Björk: Last News

Björk has won the award for Best Live Performer at the 2023 Association of Independent Music Awards (AIM). Check out the final nominations below.Announced today (August 24), the Icelandic singer was announced the winner of the publicly-voted award for her ongoing ‘Cornucopia’ tour.She also fought off close competition from Beabadoobee and MUNA, as well as Japanese kawaii-metal girl group Babymetal.The award also comes in light of her 10th and latest studio album, ‘Fossora’, which arrived last September.

Shygirl has spoken to NME about having a friend, fan and collaborator in Björk, her Mercury Prize nod, and how “falling in love” is shaping her next album. Watch our video interview above.The London experimentalist was speaking at the launch of the Mercury Prize 2023, where her acclaimed 2022 debut ‘Nymph‘ was shortlisted alongside albums by the likes of Arctic Monkeys, J Hus, RAYE, Jockstrap, Young Fathers, Jessie Ware, Fred Again.. and more.Asked about how she was feeling to be among the shortlist, she replied: “I’m so torn, because half of me is like, ‘You totally deserve this’ and the other half is like, ‘I’m so grateful!’ That’s why Shygirl is like a juxtaposition in itself.

NMEspoke to Price, Hannibal Burress, The Aces and more on the red carpet of the American Association of Independent Music's Libera AwardsMargo Price offered up some advice to independent artists at the recent Libera Awards 2023 – urging them to “do no harm but take no shit”.Last Thursday (June 15), A2IM (The American Association of Independent Music) presented the Libera Awards at New York City’s Town Hall. This year’s event was hosted by comedian and rapper Hannibal Burress (aka Eshu Tune) with performances from Sudan Archives and more.

Björk lit up the sky over Coachella 2023 earlier this month by incorporating over 800 drones into her performance – you can now watch her performance here.Clips of her renditions of ‘I’ve Seen It All’ and ‘Hyperballad’ have now been officially released on Coachella’s YouTube channel.Initially, the set was scheduled to be livestreamed onto Coachella’s YouTube channel. However, in a controversial decision, both Björk and Frank Ocean’s performances were pulled from the schedule hours before they took to the stage.The career-spanning set, which saw Björk perform with an orchestra conducted by Bjarni Frímann, prioritised “simplicity” – according to the Icelandic singer – but also enlisted over 800 drones as a visual aid for the crowd.Check out ‘I’ve Seen It All’ and ‘Hyperballad’ below:The set also included fan favourites such as ‘Isobel’ and ‘Joga’ and saw the drones create green, blue and red displays that matched each performance.

Coachella 2023 Weekend 2 kicks off today (April 21), with Blink-182 headlining in Frank Ocean’s stead, followed (confusingly) by a festival-closing DJ set from Skrillex, Four Tet, and Fred Again... The undercard filled with FADER favorites: Björk, Weyes Blood, Alex G, Kali Uchis, GloRilla, Sudan Archives, Christine and the Queens, and others.

Björk incorporated over 800 drones into her performance at Coachella 2023 yesterday (Sunday April 16). Check out footage of the moment below, along with the full setlist.The career-spanning set, which saw Björk perform with an orchestra conducted by Bjarni Frímann, prioritised “simplicity” – according the Icelandic singer – but also enlisted over 800 drones as a visual aid for the crowd.Initially, the set was scheduled to be livestreamed onto Coachella’s YouTube channel.

Frank Ocean‘s highly anticipated headlining set at Coachella will not be livestreamed tonight.The set, which is still scheduled to take place as planned at the time of publishing, has been pulled from Coachella’s YouTube streaming schedule. This means only those in attendance at Coachella will be able to watch Ocean perform.YouTube has since confirmed the news, writing on Twitter: “Frank Ocean is not scheduled to appear on the Coachella livestream”.Frank Ocean is not scheduled to appear on the Coachella livestream.

Shygirl has shared a new version of ‘Woe’ featuring Björk.The track is taken from the deluxe edition of the artist’s debut album ‘Nymph’. Titled ‘Nymph_o’, the LP reissue contains the album’s original songs, now featuring a variety of remixes and new guest features.

Björk has revealed that Frank Ocean asked her to perform with him at Coachella 2023.The Icelandic singer-songwriter was being interviewed on the radio when she spoke about her excitement playing the upcoming edition of the music and arts festival in Indio, California that’s again held over two weekends this summer.“[Coachella] is going to be a fun challenge,” Björk told Rás 2 radio last month, according to translations and recordings of her interview by people on Twitter.“I’m going to take a bit of a risk and I’m going to have Orkestral. Just strings and me.

Moby has revealed that he has previously tried to start metal bands with Björk, Tommy Lee and Dimebag Darrell.The New York-born singer-songwriter/producer recently participated in NME‘s ‘Does Rock ‘N’ Roll Kill Braincells?!’ quiz following the release of his new documentary film Punk Rock Vegan Movie.To kick off the Q&A interview, NME asked Moby if he could remember the name of the supergroup he almost formed with Mötley Crüe drummer Lee, and Pantera‘s Dimebag Darrell and Vinnie Paul.“[Laughs] The Sober Fucks,” he responded. “I’ve been sober for a while now, but this was a late-night, alcohol-fuelled idea between Pantera’s guitarist Dimebag Darrell, drummer Vinnie Paul, Tommy Lee and I.”Moby continued: “I regret not starting this chaotic metal band with them, which would have sounded like a cross between Pantera and my old punk group Flipper.”NME then pressed the musician on whether he had ever approached any other artists to start an extracurricular band with.“In the early ’90s, I was having brunch with Björk and said: ‘We should start a heavy metal band together’,” Moby recalled.

Speaking to NME in this week’s Big Read interview, the Icelandic music icon opened up about her time spent at home throughout the COVID pandemic, which gave her a sense of routine that she hadn’t experienced in decades.“I did have a wonderful period for two years, which is the longest I’ve been in Iceland without once having to go to an airport since I was 16,” she said.“That was pretty cool. It was a really good feeling, physically – that sense of just shooting down roots out of my feet and getting grounded.”She continued: “You get self-sufficient when you are denied travel.

Björk has spoken to NME about the sexism often levelled against her and Kate Bush, as well as how the recent success of the latter’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ shows a clear change in attitudes.The Icelandic icon was speaking to NME for the week’s Big Read cover story when she described her enthusiasm for Gen-Z’s “radical” and evolving attitudes towards matters including the environment and gender equality.Discussing how she “can’t even start to describe” her happiness at Bush’s 1985 hit ‘Running Up That Hill’ dominating the charts again after being featured in the most recent season of Stranger Things, Björk recalled how dismissive male critics once were of the ‘Hounds Of Love’ star.Explaining how critics throughout the ’80s and ’90s were often pre-occupied with “rock guys” singing about “tits, beer and heroin abuse”, she felt that “writing from a woman’s point of view was considered a lesser artform”.“I was always quite offended by how often Kate Bush was written about like she was insane or a crazy witch – or me being a crazy elf,” Björk told NME. “We are producers.

Björk has shared the title song from her forthcoming album, ‘Fossora‘, featuring Kasimyn.The sprightly new single is centred on a woodwind rhythm before the song breaks down into a cacophony of sound. Listen below.It follows ‘Atopos‘, ‘Ovule‘ and ‘Ancestress‘, all of which have been released over the course of the last month to preview ‘Fossora’, which arrives this Friday (September 30).The Icelandic musician’s 10th album is the follow-up to 2017’s ‘Utopia’.In a recent interview with The Guardian Björk discussed how her new album concerns the death of her mother in 2018.Two songs from the record, ‘Sorrowful Soil’ and ‘Ancestress’, are said to be direct tributes to the singer’s mother, Hildur Rúna Hauksdóttir.On the latter track, she sings: “The machine of her breathed all night while she rested/ Revealed her resilience/ And then it didn’t.”Addressing her mother’s death at the age of 72, the singer added: “That’s quite early.

Björk has shared a new single called ‘Ancestress’ – you can listen to it below.The song serves as the latest preview of the Icelandic artist’s 10th studio album ‘Fossora’, which is due for release on September 30 via One Little Independent Records (pre-order here).‘Ancestress’ is one of two tracks on the upcoming record that Björk wrote about her late mother, the other being ‘Sorrowful Soil’.Writing on social media today (September 22), the singer explained that she penned the deeply personal new cut “just after her wordly [sic] funeral”, adding “[It] is probably a common musician’s reaction, the impulse of making your version of the story, later.”Björk continued: “This song is a letter to my mother, her story seen from my point of view. It is written in chronological order, the first verse is my childhood and so on.”She went on to say that ‘Ancestress’ was “probably somehow inspired by an Icelandic song [called] ‘Grafskrift’, which is somehow a very direct and patriarchal account of someone’s life”.“I probably wanted to approach this in a more feminine way, her biological and emotional story, not her professions, partners or dates of birth and death,” Björk said.The artist’s son, Sindri Eldon, arranged and sang vocals for the verses on the new single, she explained, “as he has a delicious voice and was very close to [my mother]”.‘Ancestress’ arrives with a ritualistic official video by director Andrew Thomas Huang – watch above.In the remainder of the statement, Björk opened up about her feelings towards funerals and death on the whole.

Sugarcubes drummer Siggi Baldursson has spoken of his time working with Björk, including the time she tried out the song ‘Human Behaviour’ with the band.Björk enjoyed international success with the Icelandic post-punk band before they disbanded in 1992 and she went on to release her first solo album ‘Debut’ in 1993. That album’s lead single ‘Human Behaviour’ started life when she wrote the melody in her younger years, and later brought it to sessions with The Sugarcubes.Speaking to Uncut for a wider cover interview with Björk for their November issue,  Baldursson recalled his years of working with the artist – having first witnessed her performing with punk band Tappi Tíkarrass in 1981.pic.twitter.com/QQd7YcyEv4— Uncut Magazine (@uncutmagazine) September 15, 2022“Björk was just 16, but even in soundcheck, it was pure performance,” he said.

Björk has shared a video for new song "Atopos." The single is the first release from upcoming album Fossora, announced last month. In a tweet about the song, Björk said "Atopos" is "a good intro .... kinda like Fossora´s passport.

Björk has shared a brand new single called ‘Atopos’ – you can listen to it below.The song serves as the first preview of the Icelandic artist’s 10th studio album ‘Fossora’, which is due to arrive on September 30 via One Little Independent Records (pre-order here).“Could you please play it loudly?” Björk asked fans on Twitter today (September 6) upon releasing her abrasive, bass-heavy latest offering.“The lyrics are inspired by what Roland Barthes described as the unclassifiable OTHER ‘our differences are irrelevant our union is stronger than us’.”In a separate tweet, Björk explained: “[‘Atopos’ is] sonically a heavy bottom-ended bass world. We have six bass clarinets, punchy sub-drilling, nesting and digging us into the ground.”The surreal official video for the single – directed by Viðar Logi – follows Björk as she parties in an otherworldly fungal environment.

Björk has shared details of her forthcoming album, Fossorra, which will be her first in five years. The record will arrive on September 30, and you can see the cover art above.

Björk has shared the artwork of her upcoming new album ‘Fossora’, and shared more details on its themes.The singer’s upcoming 10th album – the follow-up to 2017’s ‘Utopia’ – was announced during a recent interview. It’s due for release this autumn via One Little Independent Records, though an exact date is not yet known.After revealing that the album’s first single is called ‘Atopos’, the singer has now shared the artwork and pre-order details for ‘Fossora’, as well as a statement outlining more of the album’s themes.“each album always starts with a feeling that i try to shape into sound,” she wrote on Instagram today (August 31).

Björk has launched a new podcast series in which she’ll reflect on the creation of each of her studio albums.The first three episodes of Björk: Sonic Symbolism will be released next Thursday (September 1), delving into the worlds of ‘Debut’ (1993), ‘Post’ (1995) and ‘Homogenic’ (1997) respectively.Additional instalments will follow album-by-album on a weekly basis until October 13.In a statement, Björk described her forthcoming podcast venture as “an experiment to capture which moods, timbres, and tempos were vibrating during each of these phases” of her career.“Most of us go through phases in our lives that take roughly three years, and it is not a coincidence this is also how long it takes to make an album or a film,” the Icelandic artist continued.“When I get asked about the differences of the music of my albums, I find it quickest to use visual short cuts. That’s kind of why my album covers are almost like homemade tarot cards.”Listen to a teaser below.The musician went on: “The image on the front might seem like just a visual moment, but for me it is simply describing the sound of it.

Björk has announced a new single called ‘Atopos’ and posted the official artwork for her upcoming 10th album, ‘Fossora’.The Icelandic artist shared the news of the record – the follow-up to 2017’s ‘Utopia’ – during a recent interview with The Guardian. It’s due for release this autumn via One Little Independent Records, though an exact date is not yet known.In the aforementioned article, the ‘Fossora’ cover was described as an image of the singer portraying “a glowing forest sprite, her fingertips fusing with the fantastic fungi under her hooves”.Today (August 24), Björk has revealed the art on her social media channels – check it out below.