Song You Need: Shygirl gets the Björk treatment

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Despite their nearly 30-year age gap, it’s no surprise that Björk and Shygirl are kindred spirits. The 57-year-old Icelandic legend and the 29-year-old English rising star share a penchant for incorporating slippery electronica and dissonant harmonies into their maximalist pop songs, and a charismatic confidence that can render even the raunchiest lyrics charming. They joined forces for the first time in January when Shygirl and Scottish-Irish superproducer Sega Bodega reworked “Ovule,” a track from Björk’s 10th studio LP Fossora (The FADER’s 21st favorite album of 2022). And today (March 21), Björk has returned the favor, remixing Shygirl’s Nymph opener “Woe” for that album’s forthcoming deluxe edition, Nymph_o, due out April 14 via Because Music.

The new track, renamed “Woe (I See It From Your Side),” starts with Shygirl’s original chorus, but her slick synth facade quickly dissolves into Björk’s flickering, fungal soundscape. It should come as no surprise that Björk’s take on the track is less a remix than a response, jumping off of Shygirl’s central question on “Woe” (“Do you see it from my side?”) to craft a wonderfully convoluted scenario. “I see it from your side / I wish the love you’re getting would suffice,” she sings, stretching each syllable into a twisted tale of its own. “But it’s not meant to satisfy / That wanting, it raises our spine.”

Shygirl reenters in the song’s seriously spine-raising bridge, sounding like a woman possessed. “Time, let me take it, I just wanna gеt to know / Soul tied,” she growls through gnashed teeth over a lone, ominous drum machine. But that too gives way to Björk’s eerie sonic schema, more scattered and pixelated this time as she sings the song’s last lines: “I wish her love to you would suffice / But those bitches are not meant to satisfy / They are just part to nursing, crying / You’re glowing so hard / They all want to share the flight / I see it from your side.” A track that starts out with a seductive hyperpop glimmer is ultimately refracted through a million shattered pieces, arriving at its final notes with a far more sinister glow.

“Shy told me in her lyric she is talking about both different amorous interests and fame and how suddenly everyone wants something from you and you should be thrilled but you´re not,” Björk writes in a press release, “and i decided to take an angle as an older ‘amour’ and give advice… because in ‘Woe’ she is asking a question and i decided to reply to it from the SUFI angle which is: enjoy the wanting and the longing and NOT getting what you want but enjoy wanting it… how the whirling dervishes reach up when they turn, it is meant to represent that longing and being content with that… also on a more everyday personal level it is about sometimes when you are not satisfied in a relationship, you should not expect your partner to heal that or fix that… rather look at him or her as a partner in crime or a fellow-not-getter… another human with that insatiable longing.”

Watch the strange, psychosexual, Sam Ibram-directed visual treatment for “Woe (I See It From Your Side),” check out Nymph_o’s cover art and tracklist, and view Shygirl’s upcoming international tour dates below.

1. Angel - Shygirl x Fatima Al Qadiri
2. Heaven Feat. Tinashe
3. Crush Feat. Erika de Casier
4. Woe (I See It From Your Side) (Bjork Remix)
5. Shlut Feat. Sevdaliza
6. Nike Feat. Deto Black
7. Playboy / Positions
8. Poison (Club Shy mix)
9. Firefly (Kingdom Edit)
10. Wildfire (Eartheater Remix)
11. Unconditional - Shygirl x Arca

March 21 - San Francisco, CA - The Regency Ballroom
March 24 - Los Angeles, CA - The Wiltern
March 25 - San Diego, CA - Music Box
March 31 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall
April 1 - Chicago, IL - Thalia Hall
April 3 - Toronto, ON - The Axis Club
April 4 - Montreal, QC - Le Studio TD
April 6 - Philadelphia, PA - The Foundry at The Fillmore
April 8 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
April 9 - New York, NY - Webster Hall
April 12 - Washington, DC - 9:30 Club
April 13 - Boone, NC - Legends @ Appalacian State University
April 14 - Atlanta, GA - Hell @ The Masquerade
April 15 - Miami, FL - The Ground

May 27 - London, UK - Wide Awake
June 10 - Manchester, UK - Parklife Festival
June 16 - Barcelona, Spain - Sonar by Night Festival
June 23 - Pilton, UK - Glastonbury Festival
June 29 - Belfort, France - Les Eurockéennes De Belfort
July 2 - Ewijk, Netherlands - Down The Rabbit Hole
July 7 - Trencin, Slovakia - Pohoda Festival
August 5 - Amstelveen, Netherlands - Dekmantel Festival
August 9 - Oslo, Norway - Oya Festival
August 10 - Gothenburg, Swede - Way Out West
August 11 - Helsinki, Finland - Flow Festival
August 13 - Newquay, UK - Boardmasters Festival

August 19 - Tokyo, Japan - Sonic Mania