Björk Facebook Q&A

Dazed & Confused, 10 juin 2015


Hey Björk ! I hope you’re doing well. I love the Stonemilker 360° virtual reality music video. My 13 year old brother loved that it moved with him when he moved. What inspired you to be so intimate with us with this video ? Thank you, have a wonderful day.
Björk  : i guess it was a combination of things ... i felt it suited the song ... cause your trying to reach out to someone ... also i love new toys and figuring out what their strengths are emotionally ... and it seems like VR is good at intimacy even more intimate than "reality" ( no wonder porn got hooked ) so it was kinda an experiment in this

Hi Björk, you’ve often said in past interviews that you still haven’t managed to pin down the exact music you hear in your head (I’m paraphrasing). Do you still feel the same way ? Do you feel that you are closer towards writing down this head-music ?

I ask this because I find your latest album Vulnicura to be ’pure instinct’ when I’m listening to it—in terms of composition and melody. It’s something that can be found on all your previous albums but is most obvious here, at least for me. So I was wondering if this ’pure instinct’ in your recent songs is because of subject matter or because your song-writing process has evolved over the years ? How has it evolved ? Hope I’m not being too presumptuous in my questions !

Sending you all the tropical warmth from Singapore !
thank you ... i feel i have moments when get close to it but then it changes all the time .... so what could be a good mockup of your interior in march might not necessarily be true in june ......

Hello Björk, your concerts in NY were fantastic ; we european people are very jealous, do you plan to perform in a small venue in France too ? such as small places or an intimate theatre ? We have a beautiful new place called Philharmonie de Paris... This place seems to be just perfect for you and your musicians, especially strings ensemble.
thank you ... we are now trying to find the right places to play there ... vulnicura is fragile and not exactly festival material but i think it is sometimes just about finding the right angle

Dear Björk,where do you get the ideas for such stunning videos ?..and how do you convey your inner most feelings to a video director or stylist ? Thank you @bjork
thank you .... the songs usually run the show and kinda what they need .... it is usually obvious to me impulsive big clues like colours and shapes and then the emotion , for example if it is narrative or distant , intimate or universal and so on ..... 95% of the time i "style" myself .... i dont look at it as styling actually ... more like a murder mystery solving which character is on each album ..... the directors : i have different relationship with each director and different way of communicating with each one ... the funnest thing can be to figure out where the natural overlap is ... between to people making things ...

Hi Bjork. How do you decide on the artwork for an album ? Do you have a clear idea in your mind when composing the music how you want the whole package to look visually ? Or is it something that just comes naturally after the writing process is complete ?
usually the visuals come slowly during writing and then when the music is done i can see it more from the outside and i start to move slowly emotionally away from the songs i can better see them from the outside and figure out how to dress this thing

Hi Bjork ! You said in an interview that working with Arca brought a lot of positive energy to the table, although he has always been a fan of your music. I was wondering... Although it must be difficult to deal with the disadvantages of fame, did this experience with Alejandro helped you to look at your fanbase in a different perspective ? Hugs & bugs from Italy xoxo
definitely .... i have made some incredible friends last couple of years that kinda knew my music first before me ... in the past that has been a bit tricky for me ... i can be a bit too purist sometimes ...... but with someone like alejandro i feel more like both of us is attending this same fucked up greedy musical tree branch ....... its not even about us !!!!

hi björk - i hope you like strange questions - first i would like you to picture in your head the following apocalyptical scenario - a new virus is quickly spreading between humans and causing everyone in the world to go permanently blind and deaf. luc...Voir plus
HEARING OBSLY

Dear Björk. I was wondering if you would comment on the recent MoMA exhibition ? I was lucky enough to get to see it a few times and each time I found myself being even more blown away by the sound systems installed for the show. Especially in the the two theaters. It seemed like the people who wrote about the show missed this amazing element of it. Thank you !
yes , i definitely witnessed like people totally polarizing : there were like sound and tech and music nerds that loved it and were like : FINALLY and then there were the more conceptual feelings-are-a-weakness-posse that felt it was a sacrilige .... so it was like ear and heart versus eyes and brain . i like both personally , would hate to have to choose

Hello Björk, we hope that the Black Lake/Stonemilker installations will travel soon ! Can you reveal their next destinations ? Is showing these videos in museums (or other places) excites you more than streaming them on the web ? You once said that architecture, cities, never really cared about sounds ; it could be an opportunity in that sense
we are dreaming about traveling with the new songs both in a VR context and exploring also a real 360 thing .... but i think i dont have time to attend the older albums ..... sorry , lifes too short

What lasting impact do you hope that your presence/work has ?
What more do you hope to experience through your life/vocation ?
Björk HOPE
a tight tango with it

How is the evolution of music education within schools, developing, with the use of the Biophilia App and do you plan to create further elements to include into your contribution towards it ?
we are still doing a big project with all of scandinavia so proably when i get back to iceland ( tomorrow ) well get back on that . we are refining a curriculum that could work everywhere , some sort of biophilia

how did the idea for death grips - niggas on the moon come about ?
they invited me .... zach is a good friend and we kinda bounce ideas back and forth

You seem to work with a very wide range of producers. Some well known and some less so. How do you decide upon who you’d like to work with ?
i write most of my stuff on my own ... for example when i worked with alejandro i had written for 14 months by myself first
but then i love love love to merge too
it kinda answers itself usually kinda like friendships
either they flow naturally and have an internal drive and enthusiasm
or they dont
but im all for solving riddles too and ive def worked with a lot of people for a long time where we have had ups and downs
sometimes after like the 3rd ups and downs you start getting the REAL fruits

I saw you at gov ball this year and had the most exciting time, especially because of your song choice. How did you go about choosing your set list for this show ?
i had monitor issues so i could have driven this songchoice even deeper through .... i am going to go for a more improved one in manchester
i was kinda going for the finger pointing songs like 5 years ha ha ha ha ha but edited the setlist first in garageband : wanted to get a good bpm ramp rise

Will there be a South American tour for Vulnicura ?
yes , hopefully next spring , i really really want to go to mexico
columbia , venezuela
name it

What song was the technically most difficult to produce to you ?
it probably took me longest to do the vocal and string arrangement of mouth mantra but that was kinda fun though
family was the riddle we solved last .... also the string sound in quicksand ended up being a diva ha ha ha ha ha who would have thought ?

What is your connection with the LGBT community ? Your new remix series seems to be titled "go matriarchs go". Can you amplify ?
well i noticed by accident that there was only one heterosexual male remixing ...... so it was kinda of an injoke .... i think with things like this it cant be intentional ... it has to be about music .... these people are simply the ones that are turning me most on at the moment

Dear Björk, Vulnicura, it is a masterpiece ! Will there be further music videos to its tracks and if so, which one(s) might see the release ?
yes ..... couple of more on their way

have you ever written a song that is only for you ? sung for yourself, played for yourself, never for anyone else ?
DEF

Do you listen to MC Brinquedo in your daily life ??
yes , alejandro intriduced me to him

his lyrics are misogynistic though bjork - just sayin’.

I’ve always admired you’re taste in fashion and I’ve been wondering are you discovering new designers and clothes by yourself or do you have a lot of people who approach you with their designs ?
its a bit of both .... i still kinda find stuff with the help of my assistant james merry and then a lot of folks approach me

Hi Björk ! The Black Lake teaser is very different from the final version screened at the MoMA. And the online version offers also a different edit. What happened during the editing process - did you change your mind through it ? The audio edit seems different aswell, was it purely to suit the video form or you wanted to use another version ?
i think me and andrew kept wanting the song to be rawer and rawer and more and more without special effects : to go totally "ingmar bergman" on it . so the "book cover" ended up being a book cover ..... i kinda insisted on doing long takes in this song ... its such a weird song and still a mystery to me ... it has very precise needs and not everything goes with it
like your stern older serious aunt ha ha ha ha ha

will there be more european non-festival gigs this year ?
yesss

You played Rihanna at your St. Vitus gig two weeks ago and sang along to the song. What does Björk think about her ? Thank you.
i absolutely adore her

Hi Björk. What does it feel to encourage artistic rebellion through music and where do you get inspiration from ?
ill take that as a compliment ......... not boring things if that makes any sense ? if im bored , its wrong

will there be more european non-festival gigs this year ?
yesss

Hello Bjork. Please can you come and perform in South Africa ?
yesssss

How do you manage to be practical, rational and extremely focused on your work but at the same time being emotionally open to all the feelings ?
thank you , that s very flattering ..... i wish i could agree to this , ha ha ha ha ha .... im just trying to juggle all those things like the rest of us .....

How has it been to transform your singing style and the way your voice has matured throughout the years ? What period of time do you think it was the most interesting in regards to your voice and the way it developed ?

i like how it is changing !!! it is interesting to try to document all the different periods ..... i feel some quirky ones might be coming up : my 3 note shaman redwine album ha ha ha

Have you ever thought about writing or directing a film ?
never say never but id def not write or direct .... there is simply so little time

What can young student painters and illustrators do to push the boundaries in the ever-competitive creative industries- like you have with your music ?
find your own voice

Dazed and Confused Magazine : The Q&A is now closed ! Thanks for all your questions + thanks Björk

publié dans Dazed & Confused