Björk – “Human Behaviour” (1993)

Instinctual. Surreal. Unapologetically wild.

With “Human Behaviour”, Björk didn’t just step into her solo career — she leapt into the unknown. Released as the lead single from her 1993 album Debut, the song introduced the world to a new Björk: bold, unfiltered, and gloriously strange.

Produced by Nellee Hooper, the track fuses tribal percussion, lush strings, and raw, emotional vocals into something that feels ancient and futuristic all at once. It’s not just a song — it’s a creature. Something wild, beautiful, and slightly untamed.

Told through the eyes of a non-human observer, the lyrics reflect on the chaos and contradiction of human beings. With lines like:

“There’s definitely, definitely, definitely no logic to human behaviour…”

— Björk peels back the layers of civilization and exposes our primal instincts. She doesn’t condemn humanity — she studies it like a curious animal in the wild.

Visually, “Human Behaviour” was a statement in itself. The Michel Gondry-directed video plays like a surreal fairy tale: a dreamscape of forests, giant bears, and skewed proportions. It marked the beginning of one of pop culture’s most inventive artist-director collaborations — a relationship rooted in whimsy, risk, and artistic freedom.

Though it didn’t top mainstream charts, the song found a devoted following among fans of electronic, trip-hop, alt-pop, and those hungry for something outside the norm. It’s a song that signaled: Björk wasn’t just going solo — she was rewriting the rules.

“Human Behaviour” remains a turning point — not just for Björk’s career, but for ’90s music as a whole. It opened a space where vulnerability, abstraction, and visceral sound could coexist.

Part myth. Part instinct. Entirely Björk.
A debut single like no other.