.” ■
Leave a Reply