Following the release of her single “Ideas” earlier this year and recent feature on Jax Jones’ track “i miss u,” Au/Ra has shared her cover of “Moon River,” which is available now via Columbia Records. Listen HERE.
Originally performed by Audrey Hepburn in the 1961 movie Breakfast at Tiffany’s, the song was written by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer and has been covered by the likes of Frank Sinatra, Judy Garland, Louis Armstrong, Frank Ocean and more. Au/Ra has added her unique take on the track, which has a dusky and ethereal edge that is displayed through the visualizer accompanying the track. Watch HERE.
Au/Ra says: “I’ve always loved this song, especially the version sung by Audrey Hepburn in Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and it’s something I’ve always wanted to do my own rendition of. During quarantine I thought ‘why not give it a try?’ It was something I just wanted to do for fun with my dad, but we ended up liking it so much that we wanted to make it an actual release for listeners.”
Ibiza-born and Antigua-raised songwriter Au/Ra explores the challenges of being a modern-day teenager, writing music that touches on the issues today’s younger generation face on a daily basis, such as anxiety, communicating in an always online world and having to always show off your best self. Her single before “Ideas” was “Ghost” with Alan Walker, which was part of the Death Standing soundtrack and has been streamed over 32 million times on Spotify alone. “Panic Room,” her Platinum selling hit, was remixed by CamelPhat and stayed in the Top 40 for 9 weeks, amassing 122M streams on Spotify. She was recently featured on Jax Jones’ single “i miss u,” which she performed alongside him on Little Mix’s show The Search and was playlisted at Radio 1, Capitol and Kiss FM, achieving almost 18M streams so far. Watch a live version of the track HERE.
An undercurrent of most of Au/Ra’s deeply visual and evocative lyrics is a sense of escapism, influenced by her fandom of anime and fantasy. Growing up devouring Studio Ghibli films, she’s always loved to disappear into the soft-edged, uncanny world of Miyazaki animations, and uses similar designs to flesh out the visual world of her music. With her lovingly made outsider-pop, Au/Ra is providing a similar kind of space in her song writing: one where misfits feel at home and where the listener gets to peer for a minute through the lens of an artist who has simultaneously grown up outside the system, but who speaks with the zeitgeist of her generation.
Look out for more new music from Au/Ra coming soon!
