Björk criticises sexism in the pop music industry
Björk has recently taken aim at the sexism that she and her contemporary, Kate Bush, have frequently been victims of. The Icelandic avant-garde legend had spoken to NME earlier this week and discussed various topics, including Gen-Z, the ecological environment, and the new wave of gender equality.
The former Sugarcubes singer noted that the recent success of Kate Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ proved a change in attitudes towards the success of female artists. She added her delight at the fact that the single had performed so well after being featured on the fourth season of Stranger Things and reminisced on the previous dismissal of female musicians by male critics.
Björk said: “I was always quite offended by how often Kate Bush was written about like she was insane or a crazy witch – or me being a crazy elf. We are producers. I’ve written all my scores for 20 years, you know. I’m not bragging; I’m just saying that because people still want me to be a naïve elf. If we were guys, we would be taken more seriously.”
She added that there had been a prior obsession with male rock singers and their lyrics pertaining to “tits, beer and heroin abuse”, which meant that “writing from a woman’s point of view was considered a lesser art form”.
Björk then went on to give praise to the new generation of musicians and artists, claiming, “Finally, Gen Z-ers can imagine a woman’s production or a woman’s world and it not seem insane or a thing that they have to ridicule or be scared of.”
Bush’s ‘Running Up That Hill’ had netted the singer an eye-watering £1.9 million in streaming revenue alone. The track had seen a resurgence in popularity following the release of the most recent season of Stranger Things, particularly in the younger audiences of the show.
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