Fanzines have played a treasured part in music's history. As more aspects of life have moved online, the beloved DIY medium is as scarce as the mixtape. Denmark’s rising pop star, MØ, has brought back the fanzine, blending the print past with the digital present.
As the voice of the most streamed track of all time on Spotify, “Lean On,” and with over 3 million YouTube views of her new single, "Final Song," MØ continues to venture into new territory. When she was inspired by her love of 1970s and 80s fanzines and decided to make her own digital and print version, “Empty Billboards And Overloaded Minds,” she turned to Microsoft for the tools and her fanbase for the content.
"I wanna do a 'zine because when I was a teenager and up until now I've always loved the 'zine' format," the singer explained on the MOxSurface microsite, sharing how she used to collaborate with others to make 'zines that had both political and creative tones. "We live in a time where the world is on the internet - the 2nd reality - and together I think it could be interesting to see what creative output we could come up with. Mixing the scissor/paper generation with the copy/paste generation."
Tapping her social networks, MØ's calls for submissions were heard as photos, drawings, and poems began to flood in. Fans posted their contributions to the MOxSurface digital notebook, which operates on Microsoft's free online platform, OneNote. On the other end, MØ used her Surface Pro 4 and specialized pen to begin assembling collages of art and words, pulling together what would eventually be the final “Empty Billboards And Overloaded Minds" fanzine, officially released Wednesday, June 22.
See MØ this Saturday at Glastonbury, where she’ll have free copies of “Empty Billboards And Overloaded Minds,” and read the rest of the story here.
