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"Utopia" is a song by Björk from her tenth studio album, Utopia.
Background[]
"Utopia" is written by Björk and Arca, and produced by both. The song is build up of flutes, birdsongs and beats. The birdsongs were sampled from the track "Gran Sabana" off Jean C. Roché's 1973 album Oiseaux du (Birds of) Vénézuéla.[1][2] The birds taken from this sample are the crested oropendola and the screaming piha, both found in South America.
The song is Björk's created world where she went to heal from her break-up with ex-partner Mathew Barney, which was processed on her previous album, Vulnicura.
It can also be noted that this is the first titular track on the main line of Björk albums.
In an interview with NY Times, Björk said she was inspired by a Chinese tale called Peach Blossom Spring.
And you escape to an island, and there’s a lot of women there with children, and everybody’s playing flutes, and everybody’s naked, and there’s all these plants you’ve never seen before and all these birds you’ve never heard before, and orchids, and it has that feeling of pioneering into a new world.[3]
This idyllic world can be seen on the music video for the song which was released on December 8, 2017.
In the light of her 2021 Orchestral livestream concerts, Björk explained the song:
"Utopia is a scifi offer for a new world. It is about women and children arriving to an island starting a new without agression, violence, an optimistic-post-apocalyptic manifesto: the birds might have merged with the flowers and humans become flute mutants, but it is harmonious and hopeful. I wanted the flute arrangement to represent this kinda weaving."
Lyrics[]
Bird species never seen or heard before |
Reference[]
- ↑ "Jean C. Roché - Oiseaux du Venezuela". YouTube.
- ↑ Utopia (liner notes), 2017.
- ↑ Pareles, Jon (November 14, 2017). "Björk’s New Album Is a Love Letter to Optimism". The New York Times.