Music
5 things we didn't know about Björk
Björk, the multidisciplinary artist, was born to confound and compel the world.
Björk
© Santiago Felipe/Getty Images
Björk — the multidisciplinary artist, vocalist and musician — was born to confound and compel the world. The classically trained pianist and vocalist released her first album, "Björk" (1977), as a tween. This was the year after her well-received cover of Tina Charles’s disco hit "I Love to Love" played on her native Iceland’s radio, too. Björk then went on to play in the '80s post-punk band Tappi Tíkarrass, and she co-helmed vocals for the Icelandic art-rock band the Sugarcubes.
When the band broke up in the early '90s, she embarked on an illustrious solo career whose trajectory is the stuff of dreams: She’s managed to seamlessly reinvent herself with every release, challenging binaries and conventions all along the way. On top of that, Björk has worked with visual and sonic luminaries who have helped her music transcend eardrums and into an immersive experience for fans worldwide, and has also made paradigm-shifting strides into the world of virtual reality (or, as she’s called it, a "private circus").
While Björk often makes herself vulnerable on her albums, many questions remain about the elusive star’s life. How many Björk songs are actually cleverly crafted diss tracks, given that her latest, "Black Lake" was a 10-minute long burn about her former boyfriend and artist Matthew Barney? Has she, in fact, had contact with aliens? And how does she look virtually the same now as she did back in 1976?
This week, Björk took to Reddit to answer questions ranging from her creative process to her thoughts on the afterlife. Here are five things we learned from her Q&A session, and are good things to think about before she and the Björk Digital Exhibition comes to Red Bull Music Academy Montreal. In the words of Björk herself, "Have a lush one!"
1. Each of Björk's albums may or may not be ruminations on different Tarot characters.
Does Björk write from an autobiographical standpoint or does she create characters, becoming them through the dazzling costumes she wears with every album cycle? User tommehrtens wondered this out loud, and asked if her illustrious costumes were directly tied to the album of the moment, or if it was more related to her personally.
Björk noted that there’s a connection between her sartorial bent and the albums but also revealed that there may even be a bigger theme running through her work: an exploration of Tarot characters. "i find it with each album there is a character and ive kinda been joking that they are like tarot characters and im like a private investigator throughout the album working it out . each character always has colours , elements , symbolism , moods and an emotional journey they go through ."
And over time, she gets better at expressing that, she says, and finds ways to make these stories more far-reaching. "the older i get i feel i am better with connecting it all things archetypal and therefore hopefully more universal and relatable ," she wrote. "if theres one thing we can def count on it is that we are all always going to be going thru some sort of emotional progression , doesnt matter what race sex or age so we might aswell ride on it ..... , doesnt matter how."
2. Autographs are out of the question.
User I_cant_read_so_good told Björk that they had actually sat next to her, her son and his girlfriend at a bar in downtown Reykjavik, and was intrigued that no one spoke to her or acknowledged she was there save for the occasional wave. Then, they asked: "Do you find that people leave you alone and don't hound you for selfies and autographs at home as opposed to when you're outside of Iceland?"
Björk thanked them for not bothering her and then suggested that asking for autographs is kind of a faux pas. "Thanks for leaving me be . yes in iceland we have not much hierarchy and noone is more important than the next one therefore autographs kinda silly . here it is matter of self respect , if u want an autograph make one yourself lol ."
3. She's the resident chef of the afterlife.
Speaking of sauce recipes, turns out that Björk is a formidable cook. In her briefest AMA question session, user balanced_view asked a two-part question: If Björk believed in the afterlife and if she also cooked. "Yes and I will cook there," she replied. In a way, it confirms what we always knew: That she knows something we don’t.
4. Björk likens creativity to a creature you have to sniff out.
In an emotive post, user eriel31 thanked Björk for her cathartic music, then asked about what the idiosyncratic musician does to garner inspiration and in the face writer's block. Björk replied with an alluring treatise on creativity and chasing down ideas, which involves treating it like a mercurial animal.
"i think creativity always lives somewhere in everyone but its nature is quite pranksterish and slippery and everytime u grab its tail its found a nu corner to thrive in . perhaps the trick is not to force it and put it up against a wall and want it to be in a particular area . but rather w a lot of kindness sniff it out and wonder where it has gone to this time around ."
This way of thinking applies to everything, not just music. "if its in sauce recipes , writing theatre plays , papermache improv w nephews , discovering nu hiking routes or simply trying to figure out a family members sense of humour . i def dont succeed in this all the time but feel overall things have been more fertile when i trust this creatures instincts and follow it rather than me willfully reforming it into a circus animal colouring by numbers . anyways : as much as youd like to ignore this animal u have to attend it . because if u dont them dark times turn up ....."
5. She's a huge fan of "Rupaul's Drag Race," especially since impressions of her pop up on the show.
Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, and Björk knows it. When user Mossmise asked her if she’d seen Katya's Snatch Game impression of her on "Rupaul’s Drag Race," she replied more than enthusiastically about the segment. "YESSSSSSSS i absolutely loved it ," Björk gushed. "especially when she started humming to herself ha ha ha ha selfishly i was hoping for a more current version like a vulnicura one lol but she nailed the feminist activist tribal volta sincerest form of flattery etc."