Bjork: If a Woman Isn’t Singing About a Man, She’s Irrelevant…

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Bjork is now blasting sexism in the music industry.  But if you don’t sing like Taylor Swift, can you still survive as a female musician?  Here’s what Bjork just posted on Facebook.

dear little miss media

!!!! happy winter solstice !!!

as you know the majority of my career i havent moaned about sexism and just got on with it.

but im feeling there is an enormous positive current in the sky, a flow with possible changes.

so i wanted to mention one thing.

I’m Charlotte Church. And This Is How Women Are Routinely Demoralized by the Music Industry…

last weekend i djd twice at a festival in texas.  it was a magical event with some of my favorite musicians djing: aphex twin, arca, oneohtrix point never and matmos… the list is endless!!

most of us played mostly other peoples music and would slide in instrumentals of what weve been working on recently.

i am aware of that it is less of a year since i started djing publicly so this is something people are still getting used to and my fans have been incredibly welcoming to me sharing my musical journey and letting me be me. its been so fun and the nerd in me editing together pieces of others peoples songs for weeks, gets to share the different coordinates i feel between some of the most sublime music i know.

“women in music are allowed to be singer songwriters singing about their boyfriends. [but] if they change the subject matter…”

but some media could not get their head around that i was not “performing” and “hiding” behind desks.  and my male counterparts not. and i think this is sexism.  which at the end of this tumultuous year is something im not going to let slide: because we all deserve maximum changes in this revolutionary energy we are currently in the midst of.

its gotta be worth it.

anyways.

women in music are allowed to be singer songwriters singing about their boyfriends.  if they change the subject matter to atoms, galaxies, activism, nerdy math beat editing or anything else than being performers singing about their loved ones they get criticized: journalists feel there is just something missing… as if our only lingo is emo…

+ I’m Madonna. And This Is the Blatant Sexism, Misogyny, and Constant Bullying That I’ve Faced…

i made volta and biophilia conscious of the fact that these were not subjects females usually write about.  i felt i had earned it.  on the activist volta i sang about pregnant suicide bombers and for the independence of faroe islands and greenland.  on the pedagogic biophilia i sang about galaxies and atoms but it wasnt until vulnicura where i shared a heartbreak i got full acceptance from the media.  men are allowed to go from subject to subject, do sci fi, period pieces, be slapstick and humorous, be music nerds getting lost in sculpting soundscapes but not women.  if we dont cut our chest open and bleed about the men and children in our lives we are cheating our audience.

eat your bechtel test heart out.

“i was brave to share w you a classic female subject matter: the heartbreak…”

but i know the change is in the air. we are walking inside it. therefore i leave this with you in kindness at the end of this year and i hope that in the next year even though i was brave to share w you a classic female subject matter: the heartbreak, i get to have a costume change and walk out of this role.  you froze edith piaf and maria callas in it (not one documentary i have seen about her doesnt mention onassis but no mention w male musicians the women they loved or broke their hearts)

lets make 2017 the year where we fully make the transformation!!!

!!! the right to variety for all the girls out there !!!

onwards.

merry christmas.

bjork

5 Responses

  1. Rick Shaw

    Whatever. I understand that is her opinion, but there are many great songs by female artists that don’t discuss men, love, feminism or anything of the sort.

    • John

      That is true. But songs like that are, usually, not nearly as popular as songs that do discuss love, men, etc. Just look at the most popular female artists of 2015 and 2016. The majority are known for their popular songs about men. Or look at the charts of trending songs. Most that are by female artists are about men, love, and or sex. I think that is Bjork’s point. The most popular female artists are popular for their songs about men and so on.

      • Aoko

        Yeah let’s force the women to stop singing /bitching about men in their songs!

  2. Anonymous

    Newsflash: Most pop songs are about boy/girl stuff and partying.