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paralleljulieverse

Julie Andrews Fantasy LPs #13
“Debut”

Did you know Björk, the Icelandic experimental pop diva and avant-garde artiste, cites Julie Andrews as a personal idol and formative influence? Born in 1965, the very year The Sound of Music was released, Björk recalls that, as a child, she was obsessed with the film and would listen endlessly to the soundtrack. By age two, she claims she could sing all the songs word-perfect and it was this childhood experience with the voice of Julie Andrews that inspired her love of singing and musical performance (Robb, 125).

Years later, Björk would have the opportunity to pay Julie an homage of sorts when she starred in Lars von Trier’s polarising 2000 indie musical drama, Dancer in the Dark. Cast in the lead role of Selma, a poor Czech immigrant factory worker in small-town America whose only escape is the films musicals she adores, Björk performs a number of songs from The Sound of Music, notably “My Favourite Things” which is repeated twice as a symbolic bookend for the film’s tragic melodramatic narrative: once at the start when Selma tries out for a local amateur theatre production of the Rodgers and Hammerstein musical and again at the film’s tragic close.

So here The Parallel Julieverse returns the favour with an imaginary Julie makeover for Björk’s debut album…be ready, be ready to get confused.

Sources

Robb, Jacqueline. Go, Girl!: Young Women Superstars of Pop Music. Greensboro, N.C. : Avisson Press, 2000.