"Violently Happy" is a song by Icelandic singer and songwriter Björk, released as the fifth and final single from her album Debut in 1993. The song was written by Björk and Nellee Hooper, who helped her in writing and producing most of the album. The lyrics speak of Björk feeling a love so intense that it is actually dangerous, requesting that her lover return to "calm her down". Musically, it's an upbeat song which peaked at #13 in the UK and reached #3 on the US dance charts.
The song was released in March 1994 and received good reviews from music critics, which praised its musicality and its dance-pop appeal. The song received an accompanying music video which was shoot by Jean-Baptiste Mondino, in which Björk and many appearances dances frantically in a kind of Asylum while they're cutting out their hair or parts of dolls. Björk performed the song live a few TV appearances, including Top of the Pops.
Read more about Violently Happy: Background, Composition, Critical Reception, Live Performances, Track Listing, Charts, Versions
Famous quotes containing the words violently and/or happy:
“If I commit suicide, it will not be to destroy myself but to put myself back together again. Suicide will be for me only one means of violently reconquering myself, of brutally invading my being, of anticipating the unpredictable approaches of God. By suicide, I reintroduce my design in nature, I shall for the first time give things the shape of my will.”
—Antonin Artaud (1896–1948)
“Imagine that it is you yourself who are erecting the edifice of human destiny with the aim of making men happy in the end, of giving them peace and contentment at last, but that to do that it is absolutely necessary, and indeed quite inevitable, to torture to death only one tiny creature, the little girl who beat her breast with her little fist, and to found the edifice on her unavenged tears—would you consent to be the architect on those conditions?”
—Feodor Dostoyevsky (1821–1881)