Background
After leaving The Sugarcubes, Björk traveled to London where she began having contacts with electronic music, and that inspired her to change her musical style from the pop-rock sounds of the Sugarcubes to a more alternative and electronic style of music. "Violently Happy" was released as the last single from Debut and demonstrates this musical shift. Björk explained:
| “ | Violently Happy" is about when you’re a junkie on exchanging emotion, not at one but at the level 200. That thing. And then the person goes away and you really miss someone. When you’re with that person you’re really peaceful because you get what you need back and you both give everything you need to give. And that person goes away and all that exchange is not there so you get your kicks elsewhere, you end up running on rooftops in blizzards, drinking 97 tequilas just to feel. You know what I mean. So it starts off really happy then the longer the person’s away from you, it starts getting self-destructive. | ” |
Björk further said that the song was inspired by her living in Reykjavik and being far away from her lover: "For me, it's quite a brave thing. It's like putting your diary out for everyone to read. Of course, I didn't put everything in, I very carefully edited it. I'm very good with scissors". The lyrics are autobiographical as Björk stated: "It's just the same as if you go out with a mate and get drunk and get to the 'truth' stage and you wake up next day and think 'fuck, what did I say?'. Sometimes you feel fine, sometimes you feel embarrassed, sometimes you feel a friend has told you something they shouldn't have. I think our instincts know when you've given too much".
Read more about this topic: Violently Happy
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