Yanky_Doodle_Dickwad :
Hej Björk,
Mod from /r/Bjork here. I used to be very serious about listening to music. With the years I have found I feel the best next to simpler music, less orchestrated or contrived. Since you have travelled so many variants of music, setting your career aside, and talking your own taste for listening, do you ever find you want to simplify and just cut back to one instrument one voice, or even just the voice ? Is it even possible to seperate your taste from your carreer ?
By the way, if you find time to click, please pop over to /r/bjork just to say a big Hi. They know you’re here and will come over, but it would be nice to see a hello from you over there : your unwitting place on reddit ! (cough I did the css graphics cough). Either way all the users in /r/Bjork definitely say hi. But no gushing !
Björk :
very interesting question ... i feel w most of my albums and concerts i will strip down to a sparse place w an acoustic instrument and in free time to try to make sure this connection and this simplicity is respected at least once ..... or even in songs like "history of touches" or " desired constellation" that are electronic but perhaps try for a poetic simplicity versus complex arrangement structures ..... ?
but overall i like both ... maybe because everyday life has both ... u have days where u stay at home listen to music and read a book or days where u hike for a whole day and then u have days where todo lists , cooking , errands and the often complicated synchronising of the emotions of family / friends take over that seem to match with more complicated arrangements ?
i am grateful to u for moderating /r/bjork
balanced_view :
Do you believe in an afterlife ?
Also, can you cook ?
Björk :
yes and i will cook there
SwatchQuatch :
Hello Björk ! When you are performing a song, do you pull from the original emotions that led you to write it, or are you actually reliving those emotions ? How do you approach that on tour ? Thank you very much.
Björk :
i think it depends on the song ... some songs are almost like timeloops and pull u into them when the first notes start . other are more translucent and can weave into them the day and the moment u sing them in . like on a gig some take u back but others easily just add to the particular day u perform them on . as a song writer u usually aim for the first type . u try to write a simple but timeless structure , a vessel that is so thousand percent only one emotional location that it is impossible to bend it . and therefore has more interesting entrypoints for listeners . but most of the time u dont succeed , u just do your best and most of the time while youre writing them u dont know if your song has this element or not .... ? but thats def the reason why it remains exciting to perform them because u never really know .... which ones are gonna be relevant and which ones not ....
Mossmise :
Hi,
you said recently in an interview that you watch Rupaul’s Drag Race, did you see Katya’s Snatch Game impression of you ?
Björk :
YESSSSSSSS i absolutely loved it , 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
ANGUSRAZE :
omg imagine Declare Independence in a lip sync for your life i am screaming
Björk :
PLLLLLLLEEEEEAAAAAAASSSEEEEEEEEEE
MournersBench :
Hi Bjork !
How did you meet Zach Hill and the other members of Death Grips ? How do you think the project you worked together on turned out ?
Thanks and much love !
Björk :
i basically got obsessed with guillotine , the video the song everything !!!!! deathgrips did 2 remixes or remakes to be more accurate of biophilia that were my faves and we have been in touch ever since !!! i just love their punk spirit and admire the whole lack of genre they do
i_cant_read_so_good :
Hi Björk !
My girlfriend and I sat next to you, your son and his girlfriend at K-Bar in downtown Reykjavik. I was intrigued by how no one bothered you. The occasional hand wave in your direction was pretty cute from people walking by.
My question is, 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 ? Takk fyír !
Björk :
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 .
but also i like a lot how more known people are allowed to be different in how they communicate w their listeners . some people wanna do selfies and some write app albums and wanna teach children music and some do heavy metal tour 300 gigs a year crowdsurf kinda contact , whatever works right ?
and i feel overall in life for everyone : if u get to choose how u are generous u can give the most ? and i think over all the years people in reykjavik and my fans know that that if they respect my personal life and leave me be w my family and friends i will have more equilibrium and be able to write more songs and give way way way more . so its a win win situation !!!!
CypressBreeze :
About meter : You have stated that often you compose while walking in Nature, so it makes sense to me why you have often used 4/4 meter, because it is walking meter, it has a strong sense of humanity. Now, with songs like Atom Dance and Moon, you have been writing in some really interesting meters, which is really, really enjoyable for listeners like myself. For example, the 5/4 of Atom Dance felt like a waltz to me, but somehow beyond human, it felt like the love of a best friend jumpstarting your heart back into happiness. I think that the wonderful choice and really successful use of the 5/4 meter made that song really come to life for me. And Moon’s meter 17/8 meter sounds crazy when I try to explain it to people, but when they listen everyone is impressed at how natural and wonderful the meter feels. (I love using the Biophilia app to teach my friends about meter in music.) And the use of changing meter in Crystalline really does help map out different shaped emotional spaces.
Needless to say, this is really an exciting dimension for the audience in your compositions, but how has the experience of writing in these somewhat unusual meters been for you ? What kinds of meter are you using to describe "heaven/utopia" in your new work ?
Björk :
thank u !!! what an interesting question !! ( ha ha ha ha always say that when its beyond me and i actually dont know how to answer it ha ha ha ) but yes , 4/4 is very human bipedal and atom dance was def an attempt to tap into the atoms rotating and the celebrational element of sufi or the icelandic or northern equivalent of it : vikivaki . these are cyclical round dances and i felt the pentagonic 5/4 was very appropriate somehow ? moon was def intentionally wanting to include the eternal spacious space of space and with such odd numbers celebrate the irregularity of it and perhaps taps into the emotional meaning of the tarot card "the moon" which is kinda possessed and water like , absolutely no grid at all !! sometimes borderline hysteria but overall the liquid shape of our feelings being prime here , def ignoring all boxes and squares of the four corners of 4/4 ha ha ha ha
tabbyirvin :
Björk, With all of the VR stuff you have been doing lately for Vulnicura, which I am so so grateful to have experienced in Sydney by the way, there have been a bunch of fans that continuously comment negative and unnecessary things on your social media posts ; stuff such as "stop wearing masks ! we want to see your face" or "release a new album. NOW !!!" (Even though Vulnicura was literally released last year, duh selfish brats !) and although it’s only a small group of people that are rude to you, I wonder if it bothers you in some way still ? As amazing as you are, you’re human and some fans forget that. My question is, do you ever feel like you give so much to us fans and some of the selfish ones just take and take with no "thank you" for all of you and your teams hard work ? Do you ever just want to say "that’s it ! I’ve given enough to you guys and now I’m gonna keep it to myself, screw you all !" ? Or do negative comments not affect you, and why not if so ? Also thank you for everything, and everyone that has been a part of your career, since I was 5 (I’m 17) I don’t go a day without singing one of your songs or listening to your music, your music is amazing and addictive and I wish I could repay you in some way that was more than just buy your music ! Thanks for your time Xx Tabby Irvin
Björk :
thank u
i think i have come to understand because my attention span is small and every album of mine is different that there will always be voices saying oh but you should make another album like the last one . every album ive done thats happened . when i did debut they wanted the sugarcubes when i did post they wanted debut when i did homogenic they wanted post and so on . i have toured a lot and that has taken time from my musicwriting occasionally so im really keen on trying to write the best songs i can now ....... but if i tour people want me to make albums and if i make albums people want me to tour ..... so there prob will be odd voices not happy about that ..... but perhaps its a form of compliment ? that they actually still have enthusiasm about what i do ? but yes , vulnicura came out a year and a half ago and actually came out 2 months earlier than we intented because of the leak sooooooooooooooooooo not THAT much time has passed between ..... ?
_usernameusername :
You seem to break all the rules and make the music you want to make. In the industry did you ever feel pressured to conform ? or you were always given creative freedom ?
Björk :
i prob was lucky because as a teenager in reykjavik nothing was going on . so we kinda had to make it up ourselves and release it ourselves . so when i have been introduced to restricting claustrophobic routes ive kinda just ignored them . because knew they werent true . and selling 3 copies dont scare me , more important to stay true to my nature .... ? also coming from punk background corporate companies where the enemy . it is really very clear . and more simple really
tommehrtens :
Hey Bjork,
Your costumes, masks and wigs are so stunning and ever changing throughout your albums. Do the costumes specifically relate to the album you’re working on at the time or is it more related to your frame of mind as opposed to a musical connection ?
Thanks
Björk :
thank u !! def . 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 . the older i get i feel i am better with connecting it all things archetypal and therefore hopefully more universal and relatable . 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
eriel31 :
hello bjork ! i love you so so much and your music has really helped through some of the dark times i went through. i religiously listen to pagan poetry and your lyrics really resonate with me. which is what i want to ask you, what would you advice me (who is an aspiring songwriter) do ? how do you usually get your inspiration ? what do you do when you’re in a writers block ? thank you very much for everything, its safe to say that i am alive and well right now mostly because of you and i wouldve had given up a long time ago if it hadnt been for your music.
Björk :
thank u !!!!!!! 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 . 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 .....
