Icelandic musical icon Björk may be receiving rave reviews for her latest record Vulnicura, but the album wasn't even supposed to arrive until March.
A surprise leak led to the label rushing the legal release of the album, with One Little Indian founder Derek Birkett making the decision to push up the digital release.
Now, Björk herself has spoken out about the affair for the first time. She appeared on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show and seems to have taken the hit pretty gracefully.
"There is no way to say how you should react," she said. "In my situation, I had one thing going for me — the album was mastered and ready. I don't know how I would have reacted if it was four months before. It might have been messier."
And once the new material hit the internet, the nature of the music helped her roll with the punches.
"I think also, because of the nature of the album for me emotionally, it's the sort of subject matter where I really wanted to just get it out of the way, over and done with it," she continued. "My gut reaction was immediately like that. It was an immediate album, and I did it so quickly, and it was like 'Oh, it's leaked, let's just put it out.'"
She further opened up about the extremely personal material, heartbreak and recovery through the artistic process.
"I think most of us would rather just skip it," she laughed. "But that's not really an option. You have to just go through it to get to the other end."
You can listen to the 13-minute interview below. Vulnicura, which was made in the wake of her separation from artist/director Matthew Barney, is still scheduled for a physical release on March 3.
A surprise leak led to the label rushing the legal release of the album, with One Little Indian founder Derek Birkett making the decision to push up the digital release.
Now, Björk herself has spoken out about the affair for the first time. She appeared on Zane Lowe's BBC Radio 1 show and seems to have taken the hit pretty gracefully.
"There is no way to say how you should react," she said. "In my situation, I had one thing going for me — the album was mastered and ready. I don't know how I would have reacted if it was four months before. It might have been messier."
And once the new material hit the internet, the nature of the music helped her roll with the punches.
"I think also, because of the nature of the album for me emotionally, it's the sort of subject matter where I really wanted to just get it out of the way, over and done with it," she continued. "My gut reaction was immediately like that. It was an immediate album, and I did it so quickly, and it was like 'Oh, it's leaked, let's just put it out.'"
She further opened up about the extremely personal material, heartbreak and recovery through the artistic process.
"I think most of us would rather just skip it," she laughed. "But that's not really an option. You have to just go through it to get to the other end."
You can listen to the 13-minute interview below. Vulnicura, which was made in the wake of her separation from artist/director Matthew Barney, is still scheduled for a physical release on March 3.