Early life Karen Marie Aagaard Ørsted Andersen and she grew up in
Ejlstrup on the island of
Funen, Denmark. Her father, Frans Ørsted, is a psychologist, As a teenager, she became interested in
punk music and
anti-fascist movements, listening to
Black Flag,
Nirvana,
Smashing Pumpkins,
Yeah Yeah Yeahs and especially
Sonic Youth, saying she looked up to
Kim Gordon as a "big hero and role model".
2006–2012: Side projects and MOR In 2006, MØ released an EP,
The Edmunds, which was composed of three songs. She also released several other side projects during 2008–10, including
A Piece of Music to Fuck to and
The Rarities. MØ and her friend, Josefine Struckmann Pedersen, formed duo MOR in 2007. They released two EPs,
Fisse I Dit Fjæs (
Pussy in Your Face) and
Vanvidstimer (
Madness Hours), in 2009 and 2011, respectively. MOR disbanded on 7 September 2012, for personal reasons.
2012–2015: No Mythologies to Follow and collaborations In 2012, MØ began creating
a cappella pop songs and collaborating with producer
Ronni Vindahl. On 14 January 2013, MØ released her debut single, "Glass". On 15 March, she released "
Pilgrim" with the
B-side track, "Maiden". "Pilgrim" was recognised as P3s Uundgåelige (P3 Unavoidable), a label given to rising artists by Danish radio station
DR P3, and it peaked at number eleven on the
Danish Singles Chart. On 27 March, she performed live on television at the Danish P3 Guld Awards. On 7 June, she released the single "Waste of Time". On 18 August, it was confirmed through producer and DJ
Avicii's manager Ash Pournouri that MØ had co-written and provided vocals on a track called "Dear Boy", which was later featured on Avicii's debut album,
True. On 30 August, she released the single "
XXX 88". MØ's debut extended play,
Bikini Daze, was released on 18 October. In October, she supported
AlunaGeorge on UK tour dates. The single "
Don't Wanna Dance" debuted on
BBC Radio 1 on 16 January 2014 as
Zane Lowe's Hottest Record. On 7 March, MØ's debut studio album,
No Mythologies to Follow, was released. It received a Metascore of 77 out of 100 on the review aggregate site
Metacritic, indicating "generally favorable" reviews. Music blog
Pretty Much Amazing called the album "complex and euphoric", while
The Guardian noted that "what MØ lacks in originality, she makes up for with warlike ardour". The record debuted at number 58 on the
UK Albums Chart, selling 1,438 copies in its first week. MØ began touring in Europe and the United States in support of the album, ending in June. On 2 June, she made her US television debut on
Jimmy Kimmel Live!, where she performed "Don't Wanna Dance" and "Pilgrim". "
Walk This Way" was released on 16 June as a single from
No Mythologies to Follow. On 23 June, MØ announced additional United States and Canadian tour dates beginning in September. In November, she won four awards at the
Danish Music Awards: Danish Album of the Year, Danish Solo Artist of the Year, Danish Breakthrough Artist of the Year and Danish Music Video of the Year. In October, MØ was featured on Australian rapper
Iggy Azalea's song "
Beg for It", released as the lead single from Azalea's reissue album,
Reclassified. They performed the song for the first time on
Saturday Night Live on 25 October. MØ was also featured on
Elliphant's "
One More", which was officially released as a single on 22 September; the official music video was released a day later, 23 September. MØ also co-wrote the song "
All My Love" by
Major Lazer, featuring vocals from American singer and songwriter
Ariana Grande. She also co-wrote and provided vocals for another Major Lazer song, "
Lean On" with
DJ Snake, released in March 2015. It topped the charts globally in MØ's native Denmark, Australia, Finland, Iceland, and the Netherlands, while reaching the top five in several countries, including France, Germany, Sweden, the United Kingdom and the United States. According to the
IFPI, "Lean On" was the fifth best-selling song of 2015 worldwide, and one of the
best-selling singles of all time, with global sales of 13.1 million.
Spotify named it as the most streamed song of all time, and has over one billion streams globally as of June 2017. The music video for "Lean On" premiered on 30 April 2015, and became a
viral success with over 2.5 billion views on
YouTube, making it the
32nd most viewed video on the site.
2015–2017: When I Was Young EP, and more collaborations On 1 October 2015, it was announced that the first single from MØ's upcoming second studio album, "
Kamikaze", produced by
Diplo, would be released on 15 October 2015. On 14 October, the single made its world premiere on a BBC Radio 1 segment hosted by
Annie Mac before the studio version was released the following day. "Kamikaze" charted in Denmark, the United Kingdom, Australia and Belgium. On 13 May 2016, "
Final Song", the second single from MØ's second album, was released and also made its world premiere on the same radio segment hosted by Mac. The song was co-written with Swedish singer
Noonie Bao and English singer
MNEK. It became MØ's first top 40 single as a lead artist in the United Kingdom, with the song reaching number 14 on the
UK Singles Chart. On 22 July, Major Lazer released the single "
Cold Water" which features Canadian singer
Justin Bieber and MØ. In the United States, "Cold Water" debuted at number two on the
Billboard Hot 100, becoming MØ's second top 10 and her third top 40 single. It is also her highest-charting single in the United States, and she is the highest-charting Danish act along with
Jørgen Ingmann ("
Apache"). In the United Kingdom, "Cold Water" debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart; it is the first time two Danish acts have reached number one in the same year, with the other being
Lukas Graham's song, "
7 Years". On 17 September, MØ announced the release of her new track, titled "
Drum"; it had made special appearances in previous concerts and shows. The song was produced by American producer
Bloodpop also co-written by English singer
Charli XCX, alongside Noonie Bao. In October, the song's official audio was released. On 6 January 2017, English electronic duo
Snakehips premiered their new track, "
Don't Leave", which features vocals from MØ. Its lyric video was released on the same day. On 10 March, she was featured on Charli XCX's "3AM (Pull Up)", taken from her mixtape,
Number 1 Angel. MØ was also featured alongside
Sophie on the song "
9 (After Coachella)" by
Cashmere Cat, the fifth single from his debut album,
9. "
Nights with You", the third single from the singer's then-upcoming second studio album, was released on 21 April, after premiering on
MistaJam's BBC Radio 1 show at the previous day. On 26 October, MØ released her second extended play, titled
When I Was Young, as a
surprise release. It is composed of the songs that MØ wrote over the course of four years since the release of
No Mythologies to Follow. On 30 October, she announced a co-headlining North American tour with Cashmere Cat, the Meøw Tour, in support of the EP; it took place from January to April 2018. In 2017, MØ co-wrote and provided vocals on Diplo's song "
Get It Right", for the album
Major Lazer Presents: Give Me Future. They both also performed the song on
The Jimmy Fallon Show with an appearance from
GoldLink.
2018–2020: Forever Neverland, and more collaborations In 2018, MØ collaborated with producer
Jack Antonoff to provide vocals for the
Love, Simon soundtrack with the song "Never Fall in Love". She also collaborated with
Noah Cyrus on the song "We Are...", and was featured on
Alma's
Heavy Rules Mixtape with the song "Dance for Me". On 19 October 2018, Her second studio album,
Forever Neverland was released by
Columbia Records. The album was preceded by four singles: "
Sun in Our Eyes" featuring Diplo, "
Way Down", "
Imaginary Friend", and "
Blur". The album also features collaborations with Charli XCX,
What So Not,
Two Feet and
Empress Of. It was revealed that other singles, "Kamikaze", "Final Song" and "Nights with You", would only be available on the Japanese edition of the album. In 2019, MØ performed her single "Blur" on
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. She co-wrote and provided vocals to "Theme Song (I'm Far Away)" for
Moominvalley. She was the support act for
Panic! at the Disco's tour across the United Kingdom. MØ performed at 2019's
Glastonbury Festival and
Roskilde Festival. In October 2019, she released her debut mixtape,
MMMMØ - The Mix. MØ released her single "On & On" on 31 October 2019.
2021–2023: Motordrome On 28 January 2022, MØ's third studio album,
Motordrome, was released via
Sony Music UK. The album was supported by 4 singles: "
Live to Survive", "
Kindness", and the double singles, "
Brad Pitt" and "
Goosebumps". On the day of the album's release, the music video for "New Moon" appeared on MØ's YouTube channel. In late February 2022, MØ went on tour to promote
Motordrome across North America and Europe, opened for
Imagine Dragons's tour
Mercury World Tour in North America and played summer festivals in the Europe among others on Tinderbox,
Mad Cool Festival and
Way Out West Festival. On 17 June 2022, MØ released "True Romance" as the first single from extended edition of
Motordrome. On 29 June, she appeared in a
Gryffin's song "Reckless". On 12 August, MØ released extended edition of the album, titled
Motordrome - Dødsdrom Edition. On the day of the release of it, a music video for "Spaceman" was released on MØ's YouTube channel. On November, MØ performed at
Corona Capital on
Mexico City as her last announced show in 2022. On 11 August 2023, MØ released her next single "Attack of the Ghost Riders", a cover of
the Raveonettes. On 20 September 2023, MØ and Fryd Frydendahl published their book titled
Racing – Circles of doubt, Squares of light.
2024–present: 10th anniversary of No Mythologies to Follow and Plæygirl On 23 January 2024, MØ announced that she was on the occasion of the 10th anniversary of
No Mythologies to Follow and would release an extended version of the album. On 26 January, a single titled "Fake Chanel", which was scrapped from
No Mythologies to Follow, was released. The single was later added to the tenth year anniversary edition of the album, which also includes three unreleased songs: "Bad Luck", "Anti Hero" and "Daydreams (Night Version)". On 15 and 16 March, MØ played a concert at Vega in Copenhagen to celebrate its 10th anniversary of the release. Its Ronni Vindahl edit and Sassy 009 remix were released on 22 November 2024. MØ released her cover of "
Wake Me Up" by Avicii and
Aloe Blacc on 6 December, as a homage to Avicii's legacy; it was also served with an accompanying visualiser. On 28 January 2025, she released her next single "
Sweet", featuring Irish musician
Biig Piig, announcing release of her fourth studio album
Plæygirl, which would be released on 16 May. She unveiled three more singles from the album, "
Keep Moving" (21 March 2025), "
Lose Yourself" (2 May 2025) and "Heartbreak" (15 May 2025). In 2026, MØ released a double single, "Hunnybån" and "Fine Curls". Prior to their release, she stated that she would temporarily step back from touring and live performances in order to prioritise her mental health and work on new music. ==Artistry==