By Brianna Balsamo

25 May 2025

A euphoric hallucinogen just dropped into your system, you’re in limbo between the bar and the center of the dance floor, you can’t find any of your friends, but you’re lucky enough to be having a weird, tantalizing medley of beats hit your ears at just the right moment.

Somehow nostalgic electro-pop, yet mostly synthesized Joker-esque music beats—with an immaculate sense of worship that only a Little Monster could create—come together to create the Bird: musical alias of Copenhagen’s Yunus Rosenzweig. They take you to a better time in pop music when Lady Gaga and Kesha topped the charts, when club culture was at its cultural peak (at least, in my memory, living vicariously through excessively consuming media best summed up as sleazy) in direct correlation to the economic recession of the late 2000s and early 2010s. There’s a hint of Rick Astley in earlier projects, but not at all in a way that would reduce the beats into a meme overlay; although, his first single’s title “Boing Boing” alone suggests some self-referential sense of irony and silliness that he wants to put directly in your face. 

His early 2024 single “I Like It” marks both a shift in his discography’s style and a distinct moment where you can feel a-ha moment at the end of a more experimental era; one that had explored 80s pop sounds; elements of darkwave (try “STORY OF A THIEF”); and Bladee-esque vocals (try “MOTHER”) backdropped by a drumless beat so theatrical it feels like the song belongs on stage, not at a concert venue but at some off-Broadway, new-wave opera house.

This is not to say that this refined version of the Bird sheds the wings of his past life completely; his vocals remain more-or-less the same, exceptionally robotic and typically pitched up, and glitchy, video game sounds still speckle his songs; nor does this new era indicate an aversion to experimentation altogether. The Bird and New York-turned-Copenhagen artist True Blue’s “Truest of Blues” melds their personal sounds in a way new for both of them, more energetic for True Blue while more vocal-forward for the Bird. It’s more so that this 2024-present epoch of earworm sounds feels more consistent in its instrumentation, like each song is a continuation of the last and could have been made in one grueling production bender session where custom synth patches were only slightly repurposed and kindred drum patterns were looped across hundreds of measures. So slutty and complimentary of an absolute switchboard of randomized, yet stylized sounds; the Bird would be flying high in his runway career if not for his knack for music, and desire for audio-based world domination.

Dominating, dopamine-fueled beats combine with lyrics that progress from unsure and insecure, to angsty, to all-around European. We sat down with the Bird to discuss the balance between sadness and euphoria, the prominence of dance scene music from 2007 - 2012, and the hidden Poker Face adlib found within “I Like It.” 

Read on to find out all about the Bird in this exclusive profile below, interviewed by Veronica Alemu.

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When and how did you start making music?

It started back in 2015, just making music with my friends for fun. And, then, it just sort of took off. I became more and more obsessed with, like, making music, making my own stuff. I started off producing music for other people, and then in 2019, I started doing my own thing. So it’s still pretty young to me. 

What’s the story behind the Bird?

The stage name?

Yeah.

It’s a very dark and tragic story, actually. When I was, I think, 15, I was in my summer house, and I was very much into making animal traps, just for fun, and I trapped this bird in this cage accidentally, and it died, and it was horrible, and I cried my eyes out for weeks. And I wanted to... do some sort of a tribute to that tiny thing, so that’s why.

Why did you make a trap for the bird?

Because back then—I’m very much into fishing—and back then, I wasn’t allowed to go down to the ocean all by myself, and the closest thing I could do was to catch other animals. Which was a very absurd hobby, but was very fun. Now, I wouldn’t do it.

No, that makes sense. How has performing in Europe shaped you as a performer? 

I think I perform the best when I’m in my hometown: Copenhagen. That’s where I kind of feel, the most safe, in a way. But I would love to perform all over the world. It’s definitely a dream of mine to perform all over the world. It’s definitely a dream for me to come to the States and perform. [Breathes out deeply] I don’t fucking know. I don’t think it’s shaping me at all. I think Copenhagen has shaped me so much — both my sound and my style of music, and it’s just, that’s mainly it for me, yeah.

Do you envision your sound entering a new territory when you visit the US, other new countries, and cities? 

Definitely, yeah. I would love to go to New York soon. I have some friends over there as well. It's definitely gonna happen. Maybe this year, or next year, hopefully this year.

Have you been to New York before?

I lived in New York for five weeks when I was 11 years old, with my parents. I haven’t been traveling that much, for 10 years, so it’s been a long time.

Is it hard for you to come to New York? 

I go to the conservatory in Denmark for music composition. So, I kind of have to take care of my school, but if New York wants me, then I'll come.

There’s a noticeable evolution in your music: from earlier tracks, it has a more Eurodance energy, while your recent work is a lot subtler, like electronic undertone. What inspired that shift in sound, and how intentional was it?

It wasn’t that intentional, I just make, like, whatever I feel like is dope. My whole, like, music progression… I think I’m unintentionally becoming more and more minimalistic, in a way. When I was beginning, I wanted to mimic a lot of Euro trends—I still am, in a different way—and now I think it’s just... in my DNA. I don’t have to listen that closely to it. You can still feel it in some of the new tracks, like based on before. Since I was eight years old, I’ve listened to a lot of the European dance scene, from 2007 - 2012. I don’t really chase any sound, it just comes to me.

When I listen to your music, I see the influence of BassHunter, Alice DJ, Cascade—was that a huge influence, and is it still an influence?

Definitely. My music taste has always been very broad, and I’ve always listened to so much music. The only genre that hits my heart in the most melancholic way is definitely, like. Basshunter. I think, when I was growing up as a kid, the only music that was on my iPod that I had, was, like, Poker Face by Lady Gaga, and then also Basshunter for some reason. So when I listen to those two artists, I only feel sadness and melancholy because it just reminds me of being a child. So it has the perfect balance for me, of just sadness and pure euphoria.

I feel the same way when I listen to those artists.

Yeah, it’s magic. It really is.

Next question: who, or what, would you say act as your main musical inspirations, both musically and sonically?

It’s a tough question. At the moment, I prefer not to listen to artists, I listen to just music, so I’ll make a lot of playlists for myself. I like the…I mean I’ve always listened to Skrillex as well, so he’s kind of an influence; not musically, but because he’s the best at what he does, and that is so nice. When I work as a producer, I put more of a mask on myself. For my old projects... I don’t know who I listen to. I would have to go on Spotify and check.

I was looking at your Spotify playlists, and you make these for your listeners to know what you’re listening to, and it is all completely different, but you can hear a bit of the sound in your music from every single song.

I would say, Lady Gaga has been a big inspiration for me, she still is. I love pop music. I love Taylor Swift, and Katy Perry, I just think they’re awesome.

Is this their earlier work, or just in general?

Lady Gaga is definitely more her older work. Taylor Swift is more 2015 until now. Katy Perry, also, more her earlier. And Justin Bieber! I mean, I’m super basic in my taste and style. I just love the Top 50. They're in the Top 50 for a reason.

Your recent collaboration with “Ren G” on Strange Ballerina, is this your first project with an American Artist? What drew you to Ren G?

No, I made another song with True Blue from New York. She’s a real New Yorker, but living in Copenhagen now. With Ren G, I think her first album was so nice, and she seemed to have just a cool persona, so I reached out to her and she was so sweet. Now I’m working on a bigger collaboration with her.

When can we expect that?

Later this summer.

And there's a certain synth texture that recurs in your music that I've noticed it's reminiscent of Lady Gaga’s “Poker Face.” Was that an intentional influence, or more of a subconscious nod to the sounds that shaped you?

It's from the producer, RedOne, who used it in so many of the early Gaga productions. And I just love that sound. That sound is so iconic, and I just wanted to have it and use it in the same way. And so, yeah, that's totally, it's totally a rip off.

Do you feel like it's kind of a staple with your music? Now?

No, I wouldn’t say that I use it a lot, but I owe all the credits to the producer [RedOne].

Your visual aesthetic, both in your artwork and performance, feels very curated and stylized. How do your visuals factor into how you present your music, and what kind of world are you trying to create for your audience?

It changes a lot from time to time but, at the moment, I'm very inspired by anonymity and just not existing in the visual aesthetic. Just letting the music be the music, and the visual part be something completely different, but still, of course, match in some way, sonically to the music or visually to the music. But at the moment, I just love being anonymous and letting the music speak for itself.

Is there anything else that you wanted to add?

That you can expect an album from me this year.