With the first, almost hesitant pluck of a harp string, AURORA transforms the Triple J studio into a celestial confessional for her breathtaking Like A Version cover of The Beatles’ ‘Across The Universe’. Draped in an ethereal, cream-colored gown, she begins not with Lennon’s original melody but with a haunting, a cappella verse from the song’s deeper canon—”Words are flowing out like endless rain into a paper cup”—her voice a fragile, crystalline wisp that seems to hang visibly in the air before the gentle, aquatic electronics and that unmistakable harp motif, played by a collaborator beside her, begin to swell.
Her vocal delivery is a masterclass in delicate control, eschewing power for poignant vulnerability, stretching syllables into aching, beautiful sighs (“nothing’s gonna change my wooooorld”) that feel both deeply personal and universally resonant. The arrangement builds imperceptibly, layering in subtle, skittering beats and warm, enveloping synth pads that mimic the cosmic vastness of the lyrics, yet the production remains sparse enough that every intake of her breath, every subtle shift in her mouth’s shape is audible, intimate.
As the song ascends towards its climax, she doesn’t belt but instead multiplies, harmonizing with herself to create a choir of AURORAs, a universe of voices affirming the mantra “Jai Guru Deva Om” not as a triumphant shout, but as a meditative, healing incantation.
It culminates not in a crashing crescendo but a gentle decrescendo, fading out as softly as it began, leaving behind a profound silence that feels less like an absence of sound and more like the lingering, shimmering imprint of something truly magical, a perfect alignment of artist and song where both the Norwegian “pop priestess” and the Beatles’ timeless message of cosmic connection are fully, beautifully realized.