{"id":2048661,"date":"2026-07-17T07:00:20","date_gmt":"2026-07-17T04:00:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2048661"},"modified":"2026-07-17T07:00:20","modified_gmt":"2026-07-17T04:00:20","slug":"how-lord-of-the-rings-minecraft-and-dungeon-crawler-games-inspired-au-ras-hopecore-alt-pop-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2048661","title":{"rendered":"How \u2018Lord Of The Rings\u2019, \u2018Minecraft\u2019 and dungeon crawler games inspired Au\/Ra\u2019s \u201chopecore\u201d alt-pop debut"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AuRa-portrait1.jpg&#8221;]<\/p>\n<article id=\"template-id-2947849\" class=\"post-2947849 tdb_templates type-tdb_templates status-publish post\">\n<div id=\"tdi_65\" class=\"tdc-zone\">\n<div class=\"tdc_zone tdi_66  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div id=\"tdi_67\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_68  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_70  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_breadcrumbs tdi_71 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-breadcrumbs \" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_71\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><span>Features<\/span><i class=\"tdb-bread-sep td-icon-right\"><\/i><span>Gaming Features<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_title tdi_72 tdb-single-title td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_72\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<h1 class=\"tdb-title-text\">How \u2018Lord Of The Rings\u2019, \u2018Minecraft\u2019 and dungeon crawler games inspired Au\/Ra\u2019s \u201chopecore\u201d alt-pop debut<\/h1>\n<div><\/div>\n<div class=\"tdb-title-line\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_subtitle tdi_73 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_73\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p>The electro-pop anthems of \u2018Heartcore\u2019 soundtrack a fantastical journey back towards childlike whimsy<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_author tdi_75 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_75\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<div class=\"tdb-author-name-wrap\"><span class=\"tdb-author-by\">By<\/span> Ali Shutler<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_date tdi_76 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 tdb-post-meta\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_76\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\"><time class=\"entry-date updated td-module-date\" datetime=\"2026-07-17T08:00:20+01:00\">17th July 2026<\/time><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p> <!-- .\/block --><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_77\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_1400 td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_78  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_80  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_featured_image tdi_81 tdb-content-horiz-left td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_81\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<figure>\n                                    <img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" width=\"696\" height=\"442\" class=\"entry-thumb\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AuRa-portrait1-696x442.jpg\" alt=\"How Lord Of The Rings, Minecraft and dungeon crawler games inspired Au\/Ra\u2019s \u201chopecore\u201d alt-pop debut\" title=\"Au:Ra portrait1\"><figcaption class=\"tdb-caption-text\">Au\/Ra. CREDIT: Reece Owen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_82\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_83  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_85  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><strong class=\"dropcap big-read-dropcap\">A<\/strong>lt-pop star Au\/Ra\u2019s debut album \u2018Heartcore\u2019 is a reclamation of all the nerdy, fantasy worlds she escaped into as a kid. The record\u2019s overarching narrative plays out like a retro dungeon crawler, with tracks \u2018This Is Character Building\u2019, \u2018Last Heart &lt;3\u2019 and \u2018Lo\/Re\u2019 using video game cliches of designing your own protagonist and running out of HP to help tell the twisting story of betrayal, growth and eventual liberation.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>READ MORE: The Simpsons\u2019 silly, subversive video game legacy isn\u2019t done yet<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s an ambitious, high-concept record that\u2019s similar to Bring Me The Horizon\u2019s ongoing \u2018Post Human\u2019 saga, and is the perfect mash-up of video game playfulness and art-pop emotion. No wonder she was one of the most-talked about artists at this year\u2019s Great Escape Festival, where she took to the stage with a giant fake sword as a mic stand.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span>  <\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-article-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Her swaggering electro-pop music was inspired by Imogen Heap\u2019s ethereal, digital soundscapes and Grimes\u2019 pulsating rave-rock album \u2018Art Angels\u2019, but soundtracks for action role-playing game <em>Genshin Impact<\/em>, multiplayer battle arena title <em>League Of Legends<\/em> and its beloved animated Netflix spin-off <em>Arcane<\/em> also shaped the eclectic, energetic album. What better way to reveal the tracklist and introduce fans to the world of \u2018Heartcore\u2019 than with her own top-down dungeon adventure game. Want to dive deeper into the lore? There\u2019s a \u2018Heartcore\u2019 comic book. \u201cIt\u2019s a nerd dream come true,\u201d Au\/Ra (real name Jamie Lou Stenzel) tells <em>NME<\/em> via Zoom.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DZmq9cUKejz\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not surprising that it turned out this way. As I was making this record, I started going to therapy to work through childhood traumas,\u201d explains Stenzel, who grew up between Ibiza and Antigua. \u201cAs part of that, I went back to the things that I used to love and used as coping mechanisms \u2013 video games, creative writing and <em>The Lord Of The Rings<\/em>. Making this album was my way of forgiving my childhood self for feeling out of place, and rewiring the part of my brain that made me feel guilty for being different.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stenzel\u2019s first console was a pink Nintendo DS, which she used to play cutesy pet simulator <em>Nintendogs<\/em>, hectic food-based minigame collection <em>Cooking Mama<\/em> and the <em>Barbie In The 12 Dancing Princesses<\/em> adaptation while her parents (a producer father and a songwriter mother) were working together in the studio. From there, she fell in love with <em>Final Fantasy 15<\/em> and <em>The Lord Of The Rings<\/em>. \u201cI was obsessed with the elves. They were so cool and beautiful, with these mysterious, magical powers.\u201d It wasn\u2019t long before she was sharing her own fanfic stories about a character known as Aura on popular fiction platform Wattpad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose fantasy worlds are where it felt like I belonged,\u201d says Stenzel, who used them as a way to cope with dissociative feelings. \u201cI had a lot of existential, absurdist thoughts from a young age. Creating my own worlds, or diving into fandoms, always helped me ground myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<div id=\"taboola-mid-article\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3957325\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3957325\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3957325\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AuRa-portrait-3.jpg\" alt=\"How Lord Of The Rings, Minecraft and dungeon crawler games inspired Au\/Ra\u2019s \u201chopecore\u201d alt-pop debut\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3957325\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Au\/Ra. CREDIT: Reece Owen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She poured those outsider worries into her music. Shimmering electro-pop song \u2018Concrete Jungle\u2019 was released when she was just 14, alongside the angsty Pink Floyd-inspired \u2018Outsiders\u2019. A few months later, she released the haunting emo track \u2018Panic Room\u2019, on which she sings vulnerably about living with anxiety. Its slow-burn success got turbocharged with a CamelPhat remix and received another boost when players of anime role-playing game <em>Gacha Life<\/em> kept using the song to soundtrack DIY music videos.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think I ever actually wanted to be a pop star, I just wanted to create cool little worlds. I only started to realise that it was a thing when people in my team started talking about me in that way,\u201d Stenzel explains. She released her \u2018Soundtrack To An Existential Crisis\u2019 mixtape in 2021 but a dispute with her label Sony stopped her from releasing anything else for the next few years. She managed to leave her contract, but did have to abandon \u201ca lot\u201d of music in the process because of rights issues. \u201cThere was this mourning of art,\u201d that followed. Let down and uncertain about what the future looked like as a newly unsigned artist, Au\/Ra stepped away from music and focused her efforts on creative writing instead. \u201cIt was a safe space for me to go to that didn\u2019t hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, she also didn\u2019t want to abandon her fans, so kept talking to them via her Discord server and started playing games including <em>Minecraft<\/em>, <em>Genshin Impact<\/em>,<em> Valorant<\/em> and <em>Overwatch<\/em> with them on Twitch. That escapism and community \u201creinstilled a lot of hope\u201d in her. \u201cMy anxiety was really bad around that time. When you\u2019re in a bad situation and you can\u2019t see the light at the end of the tunnel anymore, it\u2019s really hard to convince yourself that there is one,\u201d says Stenzel. \u201cI did think it wasn\u2019t possible for me [to try and have a career in music again], but the people around me convinced me to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad2 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span>  <\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-article-2\" class=\"lazy-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The first song she wrote was \u2018Blah\u2019, a furious purge that helped her work through the anger that came with feeling betrayed and abandoned. \u201cOnce I\u2019d done that, I wasn\u2019t blinded by it anymore,\u201d she says, \u201cThen, I was able to actually dig into what I wanted to create, that would help me through the mental journey I was going on.\u201d She wrote the devastating \u2018Last Heart &lt;3\u2019 next, which imagines Au\/Ra lost and low on hit points. It sparked the entire dungeon video crawler concept for \u2018Heartcore\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole album is a big metaphor for the dungeon of the mind,\u201d she says, with each track a level the character of Au\/Ra needs to overcome to try and reclaim joy and wonder. \u201cObviously it was very, very inspired by my real life, but I\u2019ve always enjoyed telling stories. It felt like I needed to escape into my own world to process what I was going through \u2013 and creatively express that in a way that would make sense to other people.\u201d The more of herself she poured into the glitching alt-pop album, the more excited she felt about making music. \u201cIt\u2019s a very hopecore record.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018Heartcore\u2019 is out now via Polydor Records<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_tags tdi_87 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_87\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<ul class=\"tdb-tags\">\n<li><span>Related Topics<\/span><\/li>\n<li>Au\/Ra<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_88\" class=\"tdc-row stretch_row_content td-stretch-content\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_89  wpb_row td-pb-row tdc-element-style\">\n<div class=\"tdi_88_rand_style td-element-style\"><\/div>\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_91  wpb_column 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data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/robbie-williams@2000x1270-400x254.jpg\" data-img-retina-url=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/robbie-williams@2000x1270-800x508.jpg\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">Robbie Williams shares new version of Official Fifa Anthem \u2018Desire\u2019 featuring Nicole Scherzinger and Laura Pausini ahead of World Cup final<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"td_module_flex td_module_flex_1 td_module_wrap td-animation-stack\">\n<div class=\"td-module-container td-category-pos-above\">\n<div class=\"td-image-container\">\n<div class=\"td-module-thumb\"><span class=\"entry-thumb td-thumb-css\" data-type=\"css_image\" data-img-url=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/sigrid_mad_cool_2_javierbragado-0A2A0693-017-400x254.jpg\" 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data-img-retina-url=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/TheCureRobertSmithWorldCupHalftimeShow-news-story-800x508.jpg\"><\/span><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"td-module-meta-info\">\n                    Music News<\/p>\n<h3 class=\"entry-title td-module-title\">The Cure\u2019s Robert Smith expands on his \u201cplease just fuck off\u201d post about Chris Martin\u2019s World Cup halftime show<\/h3>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div id=\"tdi_104\" class=\"tdc-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_row tdi_105  wpb_row td-pb-row\">\n<div class=\"vc_column tdi_107  wpb_column vc_column_container tdc-column td-pb-span12\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper\">\n<div class=\"wpb_wrapper td_block_wrap vc_raw_html tdi_109 \">\n<div class=\"td-fix-index\">\n<h3>You May Also Like<\/h3>\n<div id=\"taboola-below-article\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>                    <span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span><\/span><span class=\"td-page-meta\"><\/span>                <\/article>\n<\/p>\n<div class=\"td_block_wrap tdb_single_content tdi_86 td-pb-border-top td_block_template_2 td-post-content tagdiv-type\" data-td-block-uid=\"tdi_86\">\n<div class=\"tdb-block-inner td-fix-index\">\n<p><strong class=\"dropcap big-read-dropcap\">A<\/strong>lt-pop star Au\/Ra\u2019s debut album \u2018Heartcore\u2019 is a reclamation of all the nerdy, fantasy worlds she escaped into as a kid. The record\u2019s overarching narrative plays out like a retro dungeon crawler, with tracks \u2018This Is Character Building\u2019, \u2018Last Heart &lt;3\u2019 and \u2018Lo\/Re\u2019 using video game cliches of designing your own protagonist and running out of HP to help tell the twisting story of betrayal, growth and eventual liberation.<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>READ MORE: The Simpsons\u2019 silly, subversive video game legacy isn\u2019t done yet<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>It\u2019s an ambitious, high-concept record that\u2019s similar to Bring Me The Horizon\u2019s ongoing \u2018Post Human\u2019 saga, and is the perfect mash-up of video game playfulness and art-pop emotion. No wonder she was one of the most-talked about artists at this year\u2019s Great Escape Festival, where she took to the stage with a giant fake sword as a mic stand.<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad0 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span>  <\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-article-1\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>Her swaggering electro-pop music was inspired by Imogen Heap\u2019s ethereal, digital soundscapes and Grimes\u2019 pulsating rave-rock album \u2018Art Angels\u2019, but soundtracks for action role-playing game <em>Genshin Impact<\/em>, multiplayer battle arena title <em>League Of Legends<\/em> and its beloved animated Netflix spin-off <em>Arcane<\/em> also shaped the eclectic, energetic album. What better way to reveal the tracklist and introduce fans to the world of \u2018Heartcore\u2019 than with her own top-down dungeon adventure game. Want to dive deeper into the lore? There\u2019s a \u2018Heartcore\u2019 comic book. \u201cIt\u2019s a nerd dream come true,\u201d Au\/Ra (real name Jamie Lou Stenzel) tells <em>NME<\/em> via Zoom.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"instagram-media\" data-instgrm-captioned data-instgrm-permalink=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/reel\/DZmq9cUKejz\/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading\" data-instgrm-version=\"14\">\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>View this post on Instagram<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s not surprising that it turned out this way. As I was making this record, I started going to therapy to work through childhood traumas,\u201d explains Stenzel, who grew up between Ibiza and Antigua. \u201cAs part of that, I went back to the things that I used to love and used as coping mechanisms \u2013 video games, creative writing and <em>The Lord Of The Rings<\/em>. Making this album was my way of forgiving my childhood self for feeling out of place, and rewiring the part of my brain that made me feel guilty for being different.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Stenzel\u2019s first console was a pink Nintendo DS, which she used to play cutesy pet simulator <em>Nintendogs<\/em>, hectic food-based minigame collection <em>Cooking Mama<\/em> and the <em>Barbie In The 12 Dancing Princesses<\/em> adaptation while her parents (a producer father and a songwriter mother) were working together in the studio. From there, she fell in love with <em>Final Fantasy 15<\/em> and <em>The Lord Of The Rings<\/em>. \u201cI was obsessed with the elves. They were so cool and beautiful, with these mysterious, magical powers.\u201d It wasn\u2019t long before she was sharing her own fanfic stories about a character known as Aura on popular fiction platform Wattpad.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThose fantasy worlds are where it felt like I belonged,\u201d says Stenzel, who used them as a way to cope with dissociative feelings. \u201cI had a lot of existential, absurdist thoughts from a young age. Creating my own worlds, or diving into fandoms, always helped me ground myself.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad1 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\"><\/span><\/p>\n<h5 class=\"taboola-mid-article-title\">Recommended<\/h5>\n<div id=\"taboola-mid-article\">\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<figure id=\"attachment_3957325\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-3957325\" class=\"wp-caption alignnone\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-3957325\" src=\"https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AuRa-portrait-3.jpg\" alt=\"How Lord Of The Rings, Minecraft and dungeon crawler games inspired Au\/Ra\u2019s \u201chopecore\u201d alt-pop debut\" width=\"2000\" height=\"1270\"><figcaption id=\"caption-attachment-3957325\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Au\/Ra. CREDIT: Reece Owen<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>She poured those outsider worries into her music. Shimmering electro-pop song \u2018Concrete Jungle\u2019 was released when she was just 14, alongside the angsty Pink Floyd-inspired \u2018Outsiders\u2019. A few months later, she released the haunting emo track \u2018Panic Room\u2019, on which she sings vulnerably about living with anxiety. Its slow-burn success got turbocharged with a CamelPhat remix and received another boost when players of anime role-playing game <em>Gacha Life<\/em> kept using the song to soundtrack DIY music videos.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI don\u2019t think I ever actually wanted to be a pop star, I just wanted to create cool little worlds. I only started to realise that it was a thing when people in my team started talking about me in that way,\u201d Stenzel explains. She released her \u2018Soundtrack To An Existential Crisis\u2019 mixtape in 2021 but a dispute with her label Sony stopped her from releasing anything else for the next few years. She managed to leave her contract, but did have to abandon \u201ca lot\u201d of music in the process because of rights issues. \u201cThere was this mourning of art,\u201d that followed. Let down and uncertain about what the future looked like as a newly unsigned artist, Au\/Ra stepped away from music and focused her efforts on creative writing instead. \u201cIt was a safe space for me to go to that didn\u2019t hurt.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>However, she also didn\u2019t want to abandon her fans, so kept talking to them via her Discord server and started playing games including <em>Minecraft<\/em>, <em>Genshin Impact<\/em>,<em> Valorant<\/em> and <em>Overwatch<\/em> with them on Twitch. That escapism and community \u201creinstilled a lot of hope\u201d in her. \u201cMy anxiety was really bad around that time. When you\u2019re in a bad situation and you can\u2019t see the light at the end of the tunnel anymore, it\u2019s really hard to convince yourself that there is one,\u201d says Stenzel. \u201cI did think it wasn\u2019t possible for me [to try and have a career in music again], but the people around me convinced me to keep going.\u201d<\/p>\n<div class=\"td-a-ad id_inline_ad2 id_ad_content-horiz-center\"><span class=\"td-adspot-title\">Advertisement<\/span>  <\/p>\n<div id=\"div-gpt-ad-article-2\" class=\"lazy-ad\"><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>The first song she wrote was \u2018Blah\u2019, a furious purge that helped her work through the anger that came with feeling betrayed and abandoned. \u201cOnce I\u2019d done that, I wasn\u2019t blinded by it anymore,\u201d she says, \u201cThen, I was able to actually dig into what I wanted to create, that would help me through the mental journey I was going on.\u201d She wrote the devastating \u2018Last Heart &lt;3\u2019 next, which imagines Au\/Ra lost and low on hit points. It sparked the entire dungeon video crawler concept for \u2018Heartcore\u2019.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe whole album is a big metaphor for the dungeon of the mind,\u201d she says, with each track a level the character of Au\/Ra needs to overcome to try and reclaim joy and wonder. \u201cObviously it was very, very inspired by my real life, but I\u2019ve always enjoyed telling stories. It felt like I needed to escape into my own world to process what I was going through \u2013 and creatively express that in a way that would make sense to other people.\u201d The more of herself she poured into the glitching alt-pop album, the more excited she felt about making music. \u201cIt\u2019s a very hopecore record.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>\u2018Heartcore\u2019 is out now via Polydor Records<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<p>[analyse_source url=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/features\/gaming-features\/aura-interview-heartcore-minecraft-lord-rings-dungeon-crawler-game-3957322&#8243;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>[analyse_image type=&#8221;featured&#8221; src=&#8221;https:\/\/www.nme.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/07\/AuRa-portrait1.jpg&#8221;] FeaturesGaming Features How \u2018Lord Of The Rings\u2019, \u2018Minecraft\u2019 and dungeon crawler games inspired Au\/Ra\u2019s \u201chopecore\u201d alt-pop debut The electro-pop anthems of \u2018Heartcore\u2019 soundtrack a fantastical journey back towards childlike whimsy By Ali Shutler 17th July 2026 Au\/Ra. CREDIT: Reece Owen Alt-pop star Au\/Ra\u2019s debut album \u2018Heartcore\u2019 is a reclamation of all the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[226,78],"class_list":["post-2048661","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nme-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2048661","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2048661"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2048661\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2048661"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2048661"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2048661"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}