Exist for Love

* Original
* Remixes
* Acoustic/EP

## *Stories* (EP) Chronology

"**Exist for Love**" is the twenty-third single released by AURORA and the first single from her album *The Gods We Can Touch*. On May 14, 2020, the song and its music video were officially released worldwide.

Two remixes of the song were released on July 16: "Sondr Remix" and "DJ Boris Remix". Another, the Benjamin Mørk Acoustic Remix was released on August 7 on a digital EP, together with the other remixes.

## Background

Aurora began writing "Exist for Love" in 2017 and at one point thought she might never release it. The song had to be released a few years after it was written because she did not feel it was time to record it yet. It was recorded in January 2020 and the vocals, guitar and other parts of the song are the same as in the very first (demo) recording of the song.

A release date (May 2020) for a new single was first noted on *HITS Daily Double*. On May 11, 2020, Aurora posted a photo of a handwritten note on social media, saying she had never written a love song but felt that was what the world needed right now. The note closed out by saying, "I'm ready to share the next era with you."

The following day, she blacked out her Instagram and archived all of her posts. She then put up nine posts that made up the cover art for the song. Each post was accompanied by lyrics to the song. That same day, she announced on social media that the song was going to be released on May 14. The caption read:

> "I never thought that I would ever write a song about love. But now I am ready. My heart is ready. And i hope you are as well."
>
>

## About the song

> "I feel like the world is going through change, and yet again we are reminded of the importance of love. And how much love we are capable of giving back to the world. I think when we get to experience love, in any shape or color we understand why we exist, we exist for love. - AURORA"
>
>

A couple of hours before its release, Aurora posted on Twitter:

> "Love is such a pure force of nature. And we all have love inside of us. We all need love. And its about time we celebrate the light that love can bring us."
>
>

During an interview with *Euphoria*, Aurora said about the inspiration behind the song:

> "I think once in a while we all need something to remind us of the good that exists in the world. And why we exist. Right now the world is going through a lot, together, but we are also isolated. You try to listen to the world when making music. And I felt like the world needed a little love right now."
>
>

Asked about a deeper meaning of the song on *Mola Chill Fridays*, Aurora said:

> "'Exist For Love' is the first love song I ever wrote. But as most of my songs, it has a much larger and deeper meaning than just love between two individuals. I believe that love is one of the strongest forces we have on this planet and in us people. And I believe that once we learn true, pure and unselfish love, we are reminded of why we exist, and I think we understand why we are here. Once we learn that that kind of pure love exist, which is quite beautiful. And I love many things... and many people."
>
>

Asked about her experience directing the music video, she said:

> "It was wonderful! I love directing videos, and I tend to enjoy being in control. Especially when it comes to my own art. During times like these, you have to get a little extra creative. Which I enjoy. We had to keep it local, and simple. But that seemed to be the perfect thing for this song. Everything I am wearing is also self-made by me and my sisters out of old clothes. Very fun."
>
>

## Lyrics

They say there is a war

Between the man and the woman

I've never felt like this before

My heart knew that I couldn't

And then you take me in

And everything in me begins to feel like I belong

Like everybody needs a home

And when I take your hand

Like the world has never held a man

I know I cannot heal the hurt

But I will hold you here forever

If I can, if I can

And then I learnt the truth

How everything good in life seems to lead back to you

And every single time I run into your arms

I feel like I exist for love

Like I exist for love

Only for love...

I can't imagine how it is to be forbidden from loving

'Cause when you walked into my life

I could feel my life begin

Like I was torn apart the minute I was only born

And you're the other half

The only thing that makes me whole

I know it sounds like a lot...

But you really need to know

We are leaning out for love

And we will lean for love forever, I know

I love you so

And then I learnt the truth

How everything good in life seems to lead back to you

And every single time I run into your arms

I feel like I exist for love

Only for love...

And when you say my name

Like white horses on the waves

I think it feels the same

As an ocean in my veins

And you'll be diving in

Like nothing is out of place

And we exist for love

Only for love

And I love you, I love you, I love you

And I love you, I love you, I love you

Lyrics copied from the official lyric video.

Probable lyric inspirations:

* "There Is a War" by Leonard Cohen: "A war between the man and the woman"
* "Suzanne" by Leonard Cohen: "They are leaning out for love and they will lean that way forever"

## Music video

The music video for the song premiered on the same day of the song's release. It was directed by Aurora and recorded in spring of 2020 at Lille Ole Bull, Bergen, Norway.

### Behind the scenes

AURORA - Behind the scenes of ‘Exist for Love’ - Part 1AURORA - Behind the scenes of 'Exist for Love' - Part 2
Sølvrev MINI-SERIE Episode 12 - Kamskjell & Masarati(timestamp 6:18)

## Gallery

Aurora's announcementAurora about the music video

A snippet of the song's demo leaked on March 12, 2021:

## Trivia

* The song title came to Aurora's mind while she was in Paris, France.
* The string arrangement was done by Isobel Waller-Bridge.
* Aurora performed the song live for the first time during a live stream directly after the music video's premiere.
* One of the dancers in the music video is Iris, another Norwegian artist and one of Aurora's friends.
* The initial music video release suffered from a technical issue, resulting in a too fast and high-pitched audio playback.
* The song was on Spotify's *New Music Friday* playlists in at least 21 countries.
* The song gained some traction after rapper and singer Doja Cat reacted to the music video on an Instagram live stream.
* BBC DJ Jo Whiley picked the song as her *Infatuation track of the week*.
* A charity live-stream concert featuring several international artists, organized by Aurora, was named after the song (*Exist for Love Sessions*).
* The song is considered a sister song to "A Potion for Love", written from an opposite perspective on love.

## References

1. ↑ https://aurora.lnk.to/ExistForLove
2. ↑ https://aurora.lnk.to/EFLRemix
3. ↑ https://music.apple.com/us/album/1640343698
4. ↑ https://aurora.lnk.to/AcousticRemix
5. ↑ https://music.apple.com/no/album/exist-for-love-ep/1645167051
6. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AMFfzKwAIB0&t=184s
7. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmXhLYliGXU&t=283s
8. ↑ https://open.spotify.com/episode/5CIvLjGzw8Dnu98vOoOxGQ (@ 12:37)
9. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ls6Yj2YrxX4&t=67s
10. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inAm5PiBvZc&t=622s
11. ↑ https://hitsdailydouble.com/the\_bside&id=321248
12. ↑ https://twitter.com/AURORAmusic/status/1259896315498180608
13. ↑ https://twitter.com/AURORAmusic/status/1260253859349479424
14. ↑ File:Exist for Love YouTube thumbnail 2020.05.14.jpg
15. ↑ https://twitter.com/AURORAmusic/status/1260933291193974789
16. ↑ 16.0 16.1 https://www.euphoriazine.com/blog/2020/06/interviews-aurora/
17. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bj1f52lhE9I&t=1130s
18. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kWE1jNVAfT8
19. ↑ https://genius.com/Leonard-cohen-there-is-a-war-lyrics
20. ↑ https://genius.com/Leonard-cohen-suzanne-lyrics
21. ↑ https://solvrev.no/prosjekter/aurora-2
22. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1sEH1I6klA&t=432s
23. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=inAm5PiBvZc&t=545s
24. ↑ https://www.udiscovermusic.com/news/aurora-new-single-video-exist-for-love/
25. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmXhLYliGXU&t=470s
26. ↑ https://twitter.com/AURORAmusic/status/1264259133005606920
27. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MWSWG0QkQbw
28. ↑ https://twitter.com/AURORAmusic/status/1262733756953051137
29. ↑ https://www.reddit.com/r/popheads/comments/ojjh52/hello\_my\_warriors\_it\_is\_aurora\_here\_meeep/h52101j/?context=8&depth=9