Björk-тің "Cocoon" әні туралы

2002 single by Björk

"Cocoon" is a song by Icelandic singer Björk for her fourth studio album, Vespertine (2001). Written and produced by Björk and Thomas Knak, it was released as the album's third single on 11 March 2002 by One Little Indian Records. Inspired by her relationship with artist Matthew Barney, Björk wanted to create a record with a domestic mood. Working with Knak, she wrote "Cocoon", a song which is lyrically about a woman who describes making love with her lover during their post coital hibernation, and includes frank sexual narrative related both explicitly and through over sharing and metaphor. Music critics received "Cocoon" with positive reviews, calling it one of the album's highlights. The song experienced moderate commercial success on record charts in the United Kingdom, Australia, and France but reached the top ten in Spain. The accompanying music video for "Cocoon" was directed by Eiko Ishioka and was filmed in New York City. It premiered at the Raindance Film Festival in October 2001, and was made available online through the singer's official website in February 2002, closer to the song's release as a single. It depicts Björk as a geisha whose makeup extends over her entire bleached nude body. The video was considered inappropriate and was banned from primetime MTV, following her music video for "Pagan Poetry". Björk promoted the song by performing it on the Vespertine world tour and several television and radio shows.

In 2000, Björk starred on her acting debut Dancer in the Dark. While she worked on the film, she also began producing her next album, writing new music and teaming with new collaborators. She had to go to Denmark to work on the film and there was nothing going on. She was lying on the beach whilst looking at the ocean, with a ghetto blaster listening to producer Thomas Knak's music. When she realised he was from Copenhagen, she called him up". "Cocoon", produced by Knak, was one of the last songs to be written for the album; its melody came to Björk in a sudden rush and she contacted him. She made a long distance, late night phone call to Knak in Denmark, and woke him up. "I didn't have any track of time so she didn't really know that I was asleep. She was explaining that she had this melody in her head and maybe, if I had the time, she would still have two or three weeks to decide if this track could be worked on", said the producer. Knak took it as a chance to make a more minimal track, similar to his own releases. He liked the idea of having two songs on the album, and immediately after he put down the phone, he started working. His original treatment of "Cocoon", made with an Ensoniq ASR 10, appeared relatively intact in the final version. Björk's whispered vocals in "Cocoon" were described as "near cracking falsetto and a breathy ecstasy". Lyrically, for Michael Cragg from The Guardian newspaper, "it feels almost intrusive, like reading someone's diary as they write about a new love", as Björk had just started the relationship with Barney. Its lyrics are set between metaphor, with her singing "who would have known that a boy like him would have entered me lightly, restoring my blisses" and over sharing, whilst also stating "He slides inside, half awake, half asleep  gorgeousness, he's still inside me". Seth Stevenson from Slate magazine gave a positive review to it, commenting that because of the song, Björk is "actually at her best either barely murmuring or full out yelling, and she may be the most stylized vocalist in music today". Michael Cragg from The Guardian commented that "Vespertine is littered with defining moments. While the first single Hidden Place, the choir assisted Undo and the Matmos collaboration Aurora are among the highlights, it's Cocoon that best represents the album's sense of heavy lidded, post coital hibernation". Ian Gittins, author of Björk: Human Behaviour the Stories Behind Every Song, referred to "Cocoon" as the eyes of many of the most significant moments of Vespertine, as well as the most complete display and literal philosophy that the singer had taken for the album. British magazine NMEs Joe Logic was also positive saying, "Soft organs and Rice Krispies (Eh? Cereal Ed) feature heavily on a very minimalist 'Cocoon', a beautiful love song featuring Bjork whispering sexual lyrics over a track that To Rococo Rot would be proud of". Stephen Dalton from the same publication was less positive, and stated: "Then there is the uncomfortably intimate, tremble whisper Björk voice of 'Cocoon' where she relates the joy of shutting herself away with her lover with a broken music box and some mouldy old string". Greg Kot from Blender magazine commented that album openers "Hidden Place" and "Cocoon" "live up to their billing as sound sanctuaries, with Björk singing a barely above a whisper lullaby enhanced by the plush embrace of a choir". The Wire opined that the track "nearly matches the macabre tone of Dancer in the Dark, particularly the trembling moment three minutes in, when her barely audible whisper conjures a feeling beyond sadness as she pleads, 'Who would have known?'"

In the United Kingdom, "Cocoon" debuted at its peak position of number 35 on the UK Singles Chart issued on 17 March 2002. The song debuted at number 61 in France on 23 March 2002, but fell to number 89 the next week, before falling off the chart. It premiered at the Raindance Film Festival on 24 October 2001, and was made available online via Björk's official website on 12 February 2002. Its treatment was described as playing with "minimalist white for both costume and bleached eyebrows, treating Björk as a geisha whose makeup extends over her entire nude body". Björk actually wore a very close fitting body suit. Following the music video for previous single "Pagan Poetry", it was also banned from primetime MTV.

Björk performed "Cocoon" on the 2001 Vespertine world tour. It was later included on the DVD Live at Royal Opera House (2002). She also performed the song on the American talk show The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. Jeremy Allen from NME magazine included it on his list of "10 Greatest Musical Moments" on the show, commenting: "with her fingers tinted like icicles and the background sonics just a sparse and glitchy soundscape with tinkles of warm xylophone like the inside of some ethereal cave, the singer takes a little bit of Iceland to the USA – via heaven – with her voice as commanding as it ever was". She also performed it across Europe following its release as a single, including The Jonathan Ross Show, Die Harald Schmidt Show, Johnny Vaughan Tonight, Top of the Pops, and Music Planet 2Nite.

+ Release dates and formats for "Cocoon" Region Date Format(s) Label(s) Ref. (Reference(s)) France 11 March 2002 DVD Polydor United Kingdom Two CD single, CDs, DVD One Little Indian France 19 March 2002 DVD Polydor Japan 27 March 2002 CD, DVD Australia 8 April 2002 Two CDs