Legendary Icelandic singer Björk has just dropped a new music video for her song “Victimhood.” The tune was featured on Björk‘s 10th studio album, Fossora, which was released on September 30, 2022. “Victimhood” is the sixth track from Fossora to receive a music video.
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The video for “Victimhood,” directed by Gabríela Friðriksdóttir and Pierre-Alain Giraud, showcases colorful, psychedelic animation, yet with a sense of melancholy and even a dash of the macabre. The video already nearing 26,000 views on YouTube after being uploaded earlier on September 5.
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According to Pitchfork, Björk recently released a statement regarding the idea behind the video. “I sort of have this illusion idea of myself as being this kind of optimist. But you have to be truthful,” Björk said. “It’s trickier to catch the tail of the self-pity for an optimist.
“Sometimes it becomes the role of the women, in difficult situations to take on the catharsis and emotional work, and if there’s some dark shadows or forces in a situation, we’ll convert it into sort of good energy, for other family members, so they don’t have to, we will take care of it,” Björk continued. “That’s a strange kind of victim hat too, you choose to do that, nobody asked you to. That’s maybe where the humour comes in. It’s very interesting. I just love this painting so much. These characters are so magical, they just have such deep, deep meaning for me.”
One of the video’s directors, Friðriksdóttir, also released a press statement regarding the video and song. “I was absolutely fascinated by the song. I couldn’t forget it, I had some dreams about it too. It was a deep connection from the first time I heard it,” Friðriksdóttir stated. “The song deals with things that I often think about, it’s about self-pity and how ridiculous you were or how funny you were in a situation, or in a strange place where you had hard times, and then you see yourself.”
“Instead of pointing at somebody else all the time, it’s so nice to rediscover yourself,” Friðriksdóttir continued. “To break through the concrete mask of a certain feeling at a certain time. I think in the lyrics themselves, there’s this poetry about a human situation that’s really welcoming for everyone, I think everyone can understand it.”
Photo by Santiago Felipe/Getty Images for ABA
