For the uninitiated, MØ is a Danish electropop star. Here name is both an acronym for her middle and last names, Marie Ørsted, and Danish slang for “virgin.” She has a Madonna-like tendency toward sexual provocation, a sound not unlike critical darling Grimes, Miley Cyrus’ athleisureware-enabled dance moves and a heap of Bjørk’s unalloyed, low-country weirdness. Suffice it to say, MØ is very cool.
Recently, she provided vocals for Major Lazer’s huge international dance hit “Lean On,” and has followed up that success with a major single release of her own, “Kamikaze.” The song is high-quality mid-tempo dance music about youthful indifference and the right to party; the video was shot in an abandoned lot in Kiev, Ukraine. There’s a little rascally tussling, a litany of headdresses, a gold-painted tire throne and a lot of Nike sportswear. Car stunts, undertaken in some trashed Russian-market economy, are less meticulous versions of the aerobatics M.I.A. used in “Bad Girls.”
A great beat, a Danish ingenue and Ukrainian dirt—a festival of edgy, post-Soviet chic. Play it at your Halloween bash and folks will think you’re cool. And maybe Danish.
MØ – Kamikaze (Official Video)