Considering that 25-year-old Danish songstress Mø was a huge Spice Girls fan growing up and started an electropunk duo called MOR at age 18, her current sound makes perfect sense: catchy indie pop anchored by soaring hooks, bubbling with the chaos and restlessness of youth.
Karen Marie Ørsted has been making music as Mø since 2009, but her earlier recordings are difficult to find (with song titles like “When I Saw His Cock,” it’s not terribly hard to understand why). The project started gaining steam in 2012, when Mø joined forces with producer Ronni Vindahl for the song “Maiden.” By that point, Mø had traded attitude-laden raps for soul-baring lyrics and a delicate, aching croon; as Ørsted herself noted, she was crafting her most honest, vulnerable work to date.
The new direction resonated with listeners, resulting in a deal with Sony Music and collaborations with EDM titan Avicii and club music kingpin Diplo. Her debut album, No Mythologies to Follow, surfaced in February—a pop manifesto that combines Ørsted’s past wanderings into a single lush journey. Live, she summons her punk upbringing to electrifying result, complete with air punches and ponytail whips. She’s got no mythologies to follow, but thankfully, she’s equipped to forge her own way.—Kristen Zwicker