{"id":425153,"date":"2026-05-04T17:54:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-04T17:54:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/425153\/"},"modified":"2026-05-04T17:54:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-04T17:54:15","slug":"from-black-metal-to-eurovision-an-audience-with-myrkur","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/425153\/","title":{"rendered":"From black metal to Eurovision: an audience with Myrkur"},"content":{"rendered":"

Myrkur<\/a>‘s come a long way from her black metal<\/a> roots. This year, the Danish songwriter \u2013 real name Amalie Bruun \u2013 threw her hat in the ring to represent her country at Eurovision. But while Touch My Love And Die wasn\u2019t selected \u2013 always next year, eh? \u2013 she has got plenty to keep her occupied, including working on a follow-up to 2023\u2019s Spine.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, Myrkur answers your questions on King Diamond and her former skills in\u2026 astral projection?<\/p>\n

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\"A\n<\/p>\n

Will there be a Folkesange II?
Andy Edwards, Facebook<\/p>\n

Article continues below <\/p>\n

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\u201cThe short answer is yes. Will it be like part two of a movie? No, it will have its own identity. But absolutely, I already have that album [written].\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s the story behind playing Jenny in The Lonely Island\u2019s Jack Sparrow music video? Lawlessness666, Instagram<\/p>\n

\u201cI lived in New York when I was younger, and I somehow got a job at a photo agency with no experience. I was just an assistant to the agents. They had rented some of the office out to some Saturday Night Live writers.<\/p>\n

And one SNL writer in the office looked at me while I was emptying the trash and said, \u2018Do you want to come to Coney Island tomorrow and play Jenny, because you kind of look like that woman from Forrest Gump?\u2019 I was like, \u2018What?\u2019 So I got picked up the next day. I think I got $100 to do the job, and it was a full day with Michael Bolton for that. I\u2019m featured in literally a split second, but that\u2019s how it is, right?\u201d<\/p>\n

Sign up below to get the latest from Metal Hammer, plus exclusive special offers, direct to your inbox!<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your Tetris high score?
Daniel Clark, Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say around 350,000 on Game Boy!\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favourite Nordic tradition?
Daniel Poobalan, Facebook<\/p>\n

What to read next<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is not a specifically Nordic tradition, but I do love how we celebrate Midsummer. It is the celebration of the change of the seasons. We call it Sankt Hans Aften [Saint John\u2019s Eve] because it\u2019s been Christianised, but it\u2019s very ingrained in pagan beliefs and also it\u2019s so deep in Nordic people\u2019s culture and our blood, because we have very different seasons, and it affects life very deeply.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hammer: How do you celebrate it?<\/p>\n

\u201cI could sit here and mention all kinds of pagan rituals and burnings, but really, for the normal Danish family, we will go to the beach where there\u2019s a very big bonfire. When it gets a little darker they light it, and we sing old fatherland songs about how we love this country, how we love the beautiful summer, and all the different aspects of the year and what nature brings. We say cheers \u2013 sk\u00e5l \u2013 and have a little party. Now that I\u2019m a mom, it\u2019s something that I just couldn\u2019t wait to bring my son, Otto, to.\u201d<\/p>\n

My five-year-old son and King Diamond had a really nice little friendship.<\/p>\n

Myrkur<\/p>\n

You recently requested (from fans) a number of 1980s\/nostalgic film soundtracks to listen to. Which were you most drawn to?
Matthew Krafthefer, Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cI asked for help to find them on vinyl because I finally got a vinyl player again, so I got obsessed with finding these physical things now to get away from screens. I managed to get The Dark Crystal, I\u2019ve got 1986\u2019s Troll. That was a harder one to find, and the soundtrack is completely bonkers. I also got Vangelis\u2019s Opera Sauvage and Blade Runner.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hammer: What\u2019s the best film you\u2019ve seen lately?<\/p>\n

\u201cA recent one that I have been obsessed with is a three-hour-long musical\/ Bollywood film called Dilwale Dulhania Le Jayenge – listed as DDLJ on Netflix. Apparently it\u2019s the biggest film in India ever. The performances of specifically the two main characters are some of the most incredible things I\u2019ve ever seen. It\u2019s almost like spell casting.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s your favourite film ever?
Charlotte Eve, Email<\/p>\n

\u201cThe cartoon Valhalla from 1986. It\u2019s probably the film I\u2019ve seen the most in my life. It\u2019s by Danish artist Peter Madsen. It has been dubbed in other languages, but the soundtrack, again, is on the level of The Dark Crystal. Fantastic soundtrack.\u201d<\/p>\n

What was your favourite part about getting to tour with King Diamond?
Reagan Wehrman, Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was between actually being onstage and singing with him, because we often sang in unison. Also I brought my son – who was five years old then – on the tour a lot. He was on the tour bus with us. He and King had a really nice little friendship, because he loves his music. For the Halloween show in Brooklyn, he got my son out onstage to present the song Halloween, which he loves. He came out in his little skeleton costume and introduced the band!\u201d<\/p>\n

MYRKUR – Touch My Love and Die (Official Music Video) – YouTube
\n\"MYRKUR<\/p>\n

Watch On <\/a><\/p>\n

What shampoo and conditioner do you use?
Paul Gibson, Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cI can happily tell you at the moment, I\u2019m using my husband\u2019s body wash as my shampoo! He bought it from the health store, so there\u2019s plants in it, and barely anything else. It\u2019s amazing.\u201d<\/p>\n

What\u2019s been your favourite gift you\u2019ve received from a fan?
Jimi McAmhaidh, Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cOne fan carved a little wooden wizard woman, in Norse known as a v\u00f6lva. Another made an oxidized silver necklace with a purple crystal in it that I wear a lot. I have a really nice little wooden box I keep my jewellery in too. Very creative stuff, and I keep all of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

What are your motivations for representing Denmark at the Eurovision Song Contest?
Xavier Baesens, Facebook <\/p>\n

\u201cWell, I think I could boil it down to: I want to do this for my country, and also a little bit for my father, who passed away. He was a songwriter, and he wrote a very important song, which is the football anthem. In my opinion, nothing has gathered the country together as much as that song. I don\u2019t think my song can do that, but I guess I was drawn to representing him and my country in the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hammer: What\u2019s been your favourite historical Eurovision performance?<\/p>\n

\u201cThere was a song that won in the 60s in Denmark that I still really like, called Dansevise. It\u2019s one of the three or four times Denmark has won. But that song is beautiful. It doesn\u2019t sound like a Eurovision song or anything.\u201d<\/p>\n

When I was a kid I could quite literally zone out and levitate in my own head.<\/p>\n

Myrkur<\/p>\n

How far does your herding call carry outdoors? Does it depend on the terrain?
Ian Bellard, Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, 100%. I was just in Norway filming the music video for Touch My Love And Die, and we were on top of a mountain. We could not drive in a car there. So I got picked up at night, and on snow scooters we went 30-40 minutes up in the darkness to this closed-down hotel and stayed there for days. I was like, \u2018Oh, I\u2019m gonna do some kulning [an ancient Scandinavian vocal technique used to summon livestock] up here!\u2019<\/p>\n

But because there\u2019s so much snow, it\u2019s just a blanket. It was completely like insulation, so there was no sound and my kulning died. So if I had stood on a mountain with a valley, maybe something on the other side, some grass, whatever, then it could carry. But it\u2019s hard to say how far it can go, other than \u2018really far\u2019. It\u2019s like an arrow.\u201d<\/p>\n

Do you like turtles?
Larue Joseph, Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cI had four growing up. They were, of course, named after the characters of the Ninja Turtles. We had little races with them. I adore turtles. I wish I could have one now.”<\/p>\n

When you feel homesick for a place that doesn\u2019t exist, where does your soul reach out to?
Rune Valdemarsen, Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cI think childhood. When I was a kid I could quite literally zone out and levitate in my own head. It\u2019s very weird, but I\u2019d be completely detached and almost look down on the world, not in my body. And I lost that ability. But I can recall where I would go, and I think childhood is when you have access to these places, because your mind is wide open in those years. You don\u2019t know what it is you\u2019re looking for, maybe home or something.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hammer: Are you talking about astral projection?<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t know what it was and in a way, I don\u2019t want to know. I could just sit down and look into something until I disappear from this realm. It\u2019s similar to when you\u2019re asleep and you have lucid dreaming. I could induce that in my wake state. It was pretty awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

Are you a spiritual person and if yes, how do you integrate it in your day?
Schmarthur Schmooner, Facebook<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d say I\u2019m a highly spiritual person. But I rarely talk about it because I don\u2019t like the word religion so much. My entire day is spiritual. I still have to do meetings, emails and boring things, but I think a lot about astrology in the bigger sense, where the planets are, what the moon is doing, and I plan a little bit around that. Older myths, like Norseology, can be quite useful in studying and understanding human life, challenges, the planet, nature and everything that\u2019s connected.\u201d<\/p>\n

Touch My Love And Die is out now via Relapse<\/p>\n

Jack Sparrow – SNL Digital Short – YouTube
\n\"Jack<\/p>\n

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