Virus (Björk song)

"Virus"
Single by Björk
from the album Biophilia
Released	August 9, 2011
Format	Digital download
Genre	Electronica IDM trip hop alternative baroque pop
Length	5:20
Label	One Little Indian
Writer(s)	Bjork Sjón
Producer(s)	Björk
Björk singles chronology
"Cosmogony" (2011) "Virus" (2011) "Moon" (2011)
Biophilia track listing 14 tracks Standard edition "Moon" "Thunderbolt" "Crystalline" "Cosmogony" "Dark Matter" "Hollow" "Virus" "Sacrifice" "Mutual Core" "Solstice" Special edition Bonus tracks "Hollow" (Original 7 Minutes Version) "Dark Matter" (With Choir & Organ) "Náttúra" "The Comet Song" (Japan edition only)

"Virus" is a song by Icelandic artist Björk released as the third single from the album Biophilia. Each song in the album features a theme related to nature. In "Virus", Björk explores "fatal relationships" such as the one between a virus and a cell, as Björk explained in an interview: "It's a kind of a love story between a virus and a cell. And of course the virus loves the cell so much that it destroys it."^[1]

Background

"Virus" features a gameleste (a hybrid between a celesta and a gamelan that can be controlled by midi and that was also used in "Crystalline", built exclusively for these songs) base that plays through the whole song. The gameleste represents the 'virus' that continues multiplying until it takes control at the end of the song.^[2] Also, Manu Delago plays hang drum.^[3] Since Björk wanted the album to break the typical 4/4 time signature,^[4] "Virus" has a time signature of 3/4.

The lyrics to "Virus" talk about "dangerous relationships", symbiotic relationships in which one organism is parasite for the other and takes a benefit, even changing the other's behaviour. This fact is used as a metaphor between 'love' and 'parasiting'.^[2] Björk took inspitation from a McGraw-Hill educative video about mind-controlling parasites^[5] and from candidiasis, illness that she suffered:^[6]

Still from the 'Virus' app

“

I'd been fighting this candida issue in my throat and I had to really change my diet and use different medication and it sort of seems to pop up and its kinda hilarious. It’s like I have this new neighbour that I have to sort of learn to live with. And obviously you know this fungus is inside all of us and it’s never about eliminating it. You have to kind of just live with it.

”

App

The "Virus" app is a video game where a virus attempts to infect cells on the screen that sing along with the song. However, if the virus is prevented the song will stop playing. By tapping on the cells, the song also changes.

Track listing

Digital download

1. "Virus" – 5:20

Official versions

• Album Version – 5:26
• Single Version – 5:20
• Hudson Mohawke Peaches and Guacamol Remix – 4:51 released on Part 3 of the Biophilia Remix Series
• Matthew Herbert's Fever Mix – 7:07 released on Part 6 of the Biophilia Remix Series
• MIF live version – 5:47 (Biophilia: Manual Edition CD2)

Charts

Chart (2011)	Peak position
UK Indie (Official Charts Company)[7]	35

References

1. Cragg, Michael (28 May 2011). "Björk's Biophilia". The Guardian (London). Retrieved 24 January 2012.
2. "Virus". Retrieved 24 January 2012.
3. "Discography Biophilia". Retrieved 24 January 2012.
4. "Hollow". Retrieved 24 January 2012.
5. https://www.facebook.com/bjorkdotcom/posts/249353265087067
6. Nikki Dibben (August 2011). "Excerpt from Biophilia Manual essay on 'Virus'".
7. "Archive Chart: 2011-08-20" UK Indie Chart.