7. “Pagan Poetry” – Bjork
(From the album Vespertine)
2001
Following the release of Homogenic Bjork took an acting role in Lars von Trier’s 2000 film Dancer In The Dark. As the main character in the film Bjork won the Best Actress Award at the Cannes Film Festival and was nominated for the same award at the Golden Globes. She was also nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Song for “I’ve Seen It All”, a duet with Radiohead’s Thom Yorke, that was from the film and released on Bjork’s soundtrack from the film titled Selmasongs. Bjork followed up her acting success by saying the process of acting was so emotionally and physically draining that she would never act again (a vow she has largely honored in spirit although she has taken some small roles in other films on rare occasions). Bjork quickly followed up Selmasongs with her next studio album Vespertine, an album that earned Bjork three more relatively successful singles, especially in the UK, Europe, and her native Iceland. The second of these singles was the haunting and beautiful “Pagan Poetry”. A partial factor in these singles being less successful in America was that the videos for both “Pagan Poetry” and “Cocoon” were banned by MTV, which had been one of Bjork’s biggest supporters in the past. Nevertheless, “Pagan Poetry” cracked the UK Top 40 and became a fan favorite. Bjork followed up Vespertine by releasing a greatest hits record. The release of this hits compilation seemed to mark a turning point for Bjork in her career. The albums Bjork released in the years since her 2002 Greatest Hits album have moved even further into the realm of the experimental and Bjork seems to have made a conscious decision to make music for herself (and large cult of fans) and not worry about chasing (or setting) trends to make pop hits. This doesn’t mean that Bjork’s 21st century albums are not worth listening to, if you liked her early records that this is a rabbit hole worth following her down, but the albums increasingly follow the whim of Iceland’s quixotic muse without thought to trends or fashion.
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