"Jóga" is a song recorded by Icelandic singer, songwriter and actress
Björk
Björk Guðmundsdóttir ( , ; born 21 November 1965), known mononymously as Björk, is an Icelandic singer, songwriter, composer, record producer, and actress. Noted for her distinct voice, three-octave vocal range, and eccentric public per ...
for her third studio album, ''
Homogenic
''Homogenic'' is the third studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. It was released on 22 September 1997 by One Little Indian Records. Produced by Björk, Mark Bell (British musician), Mark Bell, Guy Sigsworth, Howie B, and Markus Dra ...
'' (1997). An
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...
song, "Jóga" fuses these elements with
baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
and
classical styles. The track's sound was partially inspired by
Icelandic music
The music of Iceland includes folk and pop traditions, as well as an active classical and contemporary music scene. Well-known artists from Iceland include medieval music group Voces Thules, alternative pop band The Sugarcubes, singers Björk, ...
, containing what have been described as "volcanic beats".
Lyrically, the piece is an ode to Björk's native land and her best friend, while containing subtexts relating to the state of emergency.
"Jóga" was released as the
lead single
A lead single (or first single) is the first single to be released from a studio album by an artist or a band, usually before the album itself is released and also occasionally on the same day of the album's release date.
A similar term, "debut ...
from ''Homogenic'' on 15 September 1997 to critical acclaim, with reviewers praising her powerful vocal performance, as well as the track's composition and overall production. Commercially, the song was a moderate success, but peaked at number one in Björk's native Iceland.
Recording and production
Like most of ''
Homogenic
''Homogenic'' is the third studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. It was released on 22 September 1997 by One Little Indian Records. Produced by Björk, Mark Bell (British musician), Mark Bell, Guy Sigsworth, Howie B, and Markus Dra ...
'', "Jóga" was recorded and produced at El Cortijo in
Málaga
Málaga (; ) is a Municipalities in Spain, municipality of Spain, capital of the Province of Málaga, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. With a population of 591,637 in 2024, it is the second-most populo ...
, Spain.
Björk wrote the song while walking and admiring the landscape, a common way for her to write songs since childhood.
She explained "an overall picture" of it to engineer
Markus Dravs
Markus Dravs is a British music producer, songwriter, programmer, engineer and mixer. His credits include Arcade Fire, Coldplay, Wolf Alice, Björk, Brian Eno, Sheep on Drugs, Merz, Mumford & Sons, Hozier, Florence + the Machine, The Maccabe ...
, who then came out with a rhythm that she felt was "too abstract".
[ Availabl]
here
Mark Bell, the producer of the track, then came and "took 99 percent of what
edid and came up with some noises", giving Dravs new ideas.
Björk wrote the string arrangements, which were provided late in the production process by the Icelandic String Octet.
Music and lyrics
"Jóga" is dedicated to—and named after—Björk's best friend, Jóga Gnarr Jóhannsdóttir (the wife of former
Mayor of Reykjavík
The post of Mayor of Reykjavík () was created in 1907 and advertised in 1908. Páll Einarsson and Knud Zimsen applied for the job and Páll got the position for a period of six years, at the end of which he did not wish to renew his tenure. Rather ...
Jón Gnarr
Jón Gnarr (; born Jón Gunnar Kristinsson on 2 January 1967) is an Icelanders, Icelandic actor, comedian, and politician who served as the Mayor of Reykjavík, Mayor of Reykjavík from 2010 to 2014. He is currently a member of the Althing for ...
), whom Björk would usually thank in her album credits. The song is also a dedication to her native
Iceland
Iceland is a Nordic countries, Nordic island country between the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic and Arctic Oceans, on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge between North America and Europe. It is culturally and politically linked with Europe and is the regi ...
, an example of Björk's desire to have a conceptual focus on the country for ''
Homogenic
''Homogenic'' is the third studio album by Icelandic recording artist Björk. It was released on 22 September 1997 by One Little Indian Records. Produced by Björk, Mark Bell (British musician), Mark Bell, Guy Sigsworth, Howie B, and Markus Dra ...
''. Referring to this concept, she told ''
Oor'': "The electronic beats are the rhythm, the heartbeat. The violins create the old fashioned atmosphere, the colouring."
"Jóga" has been described as "the real conceptual heart of the record" and "a sonic picture of the geographical beauty of her homeland".
The track showcases these hybrid elements of strings and electronic backing beats through the album, thus being described as "
baroque
The Baroque ( , , ) is a Western Style (visual arts), style of Baroque architecture, architecture, Baroque music, music, Baroque dance, dance, Baroque painting, painting, Baroque sculpture, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished from ...
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that came to prominence in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mos ...
" by ''
Slant Magazine
''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...
''s Sal Cinquemani.
The strong
beats—referred to as "volcanic"—reflect Iceland's primal and chaotic nature.
Due to its harsh beats and halfway
drop, some modern critics have described the track as "proto
dubstep
Dubstep is a genre of electronic dance music that originated in South London in the early 2000s. The style emerged as a UK garage offshoot that blended 2-step rhythms and sparse dub production, as well as incorporating elements of broken ...
".
"Jóga" is a
love song
A love song is a song about love, falling in love, heartbreak after a breakup, and the feelings that these experiences bring. Love songs can be found in a variety of different music genres. They can come in various formats, from sad and emotion ...
; its lyrics were written by poet
Sjón
image:Sjon litteratureXchange-2019 DSC09264.jpg, 260px, Sjón at LiteratureXchange Festival ín Aarhus (Denmark 2019)
Sigurjón Birgir Sigurðsson (born 27 August 1962), known as Sjón ( ; ; meaning "sight" and being an abbreviation of his firs ...
, Björk's friend and collaborator.
Björk explained her inability to write the song's lyrics in an interview with
MuchMusic
Much is a Canadian English language discretionary specialty channel owned by BCE Inc. through its Bell Media subsidiary that airs programming aimed at teenagers and young adults. It is headquartered at 299 Queen Street West in what was o ...
: "I tried to write that tune but, I mean, I just wanted mainly to write lyrics. It was just pathetic. I was like 'her... her...' it was like 'love... love...' I couldn't even put it into words. So, you know, it's—yeah, it's probably the—I think it's the fiercest love song I have written, I think." She sings about the beauty of being in a "
state of emergency
A state of emergency is a situation in which a government is empowered to put through policies that it would normally not be permitted to do, for the safety and protection of its citizens. A government can declare such a state before, during, o ...
", and thanks someone for pushing her into it.
Critical reception
"Jóga" has received acclaim from
music critic
'' The Oxford Companion to Music'' defines music criticism as "the intellectual activity of formulating judgments on the value and degree of excellence of individual works of music, or whole groups or genres". In this sense, it is a branch of m ...
s ever since its release. Heather Phares of
AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
wrote that "Björk lets a little light shine through "Jóga"" and described it as a "moving song", listing it as one of the album highlights. Furthermore, Sal Cinquemani of ''
Slant Magazine
''Slant Magazine'' is an American online publication that features reviews of movies, music, TV, DVDs, theater, and video games, as well as interviews with actors, directors, and musicians. The site covers various film festivals like the New Yor ...
'' labelled the track "adrenaline", while ''
Spin
Spin or spinning most often refers to:
* Spin (physics) or particle spin, a fundamental property of elementary particles
* Spin quantum number, a number which defines the value of a particle's spin
* Spinning (textiles), the creation of yarn or thr ...
''s James Hunter found that Björk delved into "the fuller, more womanly tone she unveiled on ''
Post
Post, POST, or posting may refer to:
Postal services
* Mail, the postal system, especially in Commonwealth of Nations countries
**An Post, the Irish national postal service
**Canada Post, Canadian postal service
**Deutsche Post, German postal s ...
''," and that the song "depicts one woman's emotional agenda in the presence of luxurious modern architecture: exaggerated corners, nonexistent ceilings, and beautiful doors."
David Browne of ''
Entertainment Weekly
''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...
'' also commented on "Jóga", writing that it was more "somber" than another single from ''Homogenic'', "Bachelorette", and Björk sings the lyrics with "the strings swelling luxuriantly", whereas Neva Chonin of ''
Rolling Stone
''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason.
The magazine was first known fo ...
'' found the singer's desire of a "state of emergency" "erotic", and one that comes across as her finding it "both delicious and dangerous".
Robert Christgau
Robert Thomas Christgau ( ; born April 18, 1942) is an American music journalist and essayist. Among the most influential music critics, he began his career in the late 1960s as one of the earliest professional rock critics and later became a ...
, in his review for the album, placed it as one of the recommended tracks alongside "Bachelorette". British magazine ''
Music Week
''Music Week'' is a trade publication for the UK record industry distributed via a website and a monthly print magazine. It is published by Future.
History
Founded in 1959 as ''Record Retailer'', it relaunched on 18 March 1972 as ''Music We ...
'' rated it five out of five, picking it as Single of the Week. They described it as "a real beauty, with Björk's voice allowed to shine above spooky beats and lush strings."
In ''Slant Magazine''s list "The 100 Best Singles of the 1990s", "Jóga" was placed at number 35; alongside the ranking, the track was praised, said to contain "one of the Icelandic singer-songwriter's fiercest vocal performances to date", as well as that the "sweeping string arrangement is its true star".
Commercial performance
"Jóga" was a commercial success in Björk's native Iceland, peaking atop the
Íslenski Listinn Top 40 the week of 23–30 October 1997.
Elsewhere, the song was moderately successful, peaking within the top 20 in Finland and the top 40 in Sweden.
While all of Björk's first 11 singles reached the top 40 of the
UK Singles Chart, including three top-ten singles from
''Post'' (1995), "Jóga" was ruled ineligible to chart since it was released solely as a three-
CD and
VHS
VHS (Video Home System) is a discontinued standard for consumer-level analog video recording on tape cassettes, introduced in 1976 by JVC. It was the dominant home video format throughout the tape media period of the 1980s and 1990s.
Ma ...
box set
A boxed set or (its US name) box set is a set of items (for example, a compilation of books, musical recordings, films or television programs) traditionally packaged in a box, hence 'boxed', and offered for sale as a single unit.
Music
Artists ...
(as well as individual releases of the formats). Despite Björk's record label
One Little Indian
One Little Independent Records (formerly One Little Indian Records) is an English independent record label. It was set up in 1985 by members of various anarcho-punk bands, and managed by former Flux of Pink Indians bassist Derek Birkett. In t ...
attempting to convince the
Official Charts Company
The Official UK Charts Company Limited (formerly Music Industry Chart Services Limited), trading as the Official Charts Company (OCC) or the Official Charts (formerly the Chart Information Network), is a British inter-professional organisation ...
(OCC) that the VHS was bundled for free, "Jóga" remained barred from the chart as its release exceeded the chart's three-format limit. However, the song managed to enter the chart months after its release, peaking at number 191 on the chart dated 28 February 1998.
Music video
The music video was directed by
Michel Gondry
Michel Gondry (; born 8 May 1963) is a French filmmaker and producer noted for his inventive visual style and distinctive manipulation of mise en scène. Along with Charlie Kaufman, he won an Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay as one o ...
and filmed in Iceland.
The video for "Jóga" is a departure from her other videos as it features a simple concept of focusing primarily on different Icelandic terrains and landscapes with Björk's presence only in the beginning and towards the end. With the aid of computer animation, earthquakes begin to separate and shift the chunks of land along fault lines. The video ends with a computerised image of an island floating inside Björk's chest.
Track listing
Charts
Release history
Notes
References
External links
List of "Jóga" releases
{{DEFAULTSORT:Joga
1997 singles
1997 songs
Björk songs
Electronica songs
Music videos directed by Michel Gondry
One Little Independent Records singles
Song recordings produced by Björk
Songs with lyrics by Sjón
Songs written by Björk
Patriotic songs
Baroque pop songs
Number-one singles in Iceland
Songs about friendship
Music videos shot in Iceland