Last week marked the 30th anniversary of Bjork’s first solo album, Debut. On that same day, without knowing the history, I pulled The Hanged Man tarot card from the Movie Tarot deck. The card shows Bjork’s character from Dancer in the Dark hanging upside down, looking elvish, as she does. When I found out that the day was significant to her career, I felt inspired to dig deeper into her work and creative process to get a new perspective on my own - which is essentially the message of the hanged man card.
I have always thought that Bjork was inspiring because she seems so free and so masterful in what she does. It’s easy to see why people want to compare her performance style to the landscape of Iceland itself: explosive, ever-changing, surprising, mysterious, and beautiful.
What I found especially interesting in this documentary is that her style of sing-speaking, which sounds alien and totally new, is inspired by the old tradition of Icelandic folk storytelling. The above documentary explains that originally when Iceland was a Danish colony a few hundred years ago, music and singing was outlawed. Like all good new music, it was seen by the religious leadership as coming from the devil.
As a result, Icelanders relied heavily on storytelling to pass the time. They created the sagas and did a lot of oral storytelling as well. In order to read much of the oldest folk stories, there is a special cadence that sounds not unlike Bjork’s mix of talking and singing. Watch starting at 12:34 in the documentary to hear how the locals do it.
While Bjork is unique in what she does, I found the fact that her music finds roots in her culture heartening. She didn’t emerge complete from the frothy sea foam which means we as mere mortals we can also take inspiration from our backgrounds. From there it is up to us to expand it into our own brand of ethereal cosmic wonder.
Thinking about Bjork and her career, she has such a clear creative vision and seems to have a strong sense of self. Throughout the years, she has turned down opportunities to work with large record labels and is currently 100% self-producing, allowing her complete creative freedom with her music.
In order to be that clear and make space for yourself to operate outside of traditional structures, it feels like major energy judo needs to happen. To be that free as a person, it seems like you might have to create major boundaries between yourself and whatever might get in the way of your vision - press, the general public, friends, or family. It’s different for everyone what form their kryptonite takes.
For me personally, it’s a more nebulous allure of doing what I’m supposed to do that gets me. The safety in ‘knowing’ what is right and what’s wrong, and being safe in that container. Stepping outside of it opens you up to judgment, failure, and the potential for rejection.
Even as I write, this I’m wondering what this paragraph is supposed to sound like. What am I supposed to be offering my audience? It’s scarier to ask, what is it that I really want to say? What is it that I want out of my life? The answer is a pandora’s box of emotions and needs that you can’t unacknowledge once opened.
Phoebe Waller-Bridge, a hero of mine, articulates this feeling best in Season 2, Episode 4 of Fleabag. Her character, Fleagbag, sits for confession with Hot Priest played by Andrew Scott. Her confession is that she ultimately just wants to be told what to do. She says, “I want someone to tell me what to wear in the morning...what to eat, what to like, what to rage about, what to listen to, what band to like.”
What she’s talking about while unique to the character’s backstory, and is an interesting foil for Hot Priest who seemingly fled bad relationships for the cloth. (I need to write a separate post about my love of Fleabag.) But it’s also deeply relatable as the shadow side of having true freedom and more opportunities. The paradox of choice is that it leaves us with too many options and so many ways to choose the wrong one.
But back to Bjork and how she has navigated the world as nothing other than herself for so long. When you hear her talk about her music, Bjork’s choices feel one, anchored in herself and two, in relation with her surroundings. She responds to the landscape, to other music, to her own inner experience, and then just does her best most fearless version of Bjork.
While it will not be natural for everyone to be as out there as Bjork, what seems crucial about her strategy is to have a clear purpose for what is driving an artwork or series of work, then just do it the way that seems the most fun and true to yourself.
What would free you up right this second to make better art?
What would free me up? My day job. But it's also paying the bills, so... Love Bjork (can't make the umlaut here). Had the lovely opp to see her at the Hollywood Bowl a few years ago and she finished each song with the sweetest, "Sank queue." And "Fleabag". My gawd, the greatness. Love this, Sarah. Cheers! xo