Hello! 😊👋
Welcome to a new edition of the Daily Music Picks newsletter!
Today’s music pick was released on this day 30 years ago and hasn’t lost a shred of its eclectic, wistful charm.
Genre: Pop, Art-Pop
Label: Elektra
Release Date: July 5, 1993
Vibe: 🥲
Few artists in pop music history announced their arrival as boldly and distinctively as Björk did with Debut. Working with producer Nellee Hooper, who’d helped craft hits for the likes of Soul II Soul and Sinead O’Connor, Björk broke from the straightforward alternative sound she’d been at the center of with the Sugarcubes and folded in elements of jazz, trip-hop, techno, and synth-pop to create a sound and style all her own. Every track, from the lush effervescence of “Venus as a Boy” to the bittersweet “Violently Happy” to the achingly poignant cover of “Like Someone in Love,” feels like an authentic extension of her personality. Perhaps that’s why, even on repeat listens, the emotional purity of it all remains intact.
It’s easy to underestimate how groundbreaking Björk’s penchant for experimentation was for its time and how much we take building-the-plane-as-it’s-flying artistry for granted nowadays. Debut hit store shelves a couple of months before In Utero signaled the beginning of the end for grunge, during a time when unkempt men waxing melancholic with a guitar in hand was the dominant archetype for success. The unwillingness to accept Björk’s genre-bending album on its own merits can be heard loud and clear in original reviews, such as Rolling Stone calling it “utterly disappointing” and “painfully eclectic.”
The only painful part of Debut’s legacy is how underappreciated it still is in certain circles.
👉 Don’t forget to click the album image to stream the album on your favorite platform 👈
Got thoughts on this album? Did you love it? Sound off in the comments.