The hugely successful Danish pop phenomenon Mø is best known as a featured artist. Her collaborations with people such as Major Lazer and Justin Bieber have been streamed billions of times. The downside of this ubiquity was burnout, vocal injury and anxiety. A 2019 break to recuperate and course-correct has resulted in an album made in Copenhagen, mostly with Scandinavian women rather than American men: heavyweights such as Noonie Bao (Sweden) and Caroline Ailin (Norway), who co-wrote New Rules with Dua Lipa. Motordrome – Mø’s third LP – refers to the “wall of death” in which a motorcyclist zooms round a circular space, defying gravity: it’s a nod to both the pop hamster wheel and the churning of Mø’s mind.
If that all sounds downbeat, the recent pop era has been rife with uplifting bops about previously poor self-care. Mø’s new-era singles thus far have been earworms – the euphoric Live to Survive, the Ed Sheeran-like Kindness, the more recent electronic ballad Goosebumps. The remainder of Motordrome mostly maintains this hit rate, with New Moon and Wheelspin reiterating themes of renewal after trials. She can’t get away from famous US men, though: Brad Pitt is a song about Mø’s teen crush.
