Homogenic

After an extensive tour in support of her 1995 album Post, Björk returned to her home in Maida Vale with an urgent need to write new songs as a form of therapy. Björk would let audio engineer Markus Dravs into her home studio to start creating new songs. The sessions with Dravs and Björk were casual, with Björk allowing Dravs freedom with the album. Björk only left the studio to cook meals for the both of them. One of the first songs created during the sessions was "5 Years" which Dravs created the fast beat for. To deal with the stress of being at home during this incident, Björk imagined herself as the protagonist in a Spanish soap opera. Before returning to Spain to record, Björk was sidetracked by a two-week worldwide press tour for the promotion of her remix album Telegram, which had just been released. After returning to the studio in Spain in late January, Björk decided to end work with producer Nellee Hooper, who had produced both Debut and Post, as she felt they had "stopped surprising each other". Björk had intended to produce the album alone, but sought collaborators including Dravs, Howie B, Guy Sigsworth and LFO's Mark Bell. Björk had wanted to have Mark Bell contribute to her albums Debut and Post; Bell was credited for the majority of the album's production, including the songs "Pluto", "Alarm Call", and the bassline in "Jóga". Björk stated that she "trusts and respects what [Bell] does for me. If I were to say who has influenced me most it would be Stockhausen, Kraftwerk, Brian Eno and Mark Bell". String arrangements were added late in the recording process. Björk had friend Eumir Deodato conduct, transcribe and compose original pieces for the few songs that Björk did not arrange for herself. To keep with the Icelandic theme of the album, Björk ordered the services of the Icelandic String Octet. By June 1997, the album was behind schedule and Björk was uncertain of the final track listing and unhappy with some of the recorded vocals. == Music and lyrics ==

Homogenic is an electronica, Before production began on Homogenic, Björk wanted to create an album with "a simple sound" and "only one flavour". Writing for Beats per Minute, Cole Zercoe felt Homogenic represented a pinnacle work of trip hop, forming part of "a sort of holy trinity of this musical aesthetic" along with Massive Attack's Mezzanine and Portishead's Dummy. Björk wanted Homogenic to have a conceptual focus on her native Iceland. Producer Markus Dravs recalled Björk wanting it to sound like "rough volcanoes with soft moss growing all over it..." Björk's vocals on Homogenic range from primitive-sounding screams to a traditional singing method used by Icelandic choir men, a combination of speaking and singing as illustrated in the song "Unravel". The majority of songs on Homogenic have lyrics about love and failed relationships. The song "Jóga" was written as a tribute to her best friend and tour masseuse of the same name. "All Neon Like" contains snippets of a poem Björk wrote called "Techno Prayer" in 1996. The song "5 Years" appeared in live form a few weeks after her breakup with musician Tricky and music journalists considered it a response to it. "Bachelorette" was originally written for director Bernardo Bertolucci for his film Stealing Beauty. Björk later faxed Bertolucci, informing him the song would be used for her album instead. "Immature" was written about mistakes in past relationships, shortly after the breakup with Goldie. Björk described "Pluto" as about "being plastered, that need to destroy everything so you can start again". "Unravel" is a song about lamenting love, with brief flashes of hope. == Title and artwork ==

(pictured), who also directed one of the two music videos for "Alarm Call". The album's production began with the working title of Homogeneous, but Björk changed it to Homogenic shortly afterwards. Björk explained her vision for the Homogenic cover, which carries a resemblance to "someone who is put into an impossible situation, so impossible that she has to become a warrior. A warrior who has to fight not with weapons, but with love. I had 10 kilos of hair on my head, and special contact lenses and a manicure that prevented me from eating with my fingers, and gaffer tape around my waist and high clogs so I couldn't walk easily." == Release and promotion ==

The album was released later than One Little Independent Records had intended. Björk was behind schedule and the album's cover design by Nick Knight needed a reshoot. Towards the end of August 1997, One Little Independent delayed the album by a month. The album was later issued on vinyl and DualDisc formats. The album was launched on 15 July at the Old Truman Brewery in London. In the United Kingdom, Björk performed the lead single "Jóga" on TFI Friday on 19 September, and Top of the Pops on 3 October. She performed the second single "Bachelorette" on the American sketch comedy show Saturday Night Live on 18 October, at the 1997 MTV Europe Music Awards on 6 November, on Later... with Jools Holland with "Jóga" and "Hunter" on 29 November, and again in the United States on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on 22 May 1998. In France, Björk performed "Bachelorette" with "Jóga" on Nulle Part Ailleurs on 11 February, and with "Hunter" on Hit Machine on 20 June. She performed the fourth single "Alarm Call" on CD:UK on 5 December. When the release of Homogenic was delayed by a month, its tour began with the audience not being familiar with the album's songs since it had not been released yet. In late November, Björk was diagnosed with a kidney infection and while she was still healthy she was advised to take a three-week rest and was forced to cancel her American tour. Opening acts for portions of the tour included electronic musician μ-Ziq. ==Singles==

"Jóga" was released as the lead single from Homogenic on 15 September 1997 to widespread critical acclaim. It peaked atop the Íslenski Listinn Topp 40 in Iceland, while reaching the top 20 in Finland. Due to its formats, it was initially ineligible to enter the UK Singles Chart, but later peaked at number 191. Its mostly computer-animated accompanying music video was directed by Michel Gondry and focuses primarily on different Icelandic terrains and landscapes with Björk's presence only in the beginning and towards the end. "Bachelorette" was released as the second single on 8 December. While less successful than "Jóga" in Björk's native Iceland, peaking at number six, it was an improvement from "Jóga" in the United Kingdom, where it peaked at numbers 21 and two on the UK Singles Chart and UK Indie Chart, respectively. Gondry returned to direct the music video for "Bachelorette", which features Björk as Bachelorette, a woman who finds a book titled My Story buried in her garden which begins to write itself, describing what Bachelorette does as she describes it. It won the MTV Video Music Award for Best Art Direction and was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Short Form Music Video. "Hunter" was released as the third single on 5 October 1998. Despite being critically acclaimed, it was a commercial failure, as it peaked only at number 44 on the UK Singles Chart. "Alarm Call" was originally scheduled for release as the third single, but switched places with "Hunter". It was released as the fourth single on 30 November 1998 and returned Björk to the top ten of Íslenski Listinn Topp 40, as its French mix peaked at number ten. In the UK, the song peaked at numbers 33 and three on the UK Singles Chart and UK Indie Chart, respectively. who designed the cover artwork for Homogenic, and features Björk floating on a raft on a river in the jungle and her scenes are intercut with footage of snakes, crocodiles, and other animals, with Björk playing with them. "All Is Full of Love" was released as the fifth and final single on 7 June 1999. DVD single was simultaneously released; some publications regard it as the first DVD single release ever. Critically acclaimed, the song peaked at numbers 24 and three on the UK Singles Chart and UK Indie Chart, respectively. Directed by Chris Cunningham, the song's music video depicts Björk as a robot being assembled in a factory, who passionately kisses another robot. The video is often cited as one of the best of all time and a milestone in computer animation; it has been displayed in art exhibitions and was on display at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. == Critical reception ==

Homogenic received widespread acclaim from critics. David Browne of Entertainment Weekly stated that "Homogenic could have been stuffy and dull — Sting with a sex-change operation. It's a testament to Bjork's continued weirdness that even overtures toward adulthood come out delightfully skewed". ==Accolades==

American critics rated Homogenic highly in year-end polls. It ranked at number nine in The Village Voice's Pazz & Jop critics' poll, while Spin ranked it number four in their "Top 20 Albums of the Year". In Britain, Melody Maker ranked it at number 33 in the "Albums of the Year" and NME placed it at number 15 in a critics' poll. In 2024, the album was ranked at number 45 on Apple Music's 100 Best albums of All Time. Homogenic was nominated in the Best Alternative Music Performance category at the 40th Annual Grammy Awards (1998), losing to Radiohead's OK Computer. Michel Gondry's music video for "Bachelorette" was nominated for Best Short Form Music Video at the 41st Annual Grammy Awards (1999), but lost to Jonas Åkerlund's video for Madonna's "Ray of Light". At the next year's ceremony, Chris Cunningham's video for "All Is Full of Love" was nominated for the same award, but lost to Korn's "Freak on a Leash". Homogenic earned Björk the Brit Award for International Female Solo Artist at the 1998 ceremony. Accepting the award, she declared: "I am grateful grapefruit." == Commercial performance ==

Homogenic debuted and peaked at number four on the UK Albums Chart on 4 October 1997, spending 17 weeks on the chart. It debuted at number six on the Australian Albums Chart on 12 October 1997, The album was certified gold on 1 August 2001 by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of 500,000 copies. Homogenic debuted at twenty on the Canadian Albums Chart, becoming Björk's first album to enter the chart but spent only one week there. == Impact and legacy ==

In the years following its release, Homogenic has continued to receive acclaim from critics, audiences and musicians. In a retrospective review, Heather Phares of AllMusic cited Homogenic as being more emotionally deep than any of Björk's previous work and called it a "seamless fusion of chilly strings, stuttering, abstract beats, and unique touches like an accordion and glass harmonica." In 2003, it was placed at number 21 on the music webzine Pitchforks list of the top one hundred albums of the 1990s, in which it was praised as "one of the most perfectly formed records of any era, and it is entirely possible that Björk will never approach this level of consistently enrapturing beauty again". In 2007, Slant Magazine critic Sal Cinquemani wrote that "if not the greatest electronic album of all time, it's certainly the greatest of its decade". The same year, Spin writer Phoebe Reilly called it Björk's "most sublime and vulnerable album" in a career retrospective. In 2017, Philip Sherburne of Pitchfork observed that it "showcased a newly focused side of the musician while embracing all of her most provocative contradictions." In 2023, British GQ ranked it at number four on their list of ten best electronic albums of all time. According to Tiny Mix Tapes, Homogenic is "one of the most groundbreaking albums of all-time, an album that assuredly caused countless hearts to soar." With Homogenic, Björk has been credited for connecting art pop to electronic dance music. In an interview with Spin, Radiohead singer Thom Yorke called the song "Unravel" "one of the most beautiful songs I've ever heard." The band would cover the song as part of a 2007 live webcast. Their guitarist Ed O'Brien claimed Björk inspired them to change their musical style for their fourth studio album Kid A (2000), stating: "I think we've all been a bit envious about the way Björk has been able to reinvent music." Homogenic has also been noted to have had influence on Kanye West by various sources, as he departed hip hop in favor of a more experimental sound for his fourth studio album 808s & Heartbreak (2008). Wess Val Roley, the perpetrator of the 2025 Coeur d’Alene shooting, had posted a photo of himself on the social media platform Instagram, dressed in hunting gear and accompanied by the song “Hunter,” just hours before the attack. == Track listing ==

Credits adapted from the liner notes of Homogenic. ;Musicians • Alasdair Alloy – glass harmonica • Mark Bell – keyboards • Björk – keyboards, vocals • Mike Brittain – bass • Jeffrey Bryant – horn • Paul Gardhaim – bass • Isobel Griffiths – orchestra contractor • Steve Henderson – timbales, timpani • Yasuhiro Kobayashi – accordion • Chris Laurence – bass • Trevor Morais – drums, electronic drums • Paul Pritchard – bass • Frank Ricotti – snare drums • Guy Sigsworth – clavichord, keyboards, pipe organ • Mike Thompson – horn • Helen Tunstall – harp • Strings • Vaughan Armon, Sigurbjorn Bernhardsson, Mark Berrow, Ben Cruft, Sigrun Edvaldsdottir, Roger Garland, Wilfred Gibson, Perry Mason, Jim McLeod, Perry Montague-Mason, Peter Oxer, Maciej Rakowski, Una Sveinbjarnardottir, Sif Tulinius, Gavyn Wright – violins • Roger Chase, Hrund Hardardottir, Bill Hawkes, Peter Lale, George Robertson, Moeidur Anna Sigurdardottir – violas • Sigurdur Bjarki Gunnarsson, Paul Kegg, Helen Liebmann, Martin Loveday, Jon R. Ornolfsson, John Tunnell – cellos ;Technical personnel • Björk – arrangements, programming, production • Howie B – programming, production, mixing • Mark Bell – programming, production, drum programming, crew • Danny Joe Brown Band – programming, mixing assistance • Richard Brown – programming • Kirsten Cowie – mixing assistance, assistance • Eumir Deodato – arrangements, orchestration, transcription • Marius de Vries – programming • Markus Dravs – programming, production, engineering, drum programming, crew • Jason Groucott – mixing assistance, assistance • James Loughrey – mixing assistance, assistance • Sie Medway-Smith – mixing assistance, assistance • Rob Murphy – mixing assistance, assistance • Nilesh Patel – mastering • Russel Polden – mixing assistance, assistance • Steve Price – engineering • Guy Sigsworth – production • Tony Stanton – copying • Mark "Spike" Stent – mixing, crew • Rebecca Storey – mixing assistance, assistance • Paul Walton – mixing assistance • Jason Westbrook – mixing assistance, assistance ;Artwork • Alexander McQueen – art direction • Nick Knight – photography • Katy England – styling • Me Company – sleeve design == Charts==

Weekly charts Year-end charts ==Certifications and sales==