Bjork - Joga

"This state of emergency
How beautiful to be"

Album: Homogenic
Recorded: Malaga, Spain
Genre: Art Pop, Electronic, IDM
Album Release: September 22nd 1997 [3rd album]
Single Release: September 15th 1997 [1st album]
Length: 5:06
Producer: Bjork, Mark Bell
Vocals: Bjork [age 31]
Label: Elektra Records, One Little Indian Records

Music video


Live on Later with Jools Holland

Charts

Spotify: Over 30 million
YouTube Music: Over 11 million 

Credits

Cello, electronic drums, keyboards, orchestrator, viola, violin

Details

• Bjork struggled to write the lyrics and was only happy with them after seeking the aid of her long time collaborator Sjon.
• This is her first record with Mark Bell as producer and has a distinctly more uniform approach than her previous efforts. The songs also have a chillier, almost icy feel.  
  
• The 'Joga' from the title is a nickname used to refer to Bjork's friend Johanna Johannsdottir. The song is dedicated to her.
• The video is directed by Michel Gondry.
  
• After a time living in London, Bjork wanted to write songs that reminded her of Iceland's natural beauty. Romantic, proud and glacial, the song was written in a way that was anthemic and reminiscent of her homeland's spirit.
  
• The song has parts with Bjork singing in Icelandic. In these sections she gives herself space to improvise and often the words are gibberish.
  
  
• "I think that song is several things. At the time, I was going to move to London for a couple of months to record an album. I ended up doing two records and touring the world. I’d never been so long away from Iceland, so when I started preparing for Homogenic, it was very obviously supposed to be a love album to Iceland's nature. I’d learned enough about studios and beats to make modern Icelandic pop music. It isn’t Icelandic music trying to be English or American. I was doing a lot of experimenting with beats trying to make them sound volcanic." (Bjork talking to Record Collector in 2002)
  

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