What Happened to the Heart?

by Aurora Aksnes

"This book contains every thought that came to mind the first time I asked myself the question that became the very seed of my fourth album; “What Happened To The Heart?”. I found myself in a dark place, and as I looked out at the world it seemed to find itself in an even darker place than I. So I searched for light in the only place I know: music. In this book you will find what you may not hear in the music, I hope it touches your soul." - AURORA

In April 2022, AURORA discovered a love letter to Earth, written by indigenous activists from Brazil. The letter was a plea for mankind to "heal the land", "reforest our minds" and celebrate our connection to Mother Nature. The profound impression this letter left on AURORA became the inspiration for her fourth studio album, What Happened to the Heart?

Complete with full album lyrics and striking photography, this beautiful clothbound reproduction of AURORA's personal album notebook gives fans an intimate insight into her creative process and takes readers on a journey through the human body as she seeks the soul of humanity.

Genres: Poetry, Music, Nonfiction, Queer, Art, Memoir

160 pages, Hardcover

Published October 17, 2024

Reviews

[Nathaniel · Rating 5 out of 5]

There are few artists I would buy books from. In fact, AURORA might be the only only one. There's just something so vibrant about her music and the way she lives. I truly believe she's out here existing in the best way possible. The amount of love and care that she spreads through her music is amazing. Plus her songs are literally poems, so reading their lyrics makes this a book of poetry. I love seeing the insight behind different songs on this album. It helps me understand the cohesiveness even more.

What Happened to the Heart is my favourite AURORA album. I fear she may never top it, yet I know whatever she does next is going to be just as life changing. I have seen her live twice now (three times as of December 2nd), and I hope this is only the beginning of all the music she'll create and share with us.

[Igel :)]

I want to read this one so bad! 🥹 I can't wait for the release !

[Elida Gjønnes · Rating 5 out of 5]

I want to live in this woman's brain.

[rich · Rating 5 out of 5]

“I know I belong here on earth
But I long to be lifted up
My heart does not rhyme
The rhythm of my mind
What is life worth living
If I can’t dance to anything?
Night after night
Oh I long to be alright

How I hunger for touch
How could you say that I love too much?
I don’t want to fight
I just want to be alright
What is life worth living.
If you don’t bleed for anything?
Night after night
Oh, I long to be alright” - To be Alright

Aurora has been one of my favorite artists and songwriters for a long time now. Her ability to somehow write about the human experience whilst orchestrating some of the most unique musical arrangements remains unmatched to me. Shes weird, whimsical, passionate, raw, curious, and brilliant… all wrapped up into a “pop” star. So when I saw she had a companion book to this recent album I had to have it. While not exactly a novel, it contains her notes, ideas, and musings while creating the album. As well as each of the songs written out like the poetry they are, accompanied by some unique photography. I sat and listened through the whole album while reading the lyrics and all of her ideas for each of the songs and I have even more appreciation for this body of work and her as an artist as well.

More of this please! I love a little window into the creative process.… can’t wait to see her perform live again.

[Matildemona · Rating 5 out of 5]

As I read this beautiful combination of lyrics, images, illustrations, and thoughts, I also listened to the album for the first time. With a speaker placed on my heart, I quietly read along as the words filled the space and surrounded me. It was a truly precious experience.

The world is a better place with Aurora in it.

[Hanne · Rating 5 out of 5]

"To love, is the greatest honour on earth." ❤️

[roxi reads ִ ࣪ ✩ · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 ✩

‘We called out through the cracks in the ceiling, but found no compassion in the eye of the people looking down at us. We tried to carve open our windows and got pushed down for trying to stand up for ourselves. What happened to the heart?’

[Alicia · Rating 5 out of 5]

My heart is full.

[Agathe Enezian · Rating 5 out of 5]

How wonderful to get into the mind (and heart) of an artist whose texts touch us so deeply.

A privilege to enter Aurora's most intimate space, her heart .

[Eloise Osborne · Rating 4 out of 5]

Love her but especially her drawings! Wow I want them on my wall

[Joel Straw · Rating 5 out of 5]

5/5 🌟
Just nerded out and finished it in one sitting 🪑.
So so fascinating seeing how one of my favourite albums of all time came together and the Level of care Aurora puts into everything.
Inspiring stuff and an incredible read if you’re a fan.

Bring on Saturday.

[Kristel Macías · Rating 5 out of 5]

"I can't heal you, and you can't heal me
Even if we wanted to..."


🫀🌊🔥

[Nelson Santiago · Rating 5 out of 5]

Always a pleasure to get to know this magical human being a little bit better, this one felt very personal, so thank you for sharing this with the world 🫀🦷⚔️

[Natalija Malbašić · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aurora je jedno predivno biće… duša… i istinska umjetnica. Negdje sam nekad pročitala da umjetnici imaju moć promijeniti svijet i stvarno vjerujem u to.
Iskrena preporuka da poslušate njezinu glazbu.
Pjesma Starvation je takvo remekdjelo…
Pisala je bilješke tijekom stvaranja albuma What happened to the heart i podijelila ih u ovoj knjizi. Imam osjećaj da je na ovaj način podijelila extra djelić svoje duše i hvala joj na tome. Prelila je predivan dio na sve koji pročitaju.
Aurora i Stromae bi trebali neku suradnju ♥️

[Moon · Rating 5 out of 5]

"What happened to the heart?
It's the most important,beautiful, sad question I've ever wondered in my life."

[Pastelsparkles · Rating 5 out of 5]

Reading this book has given me so much motivation to create. I love seeing the process of a great mind make something powerful and emotional.

I loved the concept of this album and I think the exploration of what the heart is and how we talk about it was really interesting and moving. I hope that we continue to see journals like this for upcoming albums because they are an invaluable resource for understanding and creativity.

[Iza ⋆.ೃ࿔*:･ · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a gorgeous view into the beautiful process of her creativity and emotion. This book has only made me fall more in love with Aurora. What a wonderful message also.

[Korrie Collins · Rating 5 out of 5]

Aurora, you beautiful earthling, what a delight it is to live in the same time period as you. Your lyricism is so poetic, the work of a true artist. Your brave act of vulnerability in these songs, and in this journal, is what heals us all, to know we are not alone in our pain, our questioning, our shared anger. “To love, is the greatest honor on earth” and what an honor it is to love your work. Thank you for gifting this world your words, when it is in need of it most ❤️

[Helena Davidson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Being able to understand Aurora’s journey and thought process when writing this album was deeply touching and made me love her music even more. 🫀💙

[Roberta · Rating 5 out of 5]

The Joy and Pain of Being Human

I may be biased due to my strong hyper-fixation on AURORA over the past few years, but anything that moves my heart this deeply deserves praise. I felt a profound connection to AURORA’s last album, What Happened to the Heart, and I didn’t think I could be moved any further—but this book proved me wrong.

The book offers a wonderful glimpse into AURORA’s personal thoughts, presented in a way that feels deeply intimate and authentic. It brings the reader even closer to her, as though the music alone wasn’t enough. It’s a reflection on the joy and pain of being human, a dive into the beautiful and horrible facets that humanity holds.

For me, AURORA touched very specific fibers of my being—fibers that needed to be felt, comforted, and acknowledged. Her work made me cry and celebrate all at once.

For that, I am truly grateful.

[Willow · Rating 5 out of 5]

love love love aurora and this book has some amazing insight from the creation and production of whtth !

[Tayler K · Rating 5 out of 5]

I started 2024 with Aurora's album journal for The Gods We Can Touch and I'm so pleased to start 2025 doing the same with What Happened to the Heart?.

There was so much beautiful artwork in here; I'd love to get a book one day that's just dozens to hundreds of Aurora sketches and drawings and paintings! If any fans are looking for tattoo ideas, there's some great options in here (if that's okay with her, I'm not sure).

The 2-page spread where she storyboarded out the music video for Starvation was really cool to see.

I love that there was a shout-out to cats. I'm pleased as punch that Aurora and Sigrid and Dodie have all turned out to be cat lovers lol.

One of the first photos in the book is Aurora taking a photo of the silver heart. Then one of the last photos is that photo she took with her reflection showing in the heart. Very nice.

I feel like there was something else I wanted to say.... If I remember what it was, I'll update.

Let's go out and find The Heart again, warriors! Be the heart!

[Brenna TeKippe · Rating 5 out of 5]

Oh my gosh.
I have at least 7 sticky notes of quotes and thoughts on this book alone, but I think the one that sums this up best is “We were somehow all here together, yet alone.”

As someone who has listened to this album in its entirety dozens of times, listening to it while seeing the process was really intriguing. I’ve learned new meanings to my favorite songs and fallen in love with other ones again.

Aurora perfectly makes you feel empowered by the end of the book by taking you through the journey of apathy in our current world. She makes the concepts understandable, and just straight up makes you want to be a better human. (Also she writes in poem format even when not writing poems, which I find so fitting because everything she says is so poetic anyway.)

If there’s anything I want more of, it’s this but for the deluxe tracks! I would love to know the stories behind “The Weight of Missing” or “The Flood”. ❤️❤️

Anyway, probably going to go rewatch every interview and documentary with Aurora…

[Eirene✧˚° · Rating 5 out of 5]

I admit i put this book down a few times, for a few hours, to cry. Aurora writes so beautifully and phrases many important truths that we need to acknowledge.

I finally feel seen. After years of struggling and trying to find my way back into life, Aurora has left me speechless. She understands how it is, how she phrases it, sings it, it is gorgeous.

And she made me very emotional. I am just one little earthling here, trying to survive this informational revolution. Trying to help the world, but i am so very small. And the world is so very big. But Aurora showed me that we can be strong and that we CAN help each other. We're not on the right path right now, but there is still time left, hope.

But most of all she made me wonder a very important question.

What Happened to the Heart?

🫀

[Étienne Baudoin · Rating 5 out of 5]

Après avoir été très touché et ému par son dernier album, je savais que ce livre - une reproduction du carnet dans lequel elle écrivait pendant l'écriture de l'album - serait tout aussi beau, émouvant, parfois dur mais si nécessaire et complémentaire à l'album. On découvre ici les réflexions et états d'esprit de la chanteuse avec une vulnérabilité et sincérité touchante.
C'est un plaisir d'avoir accès à cette partie de son travail et de pouvoir plonger un peu plus dans son univers magique ✨💙

[Tereza Cermakova · Rating 5 out of 5]

ugh, Aurora is such a beautiful, kind soul... pure pleassure, reading this book and these lyrics and these thoughts.. very moving as well. ahhh full of inspiration. pohlazení po duši, as we would say here, hehe...
That being said, it also deals with such hard and cruel things, this book and her lyrics. i truly admire her for speaking up for the nature and humans as well. against violence. speaking up for love and for the heart. idk what else to say,... i'm too emotional now.

[Lauren · Rating 3 out of 5]

While the written content was anemic (ironic for a book focused around the heart), the art and photography were lovely. It desperately needed a bibliography for the copy pasted imagery and text included in the book.

Easily read in a day, enjoyable enough, though most of the profound content were quoted from other works or individuals.

[michis_entre_libros · Rating 5 out of 5]

5 hearts out of 5

I read this book a week after I assist to her concert, which allowed me to understand a little bit more her version of this album and this book. With a pleasant design, Aurora exposes a deep dive into her process, as she expresses some of her thoughts, feelings and ideas.

I recommend this book and her other book "The gods we can touch" and also both albums.

[Han · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a beautifully made book to accompany the ‘What Happened To The Heart?’ album. It felt very personal and expressive, something which is evident in Aurora’s words, lyrics, drawings and music videos all. It was a journey to read this book on its own, but even better to do so while listening to the album. I will treasure this forever.

[Dorthe Svendsen · Rating 5 out of 5]

Enda en fantastisk bok. Tror kanskje den forrige var min favoritt, da tekstene der snakket mer direkte til meg. I dette albummet snakker det musisiske mer til meg, og det er digg på en annen måte. Digger det å lytte, analysere og få lov til å lese samtidig. Håper flere artister vurderer å skrive slike bøker fremover. Anbefales virkelig!!