Bjork I REMEMBER…
Reader's Digest UK|June 2020
“Björk” Guðmundsdóttir, 54, thrives on the mystery, mystique and mass contradictions of her craft. She is one of the music industry’s most respected artists; someone who you feel emerges out of every project with another layer of integrity. Here, she takes us on a vivid trip down memory lane…
Simone Lee
Bjork I REMEMBER…

…I COULDN’T CONCENTRATE FOR LONG ENOUGH TO BE ANY GOOD AT SCHOOL. I was drifting out of the window or finding ways to play percussion on the side of the school desk. It just wasn’t for me, despite the attempts of my headmaster to make it a place where I could harness some of the talent he saw in me. I just wasn’t interested.

MY TIME AT MUSIC SCHOOL WAS BOTH INSPIRING AND FRUSTRATING. My time there [Björk attended the Barnamúsikskóli School in Reykjavík] was very much focused on musical structure, history, theory and musicology, and I think when you’re studying that as a student it is very methodical, mechanical and serious, when all you really want to do is experiment and create.

There were a combination of things I both loved and disagreed with, and I think I’ve had the opportunity to correct or fix those at various points in my career. For instance, I began using a touchscreen on my Volta tour in the autumn of 2008 to perform some of my songs. The next extension of that was then to feel excited about writing with a touchscreen, rolling things around, and where you could be more tactile, intuitive and spontaneous, rather than hovering a finger over a mouse… and this was all two years before the iPad came out. So the opportunity for me to map out, on a screen, my writing process, sent me back to my music school years and it was nice to feel some processes coming full-circle. A touchscreen for me solved the riddle because I was not totally satisfied with my music school when I was a kid. As an adult I feel like I am making up the class I would have wanted to have gone to when I was eight. And there have been various other episodes in my life where lessons I’ve learned have come back round to have really positive effects and influences on my adult songwriting.

Denne historien er fra June 2020-utgaven av Reader's Digest UK.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

Denne historien er fra June 2020-utgaven av Reader's Digest UK.

Start din 7-dagers gratis prøveperiode på Magzter GOLD for å få tilgang til tusenvis av utvalgte premiumhistorier og 9000+ magasiner og aviser.

FLERE HISTORIER FRA READER'S DIGEST UKSe alt
EVERY SECOND COUNTS: TIPS TO WIN THE RACE AGAINST TIME
Reader's Digest UK

EVERY SECOND COUNTS: TIPS TO WIN THE RACE AGAINST TIME

Do you want to save 1.5 seconds every day of your life? According to the dishwasher expert at the consumer organisation Choice, there’s no need to insert the dishwashing tablet into the compartment inside the door.

time-read
3 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
May Fiction
Reader's Digest UK

May Fiction

An escaped slave's perspective renews Huckleberry Finn and the seconds tick down to nuclear Armageddon in Miriam Sallon’s top literary picks this month

time-read
1 min  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
Wine Not
Reader's Digest UK

Wine Not

In a time of warning studies about alcohol consumption, Paola Westbeek looks at non-alcoholic wines, how they taste and if they pair with food

time-read
3 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
Train Booking Hacks
Reader's Digest UK

Train Booking Hacks

With the cost of train travel seemingly always rising, Andy Webb gives some tips to save on ticket prices

time-read
4 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
JOURNEY TO SALTEN, NORWAY, UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN
Reader's Digest UK

JOURNEY TO SALTEN, NORWAY, UNDER THE MIDNIGHT SUN

Here, far from the crowds, in opal clarity, from May to September, the sun knows no rest. As soon as it’s about to set, it rises again

time-read
8 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
My Britain: Cheltenham
Reader's Digest UK

My Britain: Cheltenham

A YEAR IN CHELTENHAM sees a jazz festival, a science festival, a classical music festival and a literature festival. Few towns with 120,000 residents can boast such a huge cultural output!

time-read
6 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
GET A GREEN(ER) THUMB
Reader's Digest UK

GET A GREEN(ER) THUMB

Whether you love digging in the dirt, planting seeds and reaping the bounty that bursts forth, or find the whole idea of gardening intimidating, this spring offers the promise of a fresh start.

time-read
6 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
Under The GRANDFLUENCE Suzi Grant
Reader's Digest UK

Under The GRANDFLUENCE Suzi Grant

After working in TV and radio as an author and nutritionist, Suzi Grant started a blog alternativeageing.net) and an Instagram account alternativeageing). She talks to Ian Chaddock about positive ageing”

time-read
3 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
Sam Quek: If I Ruled The World
Reader's Digest UK

Sam Quek: If I Ruled The World

Sam Quek MBE is an Olympic gold medalwinning hockey player, team captain on A Question of Sport and host of podcast series Amazing Starts Here

time-read
3 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024
Stand Tall, Ladies
Reader's Digest UK

Stand Tall, Ladies

Shorter men may be having their moment, but where are the tall women?

time-read
3 mins  |
Reader's Digest May 2024