A couple of great pieces on Björk have come out this week, to coincide with the release of her new album, Vulnicura. The first, a teaser from Pitchfork to a full interview by Jessica Hopper due out next month:
Over the few hours that we talked, she became emotional whenever we broached the album’s core themes. The pall would lift immediately, though, whenever she touched on the music that had pulled her back into the light: befriending and exchanging ideas with the album’s Venezuelan co-producer, Arca, waking up to mixes by anarchic DJ Total Freedom, her lifelong love of Chaka Khan, Joni Mitchell, and Kate Bush, her desire to stand up for her female peers. Vulnicura may be the most tender-hearted work Björk has ever issued, but it also finds her most sure of her power as a woman, a producer, and an artist; all of her invisible work made clear.
It’s already been doing the rounds based on this quote:
Everything that a guy says once, you have to say five times.
I admit I really deeply hoped that she was talking about her early days, but the context makes it clear that that’s not the case. Hard to believe, and upsetting, with a talent as great as hers.