Rosalia Teams Up with Bjork to Release “Oral” Duet in Fight Against Intensive Salmon Farming

Rosalia has teamed up with Bjork to release a special duet…

The 31-year-old Spanish Grammy-winning singer-songwriter has joined voices with Bjork to release “Oral,” a single aimed to support action against intensive salmon farming.

Rosalia, BjorkThe song “aims to shed light on the alarming cruelty, and severe environmental and ecological consequences of open-pen ocean salmon farming in Björk’s native country, Iceland,” according to the announcement.

However, the song’s lyrics do not directly address the issue and seem more personal: “Your mouth floats above my bed at night/ My own private moon,” it begins, and continues in a similar vein, as the two unspool a lovely melody that recalls Bjork’s “Homogenic” era as an electronic beat kicks in and an orchestra bursts wide on the glorious chorus, which actually evokes a clouds-parting moment in an epic film.

The resemblance to Bjork’s earlier material is no accident: According to the announcement, she first wrote the song in the period between 1997’s “Homogenic” and 2001’s “Vespertine” albums, but “the track was lost to her archives after feeling like it wasn’t the right fit for an album.

Björk rediscovered the song after being reminded of its name whilst on tour in Australia in March 2023, the same month a report was released about the devastating impact of poorly regulated, Norwegian-owned commercial salmon farming operations on Iceland’s native ecosystems.”

The announcement continues below:

After deeply resonating with the cause, and as a passionate campaigner and protester for much of her life, Björk enlisted Rosalía to help bring the song to life and in turn raise awareness of the issue. The cruel practice of open-pen farming, introduced to Iceland after Norwegian businessmen began purchasing fish farms in the country’s fjords, involves intensively farming fish by penning them into open water nets that are anchored in natural waterways, where the fish are kept enclosed until they reach marketable size. This accelerates the fish’s development and in many cases creates genetic mutations in the salmon’s DNA, as well as being a breeding ground for a number of parasites and diseases. The industry in Iceland has grown tenfold since 2014, producing under 4,000 tones to 45,000 in 2021, with it now estimated that the annual production could be up to 106,500 tonnes. Iceland has the largest untouched natural area in Europe, and the waste and pollution associated with open-pen farming threatens to permanently damage its entire ocean ecology. Lack of regulation and the industry being largely unsupervised has also meant that thousands of these genetically altered, diseased salmon regularly escape the pens and swim upriver to Iceland’s highlands, where devastating genetic mixing occurs and endangers the future of Iceland’s wild salmon population.

We want to thank visual artist Carlota Guerrero and executive producer Zico Judge, of Blur & ProdCo, for creating a video art piece to go along with this song and help raise awareness of the cruelty, and severe environmental and ecological consequences of open-pen ocean salmon farming in Björk’s native country, Iceland. Carlota came up with the concept and executed the video, exploring the use of AI technology and embracing the glitches blurring the line between reality and virtuality whilst challenging the notions of identity. Throughout the piece, female rage is explored through Bjork’s and Rosalía’s avatars. They are not fighting each other; they are training together to fight the real and bigger enemy.

Proceeds from “Oral” will be used to support a legal case against the fisheries, brought forth by residents of the town of Seyðisfjörður on the eastern side of Iceland. Read the statement on behalf of all involved below.

You can learn more about Icelandic Fish Farming from the Icelandic Wildlife Fund.

Rosalía Teams Up with Björk on New Track Aimed at Fighting Against Industrial Salmon Farming

Rosalía has joined one of Iceland’s biggest stars to fight against a controversial food production system.

The 31-year-old Spanish Grammy-winning singer/songwriter has joined voices with Björk on a new single that aims to raise awareness in the fight against industrial salmon farming in Björk’s native Iceland.

RosaliaRosalia and Bjork will donate sales of the track to help protesters cover their legal fees.

The track , which currently remains untitled, will be released later this month, though a short clip has been uploaded to Björk’s YouTube channel with the cover art featuring a fish in distress.

The acapella snippet features the two singers repeating, “Is that the right thing to do? I just don’t know.”

In a statement attached to the song’s announcement, Björk writes that they are looking to aid the town of Seyðisfjörður, where residents are combatting the industrial fish farming’s impact on local wildlife.

She said that farmed fish in the region suffer “horrid health conditions” and are in danger of extinction.

Melissa Villaseñor to Host This Year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards Ceremony

Melissa Villaseñor has the spirit

The 33-year-old Mexican actress, stand-up comedian and Saturday Night Live cast member is set to host this year’s Film Independent Spirit Awards ceremony.

Melissa Villaseñor

The show will not be live from the Santa Monica Beach this year due to COVID-19.

Villaseñor, the first Latina cast member of NBC’s long-running SNL, cut her teeth on the stand-up circuit in Los Angeles, and was further propelled to stardom by being a semifinalist on the 2011 edition of America’s Got Talent before landing on the SNL cast.

She is famous for her impersonations of celebrities like Owen Wilson, Jennifer Lopez, Gwen Stefani, Lady Gaga, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and more.

This year’s show will be airing on Thursday, April 22, on IFC and AMC+ at 10:00 pm ET, breaking tradition as the Spirits typically take place on the Saturday afternoon before Sunday’s Oscars.

Said Blake Callaway, Executive Director, IFC and SundanceTV, “Melissa and the unique circumstances of now will make this year’s ceremony like no other. It will certainly be a departure from the past, but with Melissa, the chances of Dolly, Ariana Grande, Bjork, Gwen Stefani, Julie Andrews and Lady Gaga showing up have skyrocketed.”

“As someone who considers herself a pretty dependent person, I’m truly honored to host the Film Independent Spirit Awards,” said Villaseñor.

Outside of SNL, Villaseñor has provided voiceovers in films like Toy Story 4 and Ralph Breaks the InternetShe also was a guest on Jerry Seinfeld’s Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee; and in projects like Hubie Halloween, Barry and Crashing, among others.

She’s currently working on her first book, a creative self-help journal forthcoming from Chronicle Books.

She joins a roster of past Spirit Awards hosts that includes Aubrey Plaza, Nick Kroll, Kristen Bell, Joel McHale, Patton Oswalt, Queen Latifah, John Waters, Samuel L. Jackson and Kumail Nanjiani.

Arca Releases Video for New Single “Desafío”

Arca is ready for a new challenge…

The 26-year-old Venezuelan electronic DJ, record producer and mixing engineer has released the official video for “Desafío,” just days after releasing his self-titled album.

Arca

The track is the revelatory centerpiece of Arca’s new LP, his third solo project.

The bleak video shows Arca, whose real name is Alejandro Ghersi, bruised and bound in a leather getup, dragged through a dark forest by wicked men.

The “Desafío” clip was directed by Jesse Kanda.

Arca, has produced for Bjork, Kanye West, FKA Twigs and Frank Ocean, among others.