Thank you for the reaction! Röyksopp is two people, Svein Berge og Torbjørn Brundtland. They are, as mentioned by others, quite well known for their (Grammy nominated) music, but they don’t get enough credit as songwriters in my opinion. They wrote this song, Susanne may have suggested a few things, but they’re the credited writers. As I recall, Ina Wroldsen (now singer-songwriter, formerly go-to songwriter for anyone from Britney Spears to Demi Lovato and Shakira) called it the best written Norwegian song ever, at the time. It’s about Utøya, no doubt, and others have explained this and pointed out the metaphorical lyrics that seem to most directly reference that tragedy 😢, but they’ve cleverly never confirmed this, so it’s open to interpretation. The music video director had his own interpretation (they had a contest and picked from numerous video submissions). Whether or not you decide to react to more Röyksopp music, I see some great suggestions, definitely check out their 10 most streamed songs on your preferred platform. :) And more Susanne Sundfør when you have a minute. There’s a song on her ‘big pop album’ that was produced by Röyksopp… but probably not the one you’d expect. They can go in some unique and unexpected directions, all in service of the ‘story’. And it’s very much intentional, like you said.
or maybe one of the performances with just susanne and a piano….the one you mention has a lot of production and electronic elements 😅 kidding adam, if you read this. but seriously, the piano ones are gorgeous 👌🏼
Hi Adam, no one has mentioned what this song is about. "Running To The Sea" is inspired by the 2011 twin Oslo and Utøya attacks in Norway. On July 22, lone domestic terrorist ABB (won't say his name😡) planted explosives at goverment offices in Oslo, and dressing as a police officer, killed over 80 people in a deadly mass shooting on the island of Utøya, a lot of very young people. The two events constituted the highest casualties since WW2. On the track, Susanne Sundfør's hauntingly melancholy vocals capture the moments of the July 22 terror, amidst the "burning houses" in Oslo and the rush to watery refuge in Utøya 😪😪
It's a beautiful, emotional, poetic and respectful tribute to such a horrible horrible event. I play this album all the time in my car and everytime i hear this song, i think of those poor kids and their fathers (as a father).
@@AdamStraughan They are a duo from Tromsø in the north of Norway, but the had their successful debut album Melody F.M. 20 years ago when were students in Bergen. They use guest vocalists or make electronica instrumentals, like Eple, which was their big first hit internationally back then.
Apparently this was written in reference to the 2011 twin Oslo and Utøya attacks in Norway, much as Aurora did with "Little Boy in the Grass". It's not a stripped back version, but there is a very good live version with Susanne Sundfør (Live on Lydverket): ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-AMlJ78-7rZ4.html
thanks, adam!! oh, uhm, i was hoping the song would be a complete home run, i’ve only ever seen two folks not moved in some way by ‘running to the sea’….but that’s all right! i had to try, and lots of people have suggested it, so i dunno why i’m making this about me 😳 the dichotomy is there, i would argue that it’s both on purpose and that it works, really well. did the song grow on you after hearing it again a few more times?? i really think it’s just another version/continuation of the “sad pop banger”….which you brought up in your ‘burning bridges’ reaction. aurora has big, upbeat production versions of ‘little boy in the grass’ which has a lot of the same (utøya 🙏🏼) themes. stripped down or production - they all have merit 😁 now i’m afraid to recommend more röyksopp, although i’ve already listed a few songs in previous comments….robyn and jamie - ‘you know i had to go’ has (almost) zero electronic elements, ‘do it again’ is more pop, ‘monument’ is ‘monument’ 😄
If you want to understand this, you probabaly have to spool back 20 years (you know when the parent generation was cool). Røyksopp enterered the electronica scene after "Firestarter" (by Prodegy helped electronica and rave go very dark in the mid 90s). And you want to listen to "Poor Leno" - and you will find your second Norwegian band who crashed the world via a music video (after Aha back in the 80s) - for Poor Leno. Remeber - this song was released in the year of 2001 - the year that changed so much. Because two dudes from above the Arctic Circle that I got to know personally - they changed how music production sounds. I am pretty sure you can hear Røyksopp and ancient players of the "Bergen Wave" in how Aurora sound in studio (since you correctly love Aurora) Røyksopp is not about lead vocals - what they do to this day is to understand background soundscapes and feelz. They are mid 80s "pet shop boys" famous because of the musical sensibilities that makes brains go "ohh" while listening to pop. Because they, like Pet Shop Boys a decade prior, also grew up in older days when the mix was not always "push the vocals to the top of the mix (as everything is today". As you will hear in Poor Leno, if you bother - the vocal is not running the song- the vocals is not not exiting at all. What goes on deeper down the layers of the mix though - oh boy is that exiting - the soundscape is so explored and so put in with purpose. Go and listen to "Poor Leno". Put the volume on your ear phones at max (yes - they mix allow it they "drop" - because in 2001 my buddies redefined the "wall of sound/noice" coming out of the late 90s music. It redefined how music sounds - the fidelity is off the charts from myself who still was in Grunge mode walking out of clibs in the 90s with bleeding ears. I grew up with Pink Flody who also mixed shit pretty well - because I also hung out in British universities in the late 90s. I have done the Mumble mile outside Swansea and I have been sitting in insane conditions from people in Oxford and Cambridge wearing weared shit to say "5his clost you 150 grand a years" because of kids growing you with rich parents - instead of searching "knowledge" Yeah
This just happened on youtube a minute ago ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-IjH4h2QZ5n0.html&ab_channel=R%C3%B6yksopp and I think I explain all my feelings
A lot of people have a strong connection to this song for reasons stated in many comments, and it’s still such a sad, sad tragedy. That said, I had no idea that was one of the main influences for the longest time, and think it stands on its own as a masterfully constructed, written, and vocally performed song. As an article I once found said: “Electronic music is something that I am still very new to, although I was forced to get rather intimate with it this year as part of my Music Industry course. In one subject we had to create a remix of the Queen song Don’t Stop Me Now. I found it so difficult that though I managed to produce a final mix, I ended up dropping the class soon after. In second semester I had to take another, similar class and was expected to perform a piece of music that I had created using computer sound production software in front of the whole class. I managed to do this, and it didn’t go too badly, although I mainly stuck to using loops. Electronic music is certainly no picnic to create, and I now have a high level of respect for anyone who can do it. Röyksopp is a duo that does electronic music with flair and ingenuity. Their new single Running To The Sea, featuring Susanne Sundfør, is a beautifully crafted song. It features warm, gentle keyboards, Sundfør’s crystalline vocals and, towards the end, some awesome snare drums. The lyrics are disarmingly gorgeous: “And the river flows beneath your skin/Like savage horses kept within/And all is wasted in the sand/Like breaking diamonds with your hand”. Sundfør’s ethereal voice sets the tone for the whole song. The structure of the song is perfect. It builds the whole way through, so there is always a feeling of suspense. The snare drums at the end are just fabulous, just when you thought the song couldn’t build anymore. This is a divine concoction of a song that completely deserves all the attention that it is receiving.” -- Rachael McArthur
My favorite muscial genre is emotional and uplifting trance, and this song has alot of similar elements to that. Most people doesn't think that electronic music can be emotional, but I totally disagree, and this song kinda proves my point :)
Perfect timing to start listening to Röyksopp! They've been away for a while; their last album being titled "The inevitable End", which was (allegedly) their farewell to the typical album format. But something is happening again; they are soon going to release new music, with the teaser "(Nothing but) Ashes" out now!
Röyksopp is great when it comes to using good female singers in their songs. You should listen to "Ice machine" (Sundfør), "What else is there (Karin Dreijer), "The girl and the robot" (Robyn) My own absolut favorite is "What else is there"
I would recommend listening to Meute's cover of What else is there :) Its an acoustic cover :) It's obviously not the same, but its very good, and a cool video :)
When those youths were killed on Utøya, 69 people and 33 under the age of 18, they were running to the sea. Cause Utøya is a small island, and they had to run to the sea to get away from the mass murderer that were shooting after them. Many tried to hide, but he found them and shot them😢😢 And some were shot in the sea while trying to escape. Many of them managed to swim , and people having cabins or were living on the other side took their boats and rescued a lot of people, while waiting for the police. The police took their time, they could’ve been there in maybe 15 minutes, it took them 1 hour and 10 minutes 😳😳 ABB (can’t write his name 😡) killed 69 youths on Utøya and 8 people in the Government building. It was an horrible day that I will not forget 😢 I remember us (family) watching it on tv, and just waited for the police, we felt it took them forever to get to Utøya. It’s not that far, some of the youths even swam to the mainland. It’s a veey small island, so there weren’t many places to hide 😔 I feel that the song is about a dad that lost his young daughter, and she were running to the sea.😢 It’s so sad😢
The video has a interesting background as well: Röyksopp partnered with Genero and invited filmmakers across the world to create the official music video for 'Running To The Sea', featuring Susanne Sundfør taken from the album 'The Inevitable End'. After receiving over 200 incredible submissions, they narrowed it down to this video from Lauren Rothery as the favourite.
Fantastic lyrics and musical arrangement on this track. The vocals are haunting and amazing. This is the type of music that moves me. The song's beginning is subtle yet catchy, but keeps building and rising into something magical. This song takes me somewhere every time I listen to it. 🙌
Royksopp is electronic music for people who feel how you feel about electronic dance music (I feel the same). They transcend the norms of that style of music. I think you’d like a lot of their music. Just on a whole other level. And Susanne is just the best. The two are a great combination. My favorite song from them.
Røyksopp has done some nice songs with Robyn and Susanne did a collab with french band M83 for the Tom Cruise movie Oblivion where they made the main song called Oblivion.* M83 is a electronic band.
Great great song. Merci. The Röyksopp lads are still ahead of their time in many ways, can’t wait to hear their comeback album! Your friend Mace has a different take on the tune, and with this not being your genre it might be worth exploring it a bit more, especially via Röyksopp who certainly aren’t exclusively one specific genre. I could see you getting more used to the electronic/pop/sparse/dance I guess/atmospheric/ballad-y songs they have made. You were almost there at times, so..
Hi there! Yeah I did see Mace’s reaction to it and he got out of it what he did, which is great. We’re all individual in our tastes. In terms of listening more to get used to it - I don’t think it’s necessarily about that. You can get used to anything, but that doesn’t constitute to enjoying it taste wise? Like, for example if you hated the taste of oranges, but you kept eating them, sure you’d get used to it but you’d still not enjoy them? I feel the same with music. We have our tastes, which are usually unexplainable - you know what you enjoy and what you don’t. And that’s perfectly fine! And that certainly doesn’t take away from the talent of the artistry, regardless of whether you enjoy the end product or not.
@@AdamStraughan I think you misread my comment a little. I didn’t quite mean “get used to” in that sense. More the various styles of their music, not sitting down and putting a song on repeat, forcing yourself to like it. And Mace had a different perspective, again not meant as: “he’s right,” just a different perspective. I enjoy hearing people’s thoughts on art, be it music, film, TV, literature… I don’t quite agree with the oranges analogy, sorry! Music is in my opinion much more complex than that, and I for one have come to like and appreciate several types of music over the decades that I’d never listen to in the past. Essentially I posted this as a response to the way you seemed to grapple with the different elements and genres of the song, and I guess I mistakenly thought there was a chance for Röyksopp here, not using the “we have our tastes” card immediately, after one song (which is also fine - I don’t disagree with anything you said about personal taste and preferences). But again, they have a big catalogue of music, some in the style you don’t enjoy, others in styles I tried to suggest that you might enjoy. Monument is a big, sprawling art piece with all sorts of musical styles being combined. You Know I Had to Go is a dark ballad. The other Robyn stuff is more poppy, and yeah… and so on and so forth. Sorry about the misunderstanding, it truly was a well intended comment.
@@dwaynehicks1251 Hello mate, just to clarify I definitely didn’t read it as a go at me about anything. I just read into your comment saying ‘I could see you getting more used to…’ and then listing genre/genre mixes which (till this point) haven’t really been my tastes. Which is where I think the orange analogy still stands. But I get and agree with your point that music is simply more than just about a genre and one particular thing, I think I stress that in all of my comments after each song I react to. But this is the beauty of the channel and talking to people like yourself, we can share our experiences with music even if we agree or disagree. Music and tastes are subjective and that will never change. And with Mace, I was agreeing with you. I didn’t read it as you saying something like ‘he enjoyed it more so therefore he’s right’ I was agreeing with you in saying that of course he has a different and valid reaction to it. He’s a great friend. And everyone’s reactions have a place.
@@dwaynehicks1251 And I will still look into more of their work, after all I don’t even know anything by them! Just this one song in a style that isn’t really my taste. But the way people describe their other songs, they sound super interesting and I’m excited to check them out!
Weird story, I used to search for Royksopp and Susan Sundfor tunes along with M83 about 5 years ago and somehow was introduced to Aurora. And I've been down that rabbit hole ever since. Try 'what else is there' by Royksopp or 'wait' by M83. M83 IS UNCREDIBLE and they have amazing videos. 'Wait' is part of a trilogy of songs/videos that were highly recognized. Check them out Adam. Thanks.
Hello Adam and thanks a lot for another great reaction, and also thanks for the honesty. You know, when speaking of Røyksopp, a really great, Norwegian electronic group consisting of two guys, there is ONE song and music video that at least to ME, stands out. (Btw, Røyksopp is very well known around the world, and have received a lot of acclaim for their music videos as well.) Back in 2014 they made a colab with Swedish singer Robyn.(She happens to be one of my favourite female singers as well.) The song is called "Monument" and I would DIE to see what YOU think of it. The music is great, and that MV is a pure strike of genius IMO. It gives me definite associations with Stanley Kubrick's film "2001 A Space Oddysey". I believe it should be right down your alley. And I would love to see that brain of yours go to work, big time. In any case, here is the link for it : ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-6c-RbGZBnBI.html Have a great week, and take care my friend. Love from Norway :-)
If you want more Røyksopp and Susanne Sundfør cooperation then check out their cover of Depeche Mode's "Ice Machine" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hFPlGDKgiYc.html Just for the record: Susanne Sundfør is one of the great Norwegian female singers alongside Angelina Jordan, Aurora and Sissel Kyrkjebø. Susanne has a lot of deep and melodic songs with a beautiful voice to back it up. Sissel probably has the best voice of any Norwegian singers since the late Kirsten Flagstad. Crystal clear, big range and with lots of emotions.
@@AdamStraughan Yes, your reactions are always great. 😊 Especially "Only the Lord" when comes to Susanne. Susanne has been a bit quiet lately. So not much new to react to. Here's a not well known little gem from Susanne from 2 years ago. It's a cover of "Tobacco Road" ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fXbGxxIsa5k.html However, Aurora and Angelina keep getting new amazing songs to us all the time. A new Angelina song cover to look for is "You Say" by Lauren Daigle. She sang it in her online concert the day before Christmas. I hope it will be released on her cover channel soon. That song is one of the best she has ever done. Today Angelina is celebrating her 16th birthday. 2022 will become a great year for her. E. g. a new album coming soon. I also expect a lot from Aurora this year. Her latest Midas Touch" was magic. Have you ever tried listening to Sissel Kyrkjebø? She has done quite a few songs where she's singing mostly in the low register and not like an opera star. She got famous for her opera quality soprano voice, but she is much more than that. Especially in her adult years. "Dream a little Dream of Me" is just a little teaser ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-Vdyzb7iJ45c.html
Røyksopp is an interesting group. I understand your reaction although I do like the song. To get a real feel for what Røyksopp is capable you might try Leno (pretty old but still cool) or a really emotional song: Monument with the fantastic Swedish artist Robyn. Thanks for all your thoughtful reactions!:-)
This is a stark reaction to a tragedy in the same way Zombie from the Cranberries. Susanne Sundfor has other songs in a similar electronic vein if you want to explore it with M83.
Röyksopp does some cool collaborations. There is this one (not my favorite and I agree it is a bit dance) and then there is the one with Robyn I have recommended to you a few times (Monument) It is a real trip even if you think you may not be into it. And of cause, then there is the big one, namely "What else is there?" with Fever Ray. It's amazing and you will not think of it as a dance track. It's so dark. Fever Ray may be another rabbit hole, but we will cover that if we get to it. Have a nice one, Adam.
I wondered what part Spike and Illyria had to play here. I thought at first they were thumbnails or something and it was related to this video. Took me awhile to realise they are pictures sitting on the shelf behind you. So cool to see you're an Angel fan! It's one of my favourite shows.
@@AdamStraughan One of my favourite episodes is the episode where Fred becomes Illyria. Not because we lose Fred (I love Fred), but because of all the different elements and how it was put together. Starting off the episode rather comically, with Spike and Angel (I love their dynamic) arguing over who would win in a fight: astronauts or cavemen. Then everything happens, they go to England, Fred says "of course cavemen win", and... Wesley's different character arcs were interesting too.
THanks Adam for doing this one, much appreciated. Röyksopp has been around for quite some time, as in 15+ years and a number of albums in their portfolio -.ru-vid.com . As mentioned below they have several with Swedish Robin. My favorites though are the ones with Susanne, try their cover of Depeche Mode's 'Ice machine' ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-hFPlGDKgiYc.html and their own 'Never Ever' ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-JDBzeM6KLlQ.html . Susanne's voice shines in both.
This was the first song by them I was introduced to, and it led to an awesome journey into their works (and to Susanne Sunnfør). If you'd like another interesting pick, try iamamiwhoami (yep, that's her title) Chasing Kites or Play.
@@AdamStraughan I discovered it just a few days ago. Literally just ONE Sub (me😅). I i wouldn't say there is anything "dancy" about the Music. It is more the melancholic, melodic Elements that remind me of things like Röyksopp and FeverRay. www.youtube.com/@MHATAN-y3t
@@AdamStraughan oops....i think my Answer was removed🤔 Probably because i posted the Link directly. Okay...like i wrote before...its not really "dancy". More like RunningToTheSea, WhatElseIsThere and mybe a bit FeverRay. The Name of the Channel is MHATAN
