Bjork first began drawing consideration throughout her time because the lead singer of alt-rock band, the Sugarcubes. After the band broke up in 1992, Bjork set to work on her solo profession. A yr later, she launched her debut album, the aptly named Debut. It was an immediate sensation with each critics and the general public. Two years later, she adopted it up with the much more outstanding Put up. Since then, the singer has launched a handful extra albums, all distinctive, all splendidly bizarre, and all important listening. Right here’s how we rank all of the Bjork albums from worst to greatest.
9. Medúlla
Contemplating all of Björk’s progressive endeavors, it feels unlucky that her most formidable idea falls flat on its face. Alluring at instances, and definitely spectacular in its scope, Medúlla isn’t totally with out its deserves. It’s only a disgrace that most individuals don’t essentially need to take heed to an album wherein individuals shriek, whisper, and beatbox instead of devices. A formidable effort, possibly, however not essentially an pleasurable one. Regardless of that, it nonetheless managed to promote nicely, hitting No. 14 on the US Billboard 200, No. 9 on the UK Albums Chart, and getting into the highest 20 in quite a few different international locations.
8. Volta
There’s a lot to admire about Bjork’s 2007 album, Volta. The galvanizing Wanderlust and the ominous Vertebrae by Vertebrae are, artistically at the least, jaw-dropping. The issue, as Slant Journal says, is that none of it’s a lot enjoyable, even abstractly. There’s solely a lot weirdness {that a} listener can take, and Volta pushes most individuals previous their restrict inside the first couple of tracks. It was nonetheless an enormous industrial success, changing into her first and solely album to succeed in the highest ten on the Billboard 200 and promoting over half 1,000,000 copies worldwide within the first three months of its launch alone.
7. Biophilia
Bjork’s seventh studio album was launched in October 2011 to large important acclaim. A number of publications named it one of the best album of the yr, it bought nominated for 2 Grammys, and debuted within the Prime 40 of each chart it entered. Described by Mike Diver of the BBC as “mesmerizing” and “a tremendous, ingenious and wholly distinctive eighth album from an artist with out peer,” it’s an album that delves into the darkish aspect to chilling impact. The poppier moments sound incongruous, however these apart, it’s a outstanding album.
6. Utopia
At over 70 minutes lengthy, Utopia is an album that calls for endurance. It’s additionally one which deserves respect. The painful breakup that knowledgeable the theme of Vulnicura is once more explored, albeit from a unique angle (to provide you an thought, Bjork referred to Vulnicura as her heartbreak album and Utopia as her Tinder album). The austerity and ache of Vulnicura are gone, changed with a way of playfulness and pleasure. Launched in November 2017, it charted at No. 75 within the US and No. 20 within the UK, later receiving a nomination for Greatest Various Music Album on the 61st Annual Grammy Awards.
5. Vulnicura
Vulnicura won’t be Bjork’s greatest album, but it surely’s very presumably her most human. Bjork described it as “a extra conventional album than Biophilia for what issues songwriting. It’s about what might come to an individual on the finish of a relationship. It talks concerning the dialogues we might have in our heads and in our hearts, the therapeutic processes.” Disorientating at instances, overwhelming at others, however by no means something lower than rawly, desperately emotional, it met with widespread important acclaim on its launch, with many critics calling it her greatest work in a decade. It reached No. 20 on the Billboard 200 and entered the highest 40 in a number of different international locations.
4. Vespertine
For a singer identified for her shrieks, Vespertine finds Bjork in an unusually hushed temper. Her voice barely raises above a whisper as she waxes lyrical about monogamy and domesticity. Lyrically, it’s one in every of her most simple albums but, however she nonetheless manages to inject loads of her trademark weirdness into proceedings, even creating micro beats from family appears like cracking ice and shuffling playing cards. Launched in August 2001, its intimate temper and sonic improvements met with important and industrial success in equal measure.
3. Debut
Debut obtained a combined reception when it was launched, with British music critics praising it to the excessive heavens however American critics being extra reserved of their reward. The general public ate it up, sending it to No. 2 in Iceland, No. 3 within the UK, and No. 61 within the US. It’s since licensed platinum within the US to develop into Bjork’s best-selling album within the nation. It’s not a flawless album, and the ballads aren’t in the identical class as these from her later initiatives. However the dance singles are epic sufficient to make the failings appear totally irrelevant. She’d go on to make higher albums, however Debut stays an astonishing introduction.
2. Put up
For her second album, Bjork continued to delve into the identical mixture of digital and dance kinds she’d explored on Debut, however this time round, there are additionally touches of jazz, industrial, and ambient. An amazingly experimental album, it might have fallen flat on its face from the load of Bjork’s ambition. As a substitute, it soared, even managing to outdo her beautiful debut. What it lacks in cohesiveness, it makes up for in whimsy, with Bjork’s forward-thinking artistry bringing the disparate components collectively into one magnificent complete. Launched in June 1995, it peaked at No. 2 within the UK. No. 1 in Iceland, and No. 32 within the US.
1. Homogenic
On 20 September 1997, Bjork dropped her third studio album. Contemplating the energy of her two earlier releases, expectations had been using excessive. To say Homogenic met them can be an understatement. Described by All Music as a “fusion of chilly strings, stuttering, summary beats, and distinctive touches,” the album was on a unique aircraft to its predecessors. In truth, it was on a unique aircraft to anything that was popping out on the time. Breathtakingly distinctive, splendidly experimental, and fantastically conceived, it stands as one of many best albums of each its style and its period.
You may also learn: