The Innocent
It's the wildest song on the album...
It took me many years to realise the fact about the Moon. Since I was a child I have glanced up on it on dark nights. Its magical light merely showing me the paths through trees in my childhood forest.
I knew that it was spinning. I knew it was orbiting the Earth. But - I didn't know it all happened at the same speed.
Because of this simple fact, I didn't know until my adulthood that we always see the same side of the Moon. It faces us all the way through its orbit - We have never seen its backside…
To me, The Innocent is a song that has hidden itself behind the Moon. Or maybe on its edge. Just so we can get a small glimpse of its existence. Hiding, almost in plain sight? We can easily find it. We know where to look. But Aurora seldom talks about it and has, to my knowledge, only performed it once - and that was a Capella. This was at Paradiso, Amsterdam on the 3rd of September, 2022.
The Innocent - Song facts
“The Innocent” is track number eight* on Aurora’s album “The Gods We Can Touch”. It has never been released as a single, but was born in 2022, January 21, along with the rest of the tracks on this album. (*more on this below)
Aurora did once explain this song to Apple Music:1
It's the wildest song on the album, I think. I imagine all these people dancing naked around a fireplace. That's very innocent. Our bodies are very pure, beautiful things and it's a shame that we've managed to make it something not pure. It's the sexualisation of innocent things that makes the world dangerous.
This sentiment has also been stated, but with other words, on her Spotify Storyline for the song. She said:2
Perfection scares me. Our obsession with it scares me even more. That is why I relate to the greek gods. Because they are flawed. And I love the idea of people worshiping something flawed. We are not perfect. And we never will be. And that is quite wonderful.
Composition and reception
I am not the one to know how to describe musical compositions, but I found a nice summary on Wikipedia. Here, The Innocent is described as “upbeat dance-pop and house song with a Latin rhythm that is accompanied by syncopated chordal piano, brass and pizzicato strings. Its production was described to be "harking back to the 1920s Jazz Age conventions, yet being undercut with a more current EDM feel.”3
So… It’s basically a mix of something old and something new, and something rythmically wild 😊…
While I was writing this song story, I have listened to this song a great number of times. It’s really hardwired into my brain by now. I don’t know if it’s the “1920-Jazz” or the more modern EDM that hits me, but I really enjoy this one. I stumbled upon a review, and it seems to agree with me. It says:4
"The Innocent" provides us with one of the most interesting musical feasts on the album. Vivid strikes against the piano keys, from time to time new instruments appear, then fade away again for a moment. AURORA let her imagination run wild. The chorus immediately stays in your head and for a long time refuses to come out of it.
He’s absolutely right in one thing, though. The line “The Innocent life. The Innocent touch - is never enough - for the ones who loves…” is ringing on repeat in the back of my mind all day now.
OK - Let’s take a peek into the inspiration behind this song.
Inspiration from Greek mythology
Aurora’s album “The Gods We Can Touch” was inspired by Greek mythology. She devoted each song to one god, though “Artemis” was the only one who really got the name in the song title. I’m not going to dive into it all here, but Aurora did a track-by-track walkthrough of most of the songs during a livestream session. About “The Innocent”, she said:5
The Innocent is inspired by one of my favorite gods. I know I've said it already a few times but this one is actually my favorite. The Innocent is inspired by Eros. He was the god of sexual desire and ecstasy, and wildness and dance, and party - and I think it just sounds wonderful.
We know Aurora often talks about peoples right to a life as free individuals. This includes freedom of sexuality. I found a quote in Cronica, a Mexican newspage (I believe?).
They said:6
"The innocent", a song that, through a festive sound, exposes how society has sexualized something as natural as human nudity to the point of making it something frowned upon and even prohibited.
The music is described as the 1920’s jazzy-style, which means a lot of musicians working together, improvising and playing. It’s a style without text or pre-defined notes, just as a dancer without her feet and a lion without its teeth. EDM means, to me: “Easy to dance to”. Like music in a club.
So what do we have? We still have music, and dance. We still have something to fight for - Something to bring into the light: Freedom to be who we are. Just as a lion without teeth is still a lion and a dancer without feets is still a dancer. We are what we are, no matter our flaws.
The Innocent - Track number 8?
Why is “The Innocent” placed as track number eight?
Well… The short answer is: It isn't…
Thanks to Fabrice I got the answer to this question. It turns out that the intro track doesn't count in Aurora’s mind. Track #1 is just an intro, nothing more. She said so in her livestream with AuroraFrance back 2021. If you want to watch the video below, it starts around 9:20. You'll see that a little later she states that the 1st track is not a track. And later, around 15:00, she says that someone in the chat had the correct answer. Unfortunately, we don't see the chat anymore, but Fabrice watched it live, and yes, it was “Exhale Inhale” that is counted as track #8:7
Credits for The Innocent:8
Produced By: Magnus Skylstad & AURORA
Written By: Glen Roberts, AURORA & Magnus Skylstad
Composer: Glen Roberts, Magnus Skylstad & AURORA
Mastering Engineer: Alex Wharton
Guitar: Fredrik Svabø
Synthesizer: Magnus Skylstad
Strings: Magnus Skylstad
Piano: Magnus Skylstad
Drums: Magnus Skylstad
Bass: Magnus Skylstad
Mixing Engineer: Magnus Skylstad
Studio Personnel: Alex Wharton & Magnus Skylstad
Percussion: Glen Roberts & AURORA
Vocals: AURORA
Dont forget:
Community Spotlight
I have stated this before: There are many strange and beautiful words in the world. Words that offer new perspectives on familiar matters. One of those is tributaries. Tributaries are smaller streams or rivers that flow into the main river, and thereby add to its volume.
One such tributary I found while searching for live performances of “The Innocent”. While there wasn’t much to find from Aurora, this guy showed up in the feed. He has made a quite fun version of this song, so I included it below.
Greg McMonagle presents himself thus: Hey everyone! I'm Greg McMonagle. I'm a thirty-something singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist from De Pere, WI and this is where I put my music things.
I found that Greg is on a mission:
Covering Every AURORA Song Until I Get the Chance to Play With Her!
He’s been quite persistent, and has made 39 covers so far. Head over there and cheer him on:
Fabrice’s Corner
With the European tour starting, I guess Fabrice will have his hands full with updating us all on what’s been posted from different venues. She’s grown so big in the world now, and more and more people are added to the Warriors & Weirdos, which means there will be a lot more reactions, interviews and in general more interest - Which means more work for Fabrice.
As a side-project, he is now close to the end of his playlist “AURORA Instruments and Vocals Extractions.” As the name suggests, this is exactly what you’ll find there. You can now listen to her beautiful vocals, or you can try to sing it yourself in the instrumental versions.
You can find the playlist here.
The songs on the playlist are grouped into different album and categories. Going from the top, you’ll find instrumental AND clean vocal versions of the song from:
Early Songs
Other Songs And Versions
All My Demons Greeting Me As A Friend
Infections Of A Different Kind
A Different Kind Of Human
The God We Can Touch
What Happened To The Heart
Final words
OK - You may have noticed that I am a day early? I have changed the day. I write a norwegian newsletter too, with short stories, so I have to spread them apart to not clutter my time. I hope you don’t mind. Thursday should be as good as any other day, I guess 😉.
See you in two weeks.
Have a day 💚
Rune
By the way - Here’s yet a reminder of the app:
Sources
The Aurora Aksnes Wiki. 2022. The Innocent. FanDom. Retrieved 2025, May 5 from https://aurora-aksnes.fandom.com/wiki/The_Innocent
Genius.com. 2022. Aurora - The Innocent Lyrics. Genius. Retrived 2025, May 7 from https://genius.com/Aurora-the-innocent-lyrics
Wikipedia contributors. (n.d.). The Gods We Can Touch. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Retrieved 2025, May 7, from https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gods_We_Can_Touch
Wybieram Kulture. 2022. AURORA, a musical revelation straight from Norway. Retrieved 2025, May 5 from https://wybieramkulture.pl/recenzja-plyty-aurora-na-the-gods-we-can-touch-prezentuje-mistyczne-psychodeliczne-surrealistyczne-brzmienia/
Aurora. DATE. Meaning behind the songs. Livestream uploaded by Kenzo. Retrieved 2025, May 4 from https://youtu.be/Ej0eA-Fp-p8?si=LCdW3tGOYlveyTsa
Citlalli Luna. 2022, Jan 28. AURORA combines celestial and earthly duality in "The gods we can touch". Cronica. Retrieved 2025, May 5 from https://www.cronica.com.mx/escenario/aurora-conjuga-dualidad-celestial-terrenal-the-gods-we-can-touch.html
Aurora. 2021, December 5. Instagram Livestream (ft. aurorafranceoff). Livestream uploaded by Kenzo. Retrieved 2025, May 8 from https://youtu.be/WO1QTzF1uUc?si=FD2b58YBlOY6O4uc
Goodwood, T. 2024, Oct 2010. The Meaning Behind The Song: The Innocent by AURORA. Musician Vages. Retrieved 2025, May 02 from https://www.musicianwages.com/w2/the-meaning-behind-the-song-the-innocent-by-aurora
Very insightful information! Thanks for sharing!
lovely read! inspired me to blast the innocent for the day 🙂↕️