"Cocoon" | ||||
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Single by Björk | ||||
from the album Vespertine | ||||
Released | 11 March 2002 | |||
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Recorded | January 2001; Olympic Studios, London, England | |||
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Length |
4:30 (album version) 3:34 (radio edit) |
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Label | One Little Indian | |||
Songwriter(s) |
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Producer(s) |
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Björk singles chronology | ||||
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"Cocoon" is a song recorded by Icelandic singer Björk for her fourth studio album Vespertine (2001). It was written and produced by Björk and Thomas Knak, and 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 make 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 best moments. The song experienced moderate commercial success in record charts in the United Kingdom, Australia, and France, but reached the top 10 in Spain. The accompanying music video for "Cocoon" was directed by Eiko Ishioka and was shot in New York City. It premiered at 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 prime-time MTV following her music video for "Pagan Poetry". Björk promoted the song by performing on the Vespertine World Tour and several TV and radio shows.
In 2000, Björk starred on her acting debut Dancer in the Dark. Whilst 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. Knak elaborated: "She had two changes: one for one semitone up and another for I think about 20BPM slower or something. I don't really make music so I'm not really used to thinking could the singer really sing in a tempo. From there she started working on the lyrics and one more melody for the vocal".